Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
With Ohio State being halfway through the 2024 regular season, we can look ahead to some of the storylines and things we’ll be looking for over the next six games. The Buckeyes are still in prime position to make the College Football Playoff, but they can’t become too comfortable since they still have tough games left at Penn State and in Columbus against Indiana and Michigan. Even though the Wolverines have taken a few steps back this season, Buckeye Nation can’t take the meeting between the rivals in late November for granted since Ryan Day has lost the last three meetings with That Team Up North.
There is no question Ohio State is one of the strongest teams in the country this season. There still are questions that need to be answered about the Buckeyes, though. How will the offensive line respond to the loss of tackle Josh Simmons? Will the defense continue to shrink in big games? What more would you like to see from the offense? Those are all questions that are pertinent to the Big Ten and national title hopes this season.
Today we want to know what you will be focusing on in the second half of Ohio State’s regular season. The loss to Oregon may sting but it definitely has made the Buckeyes take a deeper look at their team and things they can work on so they can make sure the same mistakes don’t happen if the two teams meet again in the Big Ten Championship Game or in the College Football Playoff.
Today’s question: What will you have your eyes on in the second half of Ohio State’s regular season?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: How the defense plays in big games
There has been a common theme for the Ohio State defense since Jim Knowles took over as defensive coordinator following the 2021 season. The Buckeyes are lights out when they are playing lesser competition. Unfortunately the same can’t be said when Ohio State has played some of the top teams in the country over the last three seasons. While Oregon does have one of the best offenses in the country, the Buckeyes left more to be desired from their defensive unit when the Ducks had the football.
One area of the defense that stands out is the lack of impact plays the defensive line makes. Maybe defensive line coach Larry Johnson is past his prime and is kept on staff because of the work he did in the past. I almost guarantee that if you had someone 20 years younger producing results like Johnson has in the last few years, they would already be in the unemployment line. How J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer aren’t bigger forces on the defensive line is puzzling. Both have had their moments over the last few years, they just aren’t consistently making life difficult for opposing quarterbacks.
It will also be interesting to see how cornerback Denzel Burke recovers from his horrific performance against Oregon. Burke had the unenviable task of trying to cover Tez Johnson, who has shown he is one of the best wide receivers in the country. If Burke wants to be considered one of the best cornerbacks in the country, he has to find a way to win a few of those battles with Johnson. As if allowing so many receptions wasn’t bad enough, Burke looked like he was allergic to talking against the Ducks. While the performance isn’t going to be a career-defining game for Burke, it could make teams think twice when he enters the NFL Draft.
Until it happens consistently, I just can’t trust Jim Knowles to make the right calls in a big game. There is way too much talent on defense for Ohio State to play as poorly as they did in Eugene. If the Buckeyes play the same way against Penn State, they might suffer the same fate and see their CFP hopes disappear, and if Ohio State doesn’t make the playoff then Knowles better be working on a revised version of his resumé since he’ll be looking for another job in the offseason.
Matt’s answer: Get some damn sacks in big games finally
My answer is partially baked into Brett’s, but I am going to be a little more singularly focused on the defensive front in general and the defensive line specifically. We are all well aware of the Buckeye defense’s inability to come up with sacks in big games and in big moments. Nationally, they rank 33rd with 17 sacks on the season, but those types of numbers are cumulative and don’t give any sort of insight into when and against whom they happen.
Obviously, you expect to not be as disruptive and productive against the best competition on your schedule, but the difference between how Jim Knowles’ defenses play against the bad to above-average teams is markedly different from how they play against the best teams on the schedule. Knowles has been Ohio State’s defensive coordinator for two and a half seasons, so while it’s not the biggest sample size — especially since there are so many returning defensive starters — I do think that we can pinpoint the issues coming from the scheme.
The Buckeyes do not do anything creative with their pass rush on a consistent basis. It is primarily just run your four d-linemen straight ahead and hope they can beat the five offensive linemen and any tight ends or running backs that the opponents keep in for protection. As we have seen, that has not been especially productive.
I am not a football genius, so I cannot prescribe the exact play calls in every situation that will get this group of obviously physically gifted athletes to sack the quarterback, but I can tell what they have been doing isn’t working. So, I am hoping that we see more stunts, more exotic calls, more linemen dropping back while linebackers blitz, more involvement from the defensive backs in the pass rush, and basically whatever needs to be done in order to have some sort of disruptive impact on opposing QBs throwing the ball.
Denzel Burke is one of the best cornerbacks in the country, but he was absolutely embarrassed against Oregon. While he has to bear the brunt of that, it certainly didn’t help that Dillon Gabriel was not especially bothered by the OSU pass rush. Knowles and defensive line coach Larry Johnson need to get on the same page (despite Ryan Day obviously lying by saying they already are) and get this shit figured out.
You simply can’t have this conglomeration of talent and not meet any of your goals. Fortunately, beating Michigan, winning the Big Ten, and winning the national title are all still fully in their control, but if the Buckeye coaching staff doesn’t get some things figured out ASAP, I am afraid we will have another disappointing ending to the season, and very well another coaching search this winter.