Defensively Speaking: Marshall

I wish this could be another article where I get to talk about the new and creative concepts Jim Knowles is installing. However, this article will instead look at some of the issues we saw against Marshall. The good news is that most of these issues can be fixed easily with some very minor tweaks to the scheme.

Ohio State did run some more Cover 1 Lurk on Saturday than they did in the previous two games. Below, for example, Ohio State is in Cover 1 Lurk and Cody Simon does a great job as the spy in the low hole knocking the crosser off his route and giving Lathan Ransom the opportunity to make a tackle for loss:

However, it still seems apparent that Knowles is more committed to becoming a defense that operates primarily out of two-high safety looks. As a result, we’re seeing a little less Cover 1, and more two-high safety coverage schemes like Cover 2 (two deep safeties responsible for the deep halves of the field with five underneath zone defenders):

We’re also seeing more quarters coverage concepts, such as Cover 4 “MEG” (“Man Everywhere he Goes”) which is a quarters coverage concept where the two outside cornerbacks are in man coverage. See an example below – Ohio State has three underneath defenders, two deep safeties, and both cornerbacks are in man coverage:

Also, see a sample diagram of “MEG” below from one of Cameron Soran’s articles:

Although this was not a great rep by the Buckeye defense, I still thought it was a good example of the “MEG” concept.

Most of the issues on Saturday came against the run. Many of these issues were simply due to questionable alignment. For example, below, Ohio State sets their nose tackle to the field/running back against a 10-personnel (1 RB / 0 TE’s) 2×2 look. Marshall runs a simple Inside Zone Lock scheme, meaning they are running inside zone with the backside offensive tackle man blocking the backside defensive end (in other words, he is “locked” on the backside defensive end):

It’s a pretty basic rule that if you want to line up and play base defense with two high safeties against a 4-wide 2×2 look, you need to set the 3-tech to the field. However, here’s how Ohio State aligned on that play:

Note how the Will linebacker (Sonny Styles) is being asked to come all the way in from an apex position (meaning he is aligned at the halfway point between the offensive tackle and the slot receiver) to fill the A-gap. That just isn’t a reasonable thing to ask of any linebacker. As a result, Simon is in a position where he has to play slow and fit based on what the ballcarrier does. Even if Simon had filled that B-gap quickly, the ballcarrier would’ve easily just cut back through the A-gap because there was no way Styles was ever going to get there. The better way to align against this set is the set to the 3-technique to the field (below):

In this alignment, Styles is only charged with fitting into the B-gap, which is far more feasible. However, the most optimal strategy here would be to have that defensive end to Styles’ side playing a HEAVY technique. When playing a HEAVY technique, the defensive end will rip inside to the B-gap against zone blocks, and the Will linebacker will instead take the C-gap. See the diagram below:

As you can see, this approach makes everyone’s job a little easier. It allows for Styles to still play against the potential RPO to that slot receiver while not also having to worry about filling an interior gap.

Most of the issues on Saturday were largely due to poor defensive alignment. We saw these types of issues a number of times on Saturday, but I felt that doing a deeper dive with diagrams on the last play I discussed might be of more value than going through these same issues in less detail on a larger number of plays. Again, these are easy fixes. However, I am a little anxious going forward about whether these issues will actually be properly addressed.

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