Ohio State Buckeyes: Day defends defensive philosophy, looks for answers

In the 10 days between the Buckeyes’ loss at Oregon and the first day since that Ryan Day met with the media (Tuesday), debates have raged about whether or not the unit ranked third in the nation in points allowed and second in yards allowed can be fixed in time for Ohio State to achieve its lofty goals this season.

From that perspective, the situation might sound crazy to the average outside observer, but this is college football, after all, and “fan” is short for “fanatic” for good reason.

Also: Oregon’s 32-31 win featured many now familiar flaws for the erstwhile “Silver Bullets,” and many of the impressive numbers the defense posted in the first half of the season came against inferior competition.

The Ducks, who are No. 1 in the Associated Press poll this week, put up nearly 500 yards against the Buckeyes and moved the ball on the ground and through the air with equal effectiveness.

Most notably, they had 10 explosive plays and nearly no negative plays (two tackles for loss, no sacks or turnovers), two ongoing issues in the 2.5-year era of Jim Knowles as Ohio State defensive coordinator.

No less an authority on defense than Nick Saban joined the chorus of critics last week when the retired seven-time national champion head coach told ESPN’s Pat McAfee that Ohio State used an “antiquated” approach to rush Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who completed 23 of 34 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns.

“In college football, I think the rules favor the offense,” said Saban, who ironically oversaw one of the worst Ohio State secondaries in history as a young assistant in the early 1980s before going on to much greater success. “Being able to block down the field, throw RPOs, throw screens and block people and crack people, I mean it’s tough to play great defense the way you used to and win the game on defense.

“So I was really impressed with Oregon the way they played on defense against a really good Ohio State offensive team with a lot of weapons and then the way Oregon just sort of picked Ohio State apart. They didn’t affect the quarterback in any way... they didn’t ever pressure. I mean, there was just four guys rushing, which that’s kind of an antiquated way to play defense.”

Pro Football Focus credited ends J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer with seven and four pressures, respectively, in 56 and 59 snaps. Their backups, Kenyatta Jackson and Mitchell Melton, had three and one pressures, respectively, but saw only 18 and nine snaps.

To further Saban’s point about blitzing, only four pressures were credited to any non-lineman: Cody Simon had two, fellow linebacker Sonny Styles had one, and safety Lathan Ransom was credited with one.

“And I’m not being critical of somebody’s philosophy at Ohio State, but there’s so much four-man rush simulated pressure, still able to play the coverages that you play, drop different people, rush somebody that is supposed to be dropping, drop somebody that’s supposed to be rushing,” Saban said. “These things are ways to get pressure without giving up anything in coverage. And I think in this day and age of football, you’ve got to go down that road a little bit or you’re going to be behind the 8-ball.”

That highlighted a curious aspect of Knowles’ time in Columbus.

While he was known for his creativity at previous stops, he has tried to defer to the (perceived) superior talent at his disposal at Ohio State by keeping things more basic.

That includes mostly sticking with a four-man line — something longtime position coach Larry Johnson believes in and Day has endorsed — rather than utilizing different looks up front, as Knowles did at Oklahoma State.

Asked Tuesday if Day and Johnson are on the same page when it comes to rushing the passer, Day said yes.

The head coach also revealed he has been involved personally with trying to figure out the best way for the unit to move forward and offered a defense for this OSU defense not looking like the one Knowles coached in Stillwater.

“I mean, my goal in bringing Jim in was to be the head coach of the defense, and to run it, but we have recruited very well in the defensive line,” Day said.

“So when he was at Oklahoma State, they didn’t have four down D-linemen, and then certainly no depth behind it. So he had to be creative about what he was doing there. Decision was made a long time ago that we have the D-linemen here at Ohio State that can play with four down linemen.

“Now, might we consider some different fronts in changing that up? I think it’s all very good conversation, and we have to make sure that we’re going down all those roads to make sure that, again, we’re putting these guys in a chance to be successful.”

The head coach did seem to affirm Saban had a point.

“We want to make sure we’re making it not easy for the offense to just line up and know where we’re coming from, but I think at the end of the day, to answer your question, it comes down to the personnel you have and where you are, and to put them in a chance to be successful,” Day said. “And I feel like we have plenty of D-linemen here, and we have the right guys on the field, but we gotta make sure that we are changing it up and making sure that it isn’t just a four-man rush all the time for sure.”