Ohio State’s defense has faced several cupcakes after Oregon, and while it looked like their defensive improvement was real, there was always the lingering question: could the defense hold up if the offense had an off day?

This was almost answered immediately, with the general consensus being a “yes.”

Here is the play-by-play grading:

There was definitely some good and some bad to be taken from that game. For the good, Ohio State’s run defense is still excellent. Penn State hasn’t been able to run on anyone, but Ohio State held them to just 1.1 YPC, which is ridiculous. Since the Oregon game, Ohio State has been allowing 55% of their opponents’ rushing average per play. For comparison’s sake, Georgia had been allowing 51% of their opponents’ rushing average per play prior to the Florida game. This is in contrast to the 113.6% of Ohio State’s opponents’ rushing average per play before the defensive coordinator swap. Right now for the season, Ohio State is allowing 70% of opponents’ YPC and 87% of opponents’ YPA. This is a huge improvement from the beginning of the season, and the defense is genuinely starting to look pretty good. For reference, 90-95% of an opponents average is considered to be average. Under 80% passing average and 70% rushing average is outstanding. The pass defense has hung around that 87% mark all season, where that rushing average has continued to drop into elite territory.

I was surprised by the method in which they defended Penn State. They ran a ton of zone blitzes. I don’t just mean, they ran a couple of blitzes per drive. There were a couple of drives where they blitzed nearly every single play. The one I am thinking of specifically was the drive at the end of the first half. The blitzes were also far more varied than the double-A gap “dogs” blitz that they would run in the first few games after the defensive coordinator switch. They were blitzing the nickleback, outside cornerback, strong safety, you name it. Tyreke Smith and Zach Harrison both had multiple coverage plays where they would drop and someone else would blitz. I have never seen Ohio State blitz this much, ever.

Ohio State had very soft zones behind the blitzes though. This is why, when Clifford had time/PSU had dialed up a short passing route, they often got big chunks. This is a calculated decision to create turnovers, stuff the run, and force a quarterback to be flawless picking the coverage apart. I think that this defense would be pretty effective against a team with a young QB that relies on the big plays, kind of like Michigan State. It worries me against a team that has a more patient QB, like Michigan. We will see how they deploy these blitzes in the future. I am not so sure that this is a permanent thing.

As for the players, here is how they did:

The players that I graded as champions were: Zach Harrison, Tyreke Smith, Haskell Garrett, Antwuan Jackson, Jerron Cage, Cameron Brown, and Steele Chambers. Ohio State also graded Taron Vincent, Marcus Williamson, Ronnie Hickman, Cody Simon, and Bryson Shaw as champions, though did not consider Jackson to be a champion.

I thought Harrison, Smith, Garrett, Jackson and Cage were all excellent in this game. After the Oregon and Tulsa games I kept talking about how Tyreke Smith was probably the Buckeyes’ chance at an elite pass rusher this year, as he continually won against his matchup. Early in the year, he was just facing teams that threw quickly. I said the same thing about Harrison to a lesser degree after his last few games. Against Penn State, a team that drops back to pass instead of exclusively throwing short, quick routes, the two had a ton of success, especially when they were on the field together. I think Harrison does need a little help from a blitz, but he still played really well. Tyreke Smith was constantly in the backfield and had a huge game. While he was only credited with one sack, he was a part of three sacks total, and was unblockable one-on-one. The sack with Harrison that caused the Jerron Cage scoop-and-score is the one people will remember, but he had other moments, like the zone read he stuffed at the beginning of the first quarter (1Q 10:07). I can’t say enough about how well he played, as it was, by total points, the best game I have charted thus far. Garrett played as well as everyone expects him to, and Cage showed why he has taken the starting 1-technique job away from Jackson (though I think Hamilton started this one, technically).

Cameron Brown played excellently in coverage. He was the only corner they really tested, and he didn’t give up anything. Other than that, the Buckeye corners didn’t have a ton to defend. They all looked good, though. Most of the passes given up in the soft zone were a scheme decision, which I have discussed a bit above. Steele Chambers, even though he only played a half, was the best linebacker on the field once again. When he is on the field, the defense is an entirely different group. The other three linebackers do not excel in pass coverage, while Chambers is quite good in this area. The drop off between him and Mitchell is massive, which is why Penn State went from never throwing at the Will linebacker, to almost exclusively throwing at the Will linebacker. Having said that, I thought Mitchell played better on re-watch than I did on initial review. Yes, he leaves a lot to be desired in the passing game. That is obvious. However, for the first time this year, I thought he was excellent against the run instead of being merely adequate. Speaking of firsts, this was the first game that I thought he used his strengths to blitz more effectively. Before this, he just seemed to try and outspeed the guard/center on his blitzes, and usually was unable to be effective. Against Penn State, he blitzed aggressively, more than happy to just hit the center/guard as hard as he could. There were a couple of different times in this game where he would blitz, and the entire interior of the line would start to fail pass blocking because he knocked back an offensive linemen. He performed poorly against the pass, and well against the run. While he shouldn’t start over Chambers, he stepped up and did his job for most of the game.

I thought Jackson deserved to be a champion based on the way he played as well. Again, I don’t grade every play, but I do grade enough to know that he had a couple TFLs and was generally in the backfield disrupting the play. I am surprised by his omission.

As for the guys that Ohio State picked for Champions, but I did not, Taron Vincent did not stand out to me much at all. I had him as having a bit of an average performance. I have thought he has played well all year, but I can’t really point to many positives from this game. He did chase down a tunnel screen from behind early in the second half (3Q 12:27), but he also got pancaked on a 3rd and 2 deep in the red zone late in the third quarter. I don’t think this was his best game.

