Despite all the debate outside the program as to whether or not the Rose Bowl is a "big game" given the circumstances of the season, Ohio State's players and coaches are saying all the right things as they get set to tangle with Utah on Saturday in Pasadena.
A chief reason one could reasonably argue the Rose Bowl doesn't mean a ton is Ohio State's rush defense getting handled in both regular season losses. As a result, regardless of the game's meaning, most fans are indeed interested to see if the defense will respond and slow down a Utah run game ranked No. 2 nationally in yards per carry.
Current secondary coach and de facto interim defensive coordinator Matt Barnes took to the podium yesterday and he's expecting the defense to stand tall after struggling to do so against the Ducks and Wolverines.
I think our guys have responded. You push our guys up against a wall, and they're competitive. They know what they have to do, and I think we've had a good couple of weeks of practice going into the holiday. Had a good one yesterday. Looking forward to physical, fast, competitive day today.– Matt Barnes
Of course, seeing will be believing after Oregon rushed for 269 yards on 7.08 yards per carry in a 35-28 win over Ohio State back in September followed by Michigan destroying the Buckeye defense for 297 rushing yards on 7.24 per try with six touchdowns, even as everyone in the stadium and watching on television knew what was coming.
| OPPONENT | OPP SEASON RUSH YPG | NATL RANK | OPP RUSH YDS VS. OSU | OPP SEASON AVG YPC | NATL RANK | OPP RUSH YPC VS. OSU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OREGON | 203.2 | 26 | 269 | 5.25 | 17 | 7.08 |
| MICHIGAN | 223.9 | 10 | 297 | 5.31 | 12 | 7.24 |
| UTAH | 216.5 | 13 | ??? | 5.62 | 2 | ?.?? |
Now the Buckeyes face a highly motivated Utah offense currently ranked 13th nationally averaging 216.5 rushing yards per contest.
Our own Kyle Jones broke down Utah's attack earlier this month and yeah, the Utes appear to present some major challenges for the Buckeyes.
For starters, Utah brings a lot of window dressing in the form of pre-snap motion and we've seen Ohio State confused by such tactics in previous outings. The Utes also deploy a ton of two and three tight-end sets to compliment already-stout tackle-to-tackle personnel.
In the backfield, Utah brings the threat of the quarterback run with Cameron Rising - a 230-pound signal-caller - averaging 6.5 yards per carry as the team's fourth-leading rusher on the season.
When Ohio State's defenders do get off their blocks, besides Rising, they'll be looking to stop running backs Tavion Thomas and TJ Pledger.
Pledger, the former Oklahoma Sooner, is averaging 6.9 yards per carry so far this season and has gone over 100 yards in four contests despite serving as Thomas' backup for much of the season.
Thomas, as you know by now, is a Dayton, Ohio product once thought to possibly land in Columbus before he took his talents to Cincinnati, then eventually to Utah. He leads the Utes with 1,041 yards on 5.6 per carry though he didn't exactly shred against the better rush defenses he faced.
Thomas averaged a pedestrian 4.1 yards per carry across two games against an Oregon rush defense ranked No. 33 nationally and one versus Arizona State's No. 34 ranked rush defense. He did hit UCLA's No. 26 ranked rush defense for 160 yards on 6.7 per carry in a 44-24 win back in late October.
Overall, it feels like Utah has leaned on consistent execution to generate rushing results greater than the sum of its parts and it'll be up to Ohio State's defense to show it can finally stand tall against an upper tier run game if the Buckeyes hope to escape Pasadena with a Rose Bowl win.
