‘Reckless’ Buckeye Defense Again Too Much To Handle

The Buckeyes were favored by a couple of points against Oregon in the Rose Bowl, so coming away with a win on Wednesday was not unexpected. Coming away with a 41-21 win that was never as close as the score indicates over the No. 1 team in the nation, however, was eye-catching at the very least.

Ohio State dominated on both sides of the ball in Pasadena, but the biggest difference between this game and the last time the Buckeyes faced the Ducks was an OSU defense that operated like an escape room without an actual escape.

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel looked for clues everywhere he could but they only led to more punishment. The Buckeyes sacked Gabriel eight times in the Rose Bowl — a stark difference from the zero sacks they managed against him in a 32-31 loss back in October in Eugene, Oregon.

The win wasn’t unexpected, but the score may have raised some eyebrows.

“I didn’t expect it to be like this, but I definitely felt like we were going to win, especially with the mindset that we had,” said fifth-year senior defensive tackle Ty Hamilton. “You could just see in everybody’s eyes that it was a different type of ball game this time. You could see Oregon, after the first couple of drives, they didn’t want to play anymore. That’s what happens.”

Oregon ran into something on Wednesday that no college football team should have been prepared to handle. The Buckeyes attacked until the dogs were called off — and even then, those dogs were waiting to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

So what was the difference for the Buckeyes this time around against the Ducks?

“We kind of just played more reckless,” said junior defensive end Caden Curry. “The last game, we left a lot in there. This time we let it all hang and let it all go. We just played our game instead of playing their game. I feel like this whole playoffs we’re just playing our game and we’re letting it go and playing free. You can see it out there.

What does ‘playing our game’ mean to Ty Hamilton?

“It means we don’t have to worry about them,” he said. “Honestly, if we play with each other and go out there and play for what we have and our cause, there’s no one that can stop us. We’re going out there and playing as a unit.”

The Buckeyes sacked Dillon Gabriel so many times that the Ducks finished with -23 yards rushing. He still threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns, but most of those yards were empty. They were much different than the 341 yards and two touchdowns he managed in the first game against the Buckeyes.

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles took a lot of criticism for the first performance against the Ducks. The defense was tweaked and the approach was adjusted, and not for just this game. But it was especially noticeable when contrasted with the first matchup in October.

“I think we just got after them. We were attacking this game; we weren’t being attacked,” said senior defensive tackle Tyleik Williams. “Just playing fast, violent, and executing. When we do that, we’re a tough team to beat.”

The Ohio State defensive line was credited with five of the eight sacks. Senior defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau each notched a pair, while Curry added the fifth.

How was this game so much different than the first one?

“We were trying to do too much,” said defensive line coach Larry Johnson. “They max-protected us more than anybody the whole season. So we weren’t ready for all of that max protect. Then we were trying to cage the pocket and keep him in the pocket, and when you do that, you stop the rush. So we felt like ‘let’s go get him,’ and we’ll cage from the outside in and hope we can run him to someone. Then we started spying him and it gave us more freedom to take some shots at him.”

Call it an “attacking” defense, or one that plays more “recklessly” if you want, but JT Tuimoloau has a much simpler label.

“It’s just playing Buckeye ball,” he said. “Just staying within our game plan and not letting them dictate what we do. Understanding that we have to do our job as 11 whole – and 12 as well with the fans – and then once we do that and play Buckeye ball and play football like we know how to play football, it all comes full circle.”

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