Darron Lee crossed the goal line, dropped the football and spread his arms as wide as he could, shouting toward the sky. Ohio State’s star redshirt sophomore outside linebacker had just made yet another play that changed a game.
Fans inside Ohio Stadium — who were sitting on the edges of their seats eager for something, anything to happen as their beloved Buckeyes were struggling — erupted when Lee intercepted Drew Hare’s pass and returned it 41 yards to the end zone. Ohio State was out of sync and out of whack, frankly, as it clung to a 13-10 lead late in the third quarter before Lee changed all of that, perfectly reading an attempted screen pass, grabbing the pick and taking it the distance.
When the Buckeyes needed something in a big way, Lee again delivered.
“Really just read it and went and made a play,” Lee said following Ohio State’s 20-13 win. “Knew we needed something and just tried to make something happen.”
But that seems to be the theme for this year’s Ohio State team, at least through its first three games. The defense has continued to step up while the offense continues to search for an identity. The Buckeyes were supposed to have one of the greatest offenses in college football, but the last two weeks they’ve looked like quite the opposite.
The defense, however, has been brilliant. And it has needed to be.
“Ever since last year, the end of last season, our defense was playing exceptionally well,” head coach Urban Meyer said. “I think they held them way below their average and five turnovers on offense, that’s exceptional play by our defense.”
“We just want to be great every week and honor the players that played before us so that’s what it’s all about.”– Sam Hubbard
Ohio State limited Northern Illinois — which had been averaging over 500 yards of total offense through its first two games — to just 190. Perhaps even more impressive, the Buckeyes limited the Huskies to just 80 total yards passing.
Ohio State needed that play from its defense, too, because the offense certainly wasn’t doing its part. The Buckeyes played poorly on offense in last weekend’s 38-0 win over Hawai’i, but a lot of that was chalked up to a short work week. There were none of those excuses available to Ohio State this week — the Buckeyes flat out played poorly.
But then Lee made the play that changed the game and Ohio State’s defense continued to get stops down the stretch long enough to hang on for a win.
“We know those guys will put points on the board. They're a little sluggish right now,” junior safety Vonn Bell said. “We just gotta hold the load right now and keep on balling. Defense is playing heckuva ball right now. I'm very proud of this defense and this coaching staff. We just gotta keep moving forward.”
Two years ago, a defensive performance like this didn’t seem possible. Ohio State had one of the worst pass defenses in the country and the Buckeyes got exposed for that down the stretch, losing back-to-back games to Michigan State and Clemson to end the season.
Those struggles carried over early into 2014, but as the year went on, Ohio State’s defense got stronger. It played outstanding in the three-game run to the national title and so far, that has carried over into the 2015 season.
“We have an excellence of the Silver Bullets. Everyone on the defense has a silver bullet they wear around the facility,” said redshirt freshman defensive end Sam Hubbard, who had 1.5 sacks. “We just want to be great every week and honor the players that played before us so that’s what it’s all about.”
Ohio State's offense got all of the headlines in the offseason, and perhaps that was justified based on the talented playmakers on that side of the ball. But right now, the Buckeyes' defense is winning the games and that rang true again Saturday.
“Sky’s the limit, I really do believe that,” senior linebacker Joshua Perry said. “The talent of the guys, but how we get together and we just have an identity. We go hard, we care about each other and we play with a lot of juice.”
