Ohio State Buckeyes: 5 storylines to watch Saturday against Tulsa

Here are five things storylines to watch in the game:

1. Everyone wants to know how Ohio State respond to its first regular season loss under Ryan Day.

Only time will tell, but the third-year head coach liked what he saw during the week.

“I think the energy at practice has been very good,” he said Thursday. “We’ve had a few group meetings and it’s been good. The energy has been good, but now we’ve got to go put it on the field.”

2. The defense is under the microscope after suffering repeated breakdowns last week.

Day said to expect changes for OSU when the other team has the ball, but he hasn’t revealed what those might be.

Second-year defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs has been under fire from fans, and he and other members of the staff could have different responsibilities this week.

No defensive coaches or players were available for interviews during the week, but receiver Garrett Wilson said the defense was trying some new things.

“That comes with a learning curve, but the energy and the attention to detail the last two days, I feel like it hasn’t been like that since camp started,” Wilson said. “We knew we had some problems, but whenever you lose, it magnifies them. So there’s no room for messing up at practice anymore.”

3. Tulsa’s overall offensive numbers are not impressive, but coach Phillip Montgomery’s running game could be dangerous.

Shamari Brooks is already Tulsa’s No. 5 rusher in school history with more than 2,800 yards, but Deneric Prince has been the team’s leading rusher so far. He has 180 yards on the season, including 151 in the season-opener against UC-Davis, while Brooks has 106 yards.

Stopping the run has been a problem for the Buckeyes, so this figures to be an area to watch.

“I think we’ve got good weapons,” Montgomery told reporters in Tulsa this week. “We’ve got guys that are really stepping up. I thought especially in the second half the other day you started to see us starting to come around offensively and kind of gain some confidence, gain momentum. We got to continue to take those steps.”

4. Some new or different faces could be part of the action for the Buckeyes.

The coaching staff has not settled on a regular defensive lineup yet, though it’s not for lack of trying as 33 players have seen action on that side of the ball.

This week they could tighten the rotation or try even more new faces.

Bryson Shaw and Marcus Hooker are among the candidates to become the full-time deep safety after Oklahoma native Josh Proctor was lost for the season to a leg injury.

Day said cornerback Ryan Watts got a look there as well this week along with redshirt freshman Kourt Williams.

Linebacker Palaie Gaoteote, nose tackle Tyleik Williams and safety Andre Turrentine had the black stripe removed from their helmets this week, a rite of passage that signifies becoming a full-fledged member of the team and perhaps preparedness for more playing time.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not), they all play positions Ohio State could use some help.

While Williams and Turrentine are true freshmen, Gaoteote is a former starter at USC who was a five-star high school recruit.

Defensive line was expected to be a strength entering the season, but the Buckeyes had trouble holding the point of attack against Oregon — especially in the middle, where Tommy Togiai is gone from last season and senior Jerron Cage has not been available the first two weeks because of injury.

The 315-pound Williams played briefly against Oregon, as did classmate J.T. Tuimoalou at end, and both received positive grades from Pro Football Focus.

5. The Buckeyes are eager to atone for last week.

“We’re hungry,” said junior left tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere, who was a true freshman the last time the Buckeyes lost a regular season game. “This is a learning experience for a lot of us because it hasn’t happened in a while here.”

He saw Day take the loss in stride and try to use it as a learning experience for coaches and players alike.

“For us to learn what we did wrong and how to improve and fix the mistakes that we made so we can have a better team,” he said. “All those small little details are things that we’ve done for so many years. That’s why we won, and when you lose track of some of those small details, things like this can happen — so we’re getting back to the basics. We’re making sure we do all the small details right, correcting all the small mistakes and never letting anything for granted.”

They’ll be taking on a defense that has 18 tackles for loss in two games and is ranked No. 41 in the country in SP+, an advanced metric that combines efficiency and explosiveness.

The Golden Hurricane offense is is 99th in SP+ while Ohio State is No. 2 on offense and 39th on ‘D’.

SATURDAY’S GAME

Tulsa at Ohio State, 3:30 p.m., FS1, 1410