Jim Knowles Says Ohio State's Defense Was Not Outstanding "In Any Area" Against Oregon

It's beneficial for the Buckeyes to have a bye week after their loss at Oregon, because their defense might need a bit of soul-searching.

Big plays and coverage lapses cost Ohio State in its 32-31 loss to the Ducks on Saturday after it entered the contest with the nation's No. 1 scoring and total defense.

"Got to do a better job coaching. That’s it. That’s the bottom line. We didn’t make enough plays. I didn’t think we were outstanding in any area," Knowles said. "Felt like we were always behind. It was uncharacteristic. We got to learn from it."

Ohio State held 11 of its 13 opponents to less than 340 yards of offense in 2023. The Ducks racked up 341 yards through the air alone en route to a 496-yard performance, the most yards allowed by the Buckeyes' defense since their 42-41 loss to Georgia in the 2022 College Football Playoff semifinals. Oregon's 32 points were also the most Ohio State has allowed since that game.

Aside from the one-point margin of defeat and overall defensive letdown, there's another parallel between that loss and the one the Buckeyes suffered on Saturday: Big plays driving the opposing offense.

Big plays cost Ohio State in that Peach Bowl, then were answered with a 2023 outfit that played safer and kept most of the action in front of it. But Oregon hit the Buckeyes for eight plays of 20 yards or more, six of them coming through the air. The two biggest, a 69-yard strike from quarterback Dillon Gabriel to wide receiver Evan Stewart and a 48-yard scoring bomb from Gabriel to wideout Tez Johnson, came over the head of Denzel Burke, the top cornerback on Ohio State's depth chart.

IT'S TEZ TIME

Tez Johnson hauls it in to give @oregonfootball the lead once again pic.twitter.com/mhORta87iv
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 13, 2024

Asked what he'd say to Burke after the game, Knowles had some encouraging words. The defensive back has shown he's capable of better, but it's one of many areas Ohio State will need to address.

"I would just tell him he's a great player and that we love him," Knowles said. "He knows and they all know all the bad plays go on me. He, me, the whole defense, we need to learn from it. We're going to get more chances, so we've got to take that away and we've got to find a way to get better."

The top area of concern – tied in with Burke's two big lapses – is getting the Buckeyes' secondary back to a level of play similar to last year's when they had the No. 1 pass defense in college football. Four of five starters returned from that group and the nation's No. 1 transfer portal prospect, Caleb Downs, replaced the one departing starter at free safety.

That was hard to tell watching Ohio State's defensive backfield on Saturday as Gabriel torched the team for 341 yards, going 23-of-34 (68%) with two touchdowns and no interceptions. His 10 yards per attempt bested his season average of 8.7.

"He does a good job of stepping up in the pocket," Knowles said. "We knew that he's a really good quarterback. What we had didn't work, so we certainly need to evaluate that whole process and plan."

It was the most passing yards Ohio State has allowed since, again, the 2022 Peach Bowl against Georgia when it gave up 398 through the air.

"We didn’t execute. It’s coachspeak, but we didn’t execute," Knowles said. "We’re doing the same things, but when you play a better opponent, you have to raise (the) level of our game. I just felt like our guys – we just need to coach them better. We need to get them in better positions, focus on the details and make sure that this loss doesn’t beat us twice. Fix the problems. Coach harder. Work harder."

Of course, coverage is made harder when a quarterback can set down a tarp, get a campfire going, toast some marshmallows and do some stargazing before pitching a tent in the pocket. Ohio State recorded no sacks against Oregon, though Caden Curry did get to Gabriel as he crossed the line of scrimmage on one pass play. JT Tuimoloau had the Buckeyes' lone two quarterback hits.

The Buckeyes also had at least five tackles for loss in each game before they traveled to Eugene and only recorded two against the Ducks.

Oregon running back Jordan James also broke off a 25-yard run, one of seven totes he had that went for 7 yards or more. He finished with 23 carries for 115 yards (5 yards per carry) with a touchdown.

"We're going to have to, obviously, go back and figure out what the common theme was," Ryan Day said of the big plays the team allowed. "But there's a few things that we could probably point to. There were some long throws down the field where they got behind us. There were some runs that split that weren't fit correctly. And so there was more than just one thing."

Gabriel also managed to gash the Buckeyes with his legs for a 27-yard touchdown that put the Ducks ahead 29-28 in the fourth quarter, ultimately the final touchdown of the game. Oregon's signal caller only had four total rushing attempts for 32 yards. Then again, linebacker Cody Simon said a surprising scheme isn't what hurt Ohio State in Autzen Stadium.

"They ran most of what we saw," Simon said. "It's just – we've got to execute. That's what it comes down to. Just disappointing and we've just got to get back to the drawing board."

Simon, Ohio State's "Block O" jersey recipient and a team captain, also felt the team didn't respond well to Oregon's up-tempo offense.

"As a defense, we just have to be more ready for everything," Simon said. "We've just got to have more urgency. There's a big part of (the explosives), them going tempo. We've just got to be ready for everything. We weren't ready and we've just got to be better."

Saturday's loss to Oregon isn't entirely on the defense. As Day pointed out postgame, the offense still had the ball back with a chance to win and couldn't finish the job. There were still Ohio State drives that stalled out. One of the Ducks' touchdowns came after a fumble by the Buckeyes inside their own 30-yard line and they got a field goal following a surprise onside kick recovery.

But the Buckeyes' defense has talked before about winning games 3-0 if necessary. They have all the talent and should, on paper, be among the best in the country. They'll need to figure out why they weren't against Oregon and how to play that way the rest of the year during this bye week.

"We got to practice better. We got to coach better," Knowles said. "Our players are certainly good enough to win that game. We talked about winning it on defense, but we didn’t get the job done."