The Buckeyes do not want to be in the same position for the second year in a row.
Ohio State’s defense has not only been better in 2023 than it was in 2022, but it has also been one of the best in the country. This season, the Buckeyes rank second in the country with only 11 points allowed per game and third in the country with only 259.9 yards allowed per game. Ohio State has not allowed 17 points in any game all season until the last week of the regular season.
However, with the game versus Michigan on the line, Ohio State’s defense was unable to generate the stops it required. While the Buckeyes performed a better job of preventing explosive plays than they did in the Wolverines’ 2022 loss, they still let Michigan to score on all four of its second-half drives (excluding the Wolverines’ end-of-game kneeldown), leading to Ohio State’s 30-23 loss in Ann Arbor.
It was a major disappointment for a defense that had consistently delivered in crucial moments until that point in the season that it was unable to do so in the most important game of the year, resulting in Ohio State failing to qualify for the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff.
“We learned that when you’re playing a team you know what they’re going to do and you know they’re going to try to bleed the clock out, you have to get stops.” And there might have been a handful of things we could’ve done differently, maybe given a couple of different looks, I think that’s what we’ve thought about,” Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer said this week. “It all comes down to making a play and getting off the block a little quicker.”
And getting the ball back to the offense a little sooner would have been important. And I don’t think we did that. So, as I mentioned after that game, it wasn’t on offense that we lost that game.”
Last season, Ohio State followed its worst defensive performance of the season against Michigan with an equally poor defensive performance against Georgia, allowing the Bulldogs to score 42 points on 533 total yards and 8.88 yards per play, the most Ohio State has ever allowed in a single game.
This year, Ohio State is determined not to have one bad defensive performance follow another.
“It’s been a year of defensive improvement.” It’s been a year in which the defense has accepted the challenge of stepping up for everyone. And I know they want to go out that way,” said Jim Knowles, Ohio State’s defensive coordinator. “You see, these guys have a bad taste in their mouth and they want to finish the game.”
While the Cotton Bowl versus Missouri isn’t nearly the same as a College Football Playoff game against Georgia, it will be one of the most difficult tests for Ohio State’s defense this season.
Missouri’s offense, led by Biletnikoff Award semifinalist WR Luther Burden and Doak Walker Award finalist running back Cody Shrader, is likely the greatest Ohio State has faced all season. This season, the Tigers rank 24th in the FBS with 442.9 yards per game, more than any other club Ohio State faced during the regular season, and 15th in yards per play. They rank 13th nationally in passing yards per attempt (9.1) and 43rd in running yards per attempt (4.6), making them as balanced as any offensive the Buckeyes have faced.
“You can’t really focus in one area,” Knowles said.
Michigan and Missouri are the two best offensive teams Ohio State has faced all season, thus the Buckeyes’ performance against those two teams may reveal more about whether Ohio State’s defense is elite than its domination in the first 11 games.
No amount of domination against Missouri will compensate for the loss to Michigan, and given that Missouri has scored at least 21 points in every game this season, Ohio State should not be expected to be as dominating against the Tigers as it was for the majority of the regular season. However, it is an opportunity for the Buckeyes’ defense to prove that it is one of the best in the country this season if it can play well enough to lead Ohio State to victory.
“IT’S BEEN A YEAR OF IMPROVEMENT ON DEFENSE. IT’S BEEN A YEAR WHERE THE DEFENSE HAS TAKEN THE CHALLENGE TO STEP UP FOR EVERYONE. AND I KNOW THEY WANT TO GO OUT THAT WAY.”
JIM KNOWLES ON OHIO STATE’S DEFENSE
“I believe we performed admirably. It would be good if we could get a few of drives back in a certain game. When asked how well the defense performed this season, Sawyer replied, “It’d be a definite answer.” “But, aside from that, I believe we had a good year, a really good year.” I believe we could have interrupted the ball a little more and forced a few more turnovers. But, aside than that, I believe we played hard all year and had a really efficient defense.”
That’s one reason the Buckeyes aren’t expecting to have any defensive opt-outs, despite the fact that they will be without starting safety Lathan Ransom and possibly middle linebacker Tommy Eichenberg due to injury.
“It was really just the idea that we’ve put in so much work in the offseason that it’s not all for naught at the end of the year,” Chambers said of the whole Ohio State defense participating in the Cotton Bowl. “Yeah, we lost a game, but we still did all that work for something, so we’ve got to end up winning this game.”
