Rutgers Week Mic Check: All Eyes Turn to Ohio State's Pass Defense After Cameron Brown's Injury and Penn State's Second Half Success

Ohio State's defense dominated the first half against Penn State last weekend, holding the Nittany Lions to just 75 total yards, two pass completions for 29 yards, five first downs and zero third down conversions on the way to a 21-6 lead. 

The second half was a bit of a different story. It has to be considered Ohio State was playing with the lead and therefore did not want to be over-aggressive in its approach but it was still a little tough to watch Sean Clifford complete 16-of-23 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns (against one interception) while receiver Jahan Dotson finished the night with eight grabs for 144 yards and three scores. All but one catch and 20 yards on Dotson's night came in the final 30 minutes. 

The secondary's uneven second half also featured a non-contact injury to junior Cameron Brown. It was revealed Monday night that Brown will miss the season with a torn Achilles. 

With that news still fresh, Ryan Day met with the assembled media yesterday to discuss things as Ohio State continues preparation for a date with Rutgers this Saturday night in the Shoe. 

"The two big catches by Dotson, Shaun was right there on both plays. The kid just made a tremendous play... I have no worries about shaun wade."– RYAN DAY ON PENN STATE WIDE RECEIVER JAHAN DOTSON

No doubt Dotson's big night caused some consternation for Buckeye fans, particularly because much of his success came against Ohio State's No. 1 cornerback, Shaun Wade. 

Day seemed more willing to offer a tip of the cap to Dotson for making some great grabs than cite any real flaws in Wade's coverage, but is it accurate to say Wade was right there? 

He was certainly in the neighborhood but great catch or not, he wasn't in position to make a play on this one. 

WITH ONE HAND ... OH MY GOODNESS #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/eB6g7QtTF3

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 1, 2020

On a different catch that didn't draw as much attention because it didn't go for six, Wade was beat right at the line of scrimmage. 

Lastly, Dotson put some good film on tape up against Shaun Wade. His back-to-back circus catches were impressive, but good news for Penn State to see him win the battle right at the point of attack here, get inside leverage and make a great catch on a good throw. pic.twitter.com/r3kOv0t5Uw

— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) November 1, 2020

Don't get it twisted. Fans shouldn't overreact to one game but it's accurate to say Dotson got the better of Wade more often than not and it wasn't solely the product of fluke catches. Wade is learning to play a different position and he had a growing pain or two. That doesn't mean he won't improve and it doesn't mean he isn't a top tier outside corner. I look forward to how he responds as Ohio State moves forward. 

“Cam came in with experience this season at a position where we couldn't afford to lose anyone. So to lose Cam, it's a significant hit."– RYAN DAY ON THE COSTLY INJURY TO CORNERBACK CAMERON BROWN

Besides Wade, Brown was Ohio State's most experienced cornerback coming into the 2020 slate and through the first two games, his role as the Buckeyes' versatile fourth corner behind starters Wade, Sevyn Banks and Marcus Wiliamson, was cemented. 

Now, Ohio State will have to retool the secondary a bit and there's no clear-cut vision for how that will occur. Day talked about Tyreke Johnson, a former five-star, but I'm hard-pressed to believe he'll carve out a major role this season. 

Instead, it feels like a combo of Banks and Williamson will log the outside cornerback snaps opposite Wade with Williamson and Josh Proctor doing much of the heavy lifting at slot corner. Basically, versatility is going to be of utmost importance and meaningful rotation snaps in the secondary outside of Wade, Banks, Williamson, Proctor and Marcus Hooker could be extremely hard to come by. 

“We'll play as many guys as we think have the opportunity to play at a championship level.”– RYAN DAY ON OHIO STATE'S DEFENSIVE LINE ROTATION

Ohio State's defensive line was phenomenal against the Nittany Lions. Nose tackle Tommy Togiai paced the defense with seven tackles and his three sacks tied for the 7th-most in a single game in school history. 

Defensive end Jonathon Cooper had his best game as a Buckeye, tackle Haskell Garrett continued his stellar play, Zach Harrison was more involved and all five Ohio State sacks came from Larry Johnson's group. In fact, a ridiculous 52% of the team's tackles in the dominant first half (17-of-33) came from the defensive line. 

Day's assertion certainly jives with Johnson's long-time desire to rotate as many guys as possible, keeping them fresh while wearing down the opponent. So far this year, it looks like Johnson is fully confident in five defensive ends while the interior doesn't offer quite the same depth, at least not until Taron Vincent is fully healthy, unless you're of the belief Jerron Cage's snaps won't taper off much when that happens.