Greg Schiano’s impact on the Ohio State defense could almost be felt immediately.
Over the last few weeks, however, that influence hasn’t necessarily disappeared, but it started to fade a bit.
The Buckeyes forced 11 turnovers in their first three games of the season. That was the Schiano effect. In the last five games, however, they’ve only forced five.
It’s still a solid number, of course, and Ohio State’s 16 turnovers gained is tied for 23rd in the country, but this was a team that through the first month of the season was turning teams over at an alarming rate. And not only were the Buckeyes forcing turnovers, they were turning them into points, as well.
Things have slowed down a bit, but perhaps there’s a reason for that.
“A big part of that is the way teams have been playing us,” Ohio State linebacker Chris Worley said. “When you’ve got guys out there making plays like that, a lot of teams are going to be a little more cautious about how they attack certain guys or how they may attack the defense in general."
“It’s just different, and it changes every week.”
The level of competition surely makes things more difficult, too, as the Buckeyes did most of their damage in the turnover department against the likes of Bowling Green and Tulsa in the nonconference. Once Big Ten play began, things became more difficult.
Ohio State hopes it can get back to its old ways.
“At the beginning of the season, nobody had film on us, nobody knew what our identity was,” linebacker Raekwon McMillan said. “But after a while, some good offensive-minded coaches are out there that can really exploit what you’re doing on defense.
“We’re very young but we worked through all the growing pains. During the season we’re still going to have more of them, but we’ve got to keep progressing.”
In a recent 24-20 win over Northwestern, the Buckeyes allowed 406 yards of offense. They forced only one turnover — a first-quarter interception by cornerback Damon Arnette.
In the 24-21 loss to Penn State the week prior, Ohio State again only forced one turnover and it came on special teams when wide receiver Terry McLaurin recovered a muffed punt.
The week before that, a 30-23 overtime victory at Wisconsin, the Buckeyes again forced just one turnover — an interception by Gareon Conley.
The Buckeyes forced at least one turnover in every game this season except for one — against Rutgers, surprisingly — but the total number has dwindled here a bit in recent weeks.
For Ohio State to be at its best defensively, it must return to those old ballhawking ways. It’s more challenging now, as players noted, but the talent and scheme are still there.
The hope, of course, is the results soon follow.
“That’s one of the things we come in every week and do: strive to be the best we can be each week and then at the end of the season we are playing our best ball,” McMillan said. “We’ve given up some things schemed up against us but we just gotta work through the game and come out the other end with a W.”
