Defensively Speaking: Nebraska

Was Ohio State’s defensive performance against Nebraska perfect? No. Was it good enough to win them the game on a day where the offense struggled to get things going? Yes. There is still a lot that can be criticized, but I’d like this article to keep a more optimistic tone, so we’re going to focus on some of the positives we saw.

Ohio State ran a lot of Cover 1 on Saturday. Often times, they were blitzing while in Cover 1. I wrote an article this off-season about Jim Knowles’ favorite blitz call through his first two years in Columbus. Yet for the first half of the 2024 season, we never saw this blitz. However, he ran it a bunch on Saturday, such as below:

And below, Ohio State called for a nickel blitz paired with Cover 1:

Although Knowles primarily called Cover 1 blitzes, he also got a little more creative at times. For example, in the next clip, Knowles called for a Cover 3 simulated pressure out of 3-2-6 personnel with only two defensive linemen rushing along with two back-7 players (the nickel and the dime):

Additionally, Ohio State was good against the run throughout the day. Check out the next clip where Nebraska tries running the infamous stretch to the boundary, but JT Tuimoloau does a great job setting the edge, so the play goes nowhere:

And below, Nebraska tries running inside zone but Ty Hamilton does a good job playing a gap and a half and stopping this play for almost nothing:

The only noteworthy defensive concern I took away from the Nebraska game is that Ohio State is still vulnerable in Cover 1 because they do not pass off routes when it’s necessary. It’s very surprising that a team who runs so much Cover 1 has not addressed this problem. It will be something to keep an eye on moving forward.