Williamson and Shaw graded very close to champions for me, but not quite, though I considered making exceptions. Both of them played very well. Williamson had that great forced fumble and TFL on the first defensive play of the game (1Q 13:20), and had another TFL later on a blitz. I don’t really think he should be taken off the field, though Ransom is probably a better fit for the blitzes they were doing with his size. He’s an excellent player though, and I am glad to see him continue to get recognition.

Shaw had the only one-on-one matchup all day that I can remember with Dotson, and he won. I have been meaning to talk about Shaw for a couple of weeks now, but he is constantly getting people lined up on defense and making sure everyone is in the right spot. When someone doesn’t listen to him or can’t hear him, they get picked on. He is starting to look like a poor man’s Jordan Fuller – smart player who knows what’s going on, doesn’t make any gamebreaking mistakes, and saves touchdowns despite being limited athletically. Now, he’s not there yet by a long shot. I do think he is a smart player and there haven’t been a ton of big plays on the Buckeyes since the defensive structural changes. However, he isn’t as reliable as Fuller yet (see the stiff arm from Rakim Jarrett a couple of weeks ago), and Fuller was an Academic All-American and a different kind of smart. However, I don’t notice Shaw doing many bad things anymore. He just doesn’t do a lot of amazing things either. He’s just fine, though he makes the rest of the defense better.

I don’t think Hickman or Simon played great, though I don’t think they played poorly. They both graded out as just fine. Simon actually did bounce back a bit from last week, but was just okay. Still, on a day where a lot of other players struggled, he gave a solid performance. He continued his tradition of having a missed tackle when he got trucked (4Q 12:51), but he did have a near pick when he had the best coverage play for a linebacker the entire day (3Q 5:22). He needed to have a good game, and he delivered. I don’t think it was quite championship caliber, though.

Hickman, on the other hand, seemed to be way too deep on his deep zones. I thought this was just how it was coached, but Shaw did not seem to be nearly as far downfield when he was challenged. Additionally, they seemed to pick on his side a bit. I do think some of this is the functional positional change that he has made mid-season, when he moved from a linebacker who could do some safety stuff to a safety who could do some linebacker stuff. Either way, I don’t think he played great. The good news is that the changes are very slight, and can be fixed with more work.

The play I am specifically thinking about (1Q 7:42) has two receivers running vertical routes against what looks to be Quarters/Cover-4, though it may be Quarter-Quarter-Half/Cover-6 on third and long. Regardless of the coverage, you can see two triangles on the field of Buckeye defenders. On one side, you have Shaw, Williamson, and Burke (all guys who had good games) composing a small triangle. On the other side, you have Banks, Mitchell, and Hickman composing a much larger triangle. When Clifford starts to throw the ball, you have Williamson a little less than 4 yards away from Dotson, Burke about 5.5 yards from Dotson, with the route coming into him, and Shaw about 7 yards directly over the top of Dotson. On the other triangle, you have Mitchell about 12 yards away, Banks about 8 yards away, and Hickman about 10 yards away from the receiver to their side (#13). Even though Hickman is only 5 yards too far, Banks is only about 2.5 yards too far, and Mitchell is 8 yards too far, the difference in area of the triangle is enormous. I would estimate that the small triangle is around 38.5 square yards, while the larger triangle is around 116 square yards. It’s a rough back-of-the-napkin calculation, but it illustrates that small changes could improve the coverage immensely. Mitchell really just has to get two yards back and about four yards over and he is right in the throwing lane, while still remaining at the first down marker to prevent a throw underneath. Hickman just has to drift toward the sideline a little, especially since he can see there aren’t any other deep routes except for the two. These are small, easily fixable changes with more coaching.

Here are some of the things that I took away from this game overall:

 What should we be worried about? The depth at linebacker is a genuine concern. If Steele Chambers is injured, the quality of that unit deteriorates rapidly. If he is lost, the defense is in big trouble. Also, I think the current quality of the zone coverage is a concern. While if you give Ohio State a full offseason, they would probably be much better, the midseason change to their scheme has not allowed them to perfect it. A great quarterback can have some success here.

What should we not be worried about? The interior of the defensive line continues to be good and goes about three deep. Any of those guys are very capable, and even though they don’t have a bunch of game breakers in the group, they are all playing well. The play-calling is also fine. Despite the big negative total on the score, that is primarily the result of Penn State getting a great first series off against Ohio State. The rest of the game was even. Additionally, they have shown a pretty big variety over the last couple of weeks, sometimes going with Cover-2/Quarters, sometimes doing a lot of Cover-1/Cover-3, and this week, going heavy with a zone blitz scheme. They have been diverse, and I expect that to continue.

What should we get excited about? Tyreke Smith as a legitimate pass rushing end. He won’t be Chase Young or either of the Bosa brothers. He could definitely be a Sam Hubbard or better though, and that would be a big boost to a defense that already leads the P5 in sacks and TFLs. Additionally, for the second game in a row, Jerron Cage looks like a legitimately good 1-technique. This is a position that struggled in the Oregon game, but he seems to have developed nicely.

Archive

Offense vs. Oregon / Defense vs. Oregon

Offense vs. Tulsa / Defense vs. Tulsa

Offense vs. Akron / Defense vs. Akron

Offense vs. Rutgers / Defense vs. Rutgers

Offense vs. Maryland / Defense vs. Maryland

Mid-Season Review

Offense vs. Indiana / Defense vs. Indiana

Offense vs. Penn State

This series is based off of Upon Further Review from MgoBlog.