Eight of the 11 starters on Ohio State’s defense from the 2015 season have already been selected in the NFL Draft. That number will increase to nine next season as defensive end Tyquan Lewis will almost surely be picked, as well.
The Buckeyes were loaded that year on both sides of the ball despite falling short of a College Football Playoff berth. In particular, however, Ohio State was stockpiled with NFL talent on defense.
Following that season, though, the Buckeyes lost the likes of Joey Bosa, Adolphus Washington, Joshua Perry, Darron Lee, Eli Apple, Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell (who wasn’t drafted but is on an NFL roster). It was widely expected there would be a slight drop-off in production. How could there not be?
Except there wasn’t. Ohio State’s defense was just as good, if not better in 2016.
The Buckeyes allowed 15.1 points (second nationally) and 311.3 yards (ninth) per game during that 2015 campaign. This past season, Ohio State allowed 15.5 points (third nationally) and 296.1 yards (sixth). Those numbers are relatively similar.
Where there was a significant improvement was in the turnover department. The Buckeyes forced 21 turnovers in 2015 which tied for 59th nationally. In 2016, Ohio State forced 27 (tied for 10th). Call that the Greg Schiano effect, if you will.
“You always have little things when you look back and could we do this? Can we add this? More than anything, we just want to get better at what we did. How do you improve? We made some great strides in taking the ball away last year. We went from 50-something in the country to 10th. Well, how do we go from 10th to first?”– Greg Schiano
Schiano joined the Buckeyes’ staff as a co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach prior to last season and put a huge emphasis on takeaways. His impact was obvious as players like Malik Hooker and Marshon Lattimore emerged in the secondary and helped Ohio State improve significantly in that department.
Now, with NFL talents like Hooker, Lattimore, Gareon Conley and Raekwon McMillan all gone, the question that remains is can Schiano improve the Buckeyes’ defense once more?
“You always have little things when you look back and could we do this? Can we add this?” Schiano said at the conclusion of spring practice. “More than anything, we just want to get better at what we did. How do you improve? We made some great strides in taking the ball away last year. We went from 50-something in the country to 10th. Well, how do we go from 10th to first?”
Schiano also noted Ohio State improved in its red zone defense from 2015 to 2016. Opponents scored touchdowns against the Buckeyes on 61.3 percent of their red zone trips during that 2015 campaign — a number that was just 76th in the country. In 2016, however, Ohio State surrendered touchdowns just 37.5 percent of the time when opponents reached the red zone. That number was second in the country behind LSU’s 24.4 percent.
The jumps in some categories were pretty remarkable. And while there isn’t a ton of drastic improvement to be made on Ohio State’s defense, one area could be an improved pass rush. The Buckeyes registered just 28 sacks last season, which ranked just 54th in the country.
Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson said it was a point of emphasis all spring and you can bet Schiano worked right alongside Johnson to improve things schematically to allow the Buckeyes to get to the opposing quarterback a bit easier.
Schiano feels there’s no reason Ohio State shouldn’t be near the top of every statistical defensive category no matter how much turnover is on the roster.
“At Ohio State, you have the type of players that you should be at the top in all the categories,” he said. “We look at it and say, ‘OK, we’ve made improvements.’ A coach always says now we have to enhance it. How do we make it even better?”
“You have personnel so do you put some new things in to get the best use of your personnel? Yeah, that’s the job of the coach,” Schiano continued. “But the biggest chunk we have to do is really get better at the things we already were doing.”
