During the 2013 season, Ohio State’s defense plummeted to a level it hadn’t been in quite some time. The Buckeyes ranked seventh in the Big Ten in total defense, allowing 377 yards per game, and were even worse defending the pass, surrendering 268 yards per game through the air, ranking 11th in the league.
The unit was exposed primarily in the season’s final two games: losses to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game and Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Against the Spartans, Ohio State’s defense allowed 438 total yards in a 34-24 defeat. And, against the Tigers, the Buckeyes gave up 546 yards as they fell 40-35.
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was critical of the unit and made some changes as a result. Larry Johnson was brought in to replace the departed Mike Vrabel and coach the defensive line, while Chris Ash also came on board to become the Buckeyes’ co-defensive coordinator and coach the safeties.
The results were pretty staggering. Ohio State improved to fifth in the Big Ten in total defense allowing 342 yards per game and jumped all the way up to sixth in pass defense, surrendering just 201 yards per contest.
And as the Buckeyes return seven starters on defense in 2015, expectations are that there will be steady improvement once again.
“We can be really good this year,” Ohio State senior linebacker Joshua Perry said this past spring. “We have a lot of talented guys, we have a lot of guys who care about each other and a lot of guys who will play hard.”
The Buckeyes implemented an entirely new scheme, for the most part, prior to the 2014 season. The secondary was much more aggressive in terms of how it defended the pass with a lot more press coverage than Ohio State fans were used to in previous years.
The Buckeyes won’t have to deal with that installation of a new system this year, though. They’re just making some minor tweaks to what they feel is a successful scheme. Safety Vonn Bell referred to this as “sharpening the sword” this spring.
“Our base defense is not going to change, but as is the case in every offseason you try to find ways to make things better,” Ash said this spring. “You identify what offenses did to attack you and you try to come up with a couple wrinkles here and there to help you with that.”
The scheme is the same and the players, for the most part, are the same, as well. Joey Bosa and Adolphus Washington are back on the defensive line, Perry and Darron Lee return at linebacker and Bell, Tyvis Powell and Eli Apple are back in the secondary. Add in a wave of young talent and hopes are high for another year of improvement.
Meyer always demands excellence and he knows Ohio State’s improbable run to the national title was largely in part to the team’s defensive improvement.
“By the end of the season that was as fine as defensive football as we’ve seen here,” Meyer said this spring. “When you start talking about Ohio State there was a decade of brilliance that disappeared for a couple years. The last three games, that was Ohio State.”
Buckeye fans are hopeful that trend continues in 2015.
