Ohio State’s Defense Delivers with Game on the Line Against Nebraska

Ohio State needed its defense to win the game in the fourth quarter for the second game in a row. This time, the Buckeye defense delivered.

The Buckeyes shouldn’t have needed to rely on their defense to make two fourth-quarter stops to squeak out a four-point win over Nebraska, a team they were favored to beat by 25.5 points. But on a day where Ohio State’s offense had its worst performance of the season by far, scoring a season-low 21 points and averaging just 2.1 yards per rushing attempt as its offensive line struggled mightily without Josh Simmons, the Buckeyes’ defense did what they couldn’t do against Oregon to fend off Nebraska’s upset bid.

The fourth quarter got off to a precarious start for the Buckeye defense as they allowed Nebraska to drive 74 yards in nine plays for a go-ahead touchdown. But Ohio State’s defense hardly could have been blamed even if that had proved to be a game-winning touchdown. After all, the Buckeyes had kept the Cornhuskers out of the end zone on all of Nebraska’s nine drives before that, including back-to-back possessions in the third quarter that started in OSU territory yet resulted in no Nebraska points. One of those drives started at the 7-yard line after a Will Howard interception and ended with Davison Igbinosun and Cody Simon stuffing Dante Dowdell on 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line.

DENIED ON 4TH & GOAL

The @OhioStateFB defense comes up with a MASSIVE stop pic.twitter.com/CgGlPqp2fN
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 26, 2024

Nevertheless, Ohio State’s defense had something to prove when it took the field for Nebraska’s next possession with 6:04 to play after the Buckeyes’ only touchdown drive of the second half put them back in front, 21-17. When the defense had been placed in a similar position two weeks prior at Oregon, where it took the field with exactly six minutes left needing to preserve a two-point lead for Ohio State, the Buckeyes allowed the Ducks to bleed more than four minutes off the clock before kicking what would ultimately be a game-winning field goal.

This time, Ohio State got off the field in just three plays, forcing a 3-and-out with a second-down JT Tuimoloau tackle for loss and a third-down forced incompletion.

Ohio State’s defense was forced to hold the lead one more time when the Buckeyes’ offense went 3-and-out on its ensuing possession. After a controversial targeting penalty against Arvell Reese moved Nebraska to its 46-yard line, Ohio State’s defense stepped up again. Simon blew up two straight screen passes for tackles for loss before Jordan Hancock – who moved from his unusual nickelback position to play safety against Nebraska with Lathan Ransom out due to injury – picked off Dylan Raiola on a throw over the middle for a game-sealing interception.

OHIO STATE PICKS OFF RAIOLA

The @ohiostatefb defense does it again! pic.twitter.com/Su5tQEYDqG
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 26, 2024

After a game that he acknowledged shouldn’t have been as close as it was, Ryan Day was proud of his defense for responding to its struggles in Eugene – where the Buckeyes allowed Oregon to put up 496 yards of offense – and getting the job done when Ohio State needed it most.

“We put the defense in bad spots … but I really like the way the defense played,” Day said. “I thought we played with energy. We played with fire. We kept fighting, even though there were some tough spots.”

Ohio State’s defense was always supposed to be the unit it could lean on most this season, but there were serious questions about whether the defense was that unit because of how it played in the 32-31 loss at Oregon. Ohio State defensive tackle Ty Hamilton said the Buckeyes never stopped believing that they were, though.

“We know that we're the best defense in the country and that we just didn't play in the standard that we did at Oregon,” said Hamilton, who recorded five tackles with a sack vs. the Ducks. “Definitely shot ourselves in the foot (at Oregon), but it doesn't stop us from continuing on to play the best defense that we can.”

That’s not to say that Saturday’s performance against Nebraska will erase questions about Ohio State’s defense from outside the program. The Cornhuskers haven’t exactly been an offensive juggernaut, averaging only 18 points per game in Big Ten play, and Raiola had a couple of missed throws to open receivers that could have gone for big plays. Lorenzo Styles Jr. got away with contact that easily could have been a defensive pass interference penalty on the third-down incompletion that got the defense off the field on its fourth-quarter stop. Ohio State did a better job of generating pressure against Nebraska than it did against Oregon, recording three sacks and 13 tackles for loss, but Hancock’s interception was its only forced turnover of the game.

Ohio State’s defense knows it could have played better than it did against Nebraska and that it will need to play better with tougher tests to come, one of which comes next week when the Buckeyes play Penn State, whose offense was averaging 13 more yards per game than Oregon entering Saturday.

“We could always be better. There are still so many areas where we could have made plays, and we could have helped our offense out more,” said Simon, who led the Buckeyes with eight tackles and three tackles for loss. “We need to make more turnovers. We need to create more stops and give up less rushing yards and keep the quarterback in the pocket. There’s a lot of stuff we can work on. So I mean, I'm glad because guys won't get complacent about this, because we know we can do so much better.”

That said, proving it could lead the Buckeyes to a win in the fourth quarter was a test that Ohio State’s defense desperately needed to pass after failing to force a single fourth-quarter punt or turnover in each of Ohio State’s last three games that were decided by fewer than 14 points, dating back to last year’s losses to Michigan and Missouri. And the Buckeyes believe doing so against Nebraska is something they can build off of.

“We didn't have the experience to go out there and know what it takes to win in the two-minute drill, so being able to have these two games under our belts is huge for us,” Hamilton said.