In Order To Win: Defense

On Monday we looked at five things that the Buckeyes need to do (mostly or wholly) to get the result that Buckeye Nation is looking for. Here on Tuesday, it is time to look at the defense.

Nobody in the nation is allowing fewer points this season than the Buckeyes, just 12.1 PPG. That is 1.5 PPG fewer than Notre Dame, 2.4 PPG fewer than Texas and 3.7 PPG fewer than Penn State. All four remaining team are in the top seven nationally in scoring defense.

Cynics will point out that the Buckeyes have given up 19 PPG in this 12-team playoff, but Ohio State did give up 20 points in the second halves of games after holding multi-score leads in each game.

Those same critics need to realize that Texas has given up 27.5 PPG in its first two games and needed overtime (and a no-call on a targeting) to get to this point.

But let’s not get too deep into the weeds, here are five things that the Buckeyes should shoot for doing, in order to get out of the Lone Star State with the win and send the Horns back to a sad 40 Acres.

Sack the quarterback(s)

This one is open-ended, and I did that on purpose, because I am not sure that I want to assign a number here. Three sacks and17 points allowed is much better than zero sacks and three points allowed. Now, I am not saying that holding Texas to just three points is even on the table, I just needed to make an example.

Texas lost two games this season, both to Georgia and in those losses, Texas QBs were sacked 13 times. Texas allowed just 33 sacks on the season.

The second game against Georgia was only a month ago, and while the line may be slightly healthier, you can’t dismiss these both as October games and that it doesn’t hold any relevancy to this game.

Ohio State has recorded 12 sacks in its last two games and while success against Tennessee and Oregon doesn’t translate 1:1 to the Texas game, it does show that Ohio State is getting after it and sometimes a little success will beget even more success.

There really isn’t a quarterback alive who gets better after he has been sacked a few times. There isn’t a quarterback that becomes a 90-percent passer when he is hearing footsteps.

Hit Ewers (and/or Manning) and profit.

Hold Texas to 23 points or fewer

Just how many times was Texas held to 23 points or fewer, if you are so smart?

The answer would be four times, and Texas went 2-2 in those games. The two wins for the Horns were results of the opponents not being able to take care of business on the other side of the ball, for one reason or another.

Texas is only allowing 14.5 points per game (you may have heard that before in this piece) so 23 seems like a lot of overage. But I feel pretty confident that Ohio State is going to score some points. If Clemson and Arizona State could do it, Ohio State should be in line for a robust number on the scoreboard when the clock hits 0:00.

We saw the Horns come back from dead against the Sun Devils, a big 4^th-down play in overtime where the Texas receiver made it behind two ASU defensive backs. The Buckeyes are a little more disciplined than that, especially on an obvious passing down.

I don’t expect the Horns to come into this game with any sort of sense of entitlement. While they were among the top teams in the SEC, they never were really anointed as a national championship favorite, until they were. And then they weren’t.

I just don’t know if Ewers is equipped to win a point-a-minute type of game against a competent defense. I almost set the number at 21 points, but then I felt that 24 really was the line and took it down one.

Texas has been a good team in the 4^th quarter, scoring 107 points over the course of the season, holding a 44-point edge over its opponent. Ohio State has scored a fraction of that, just 72 points and holds a 23-point edge.

The difference here?

Despite two losses for each team, the Buckeyes have had fewer high leverage minutes in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Keep the Horns under 24 and I like Ohio State’s chances.

Don’t bite the cheese

It is a shame that many Ohio State fans will remember Tuf Borland for a time that he was schemed into covering a wide receiver that he had no business covering.

The schemer? Steve Sarkisian.

He knows a thing or 16 about offense, and he will give you a lot of eye candy or cheese to look at without revealing what the true intentions of a play call are.

Everyone knew in the Tennessee game that the Vols were not going to make a lot of throws and then the Buckeyes took that away. The Buckeyes also took the run away, but the injury to Dylan Sampson didn’t help Neyland North stay rocking.

Everyone knew what the Oregon offense was all about, Dillon Gabriel was going to throw it all over the field and the Buckeyes would get a steady diet of Jordan James and Noah Whittington. Jordan James got hurt, Evan Stewart got hurt, but none of it really mattered, the Buckeyes were up so much, so early, it didn’t matter.

Texas certainly has a modus operandi when it comes to its offense, you know who Ewers likes to throw it to, you know that there are three backs in the offense, all of them capable of doing specific things and everything. But Sark will try and disguise and trick you.

There is something to be said about first drives of a game when you are on defense. A team has had a week (or more) to scheme and set things up, and then after that, you adjust and get on your way. Will Sark have a lot of extra noise for the Buckeyes to try and wade through the find the actual melody?

No runs, no drips, no errors

If you are young, you won’t understand that reference, but the great Johnny Bench used to say that in a spray paint (Krylon) ad.

I am mostly concerned about the no runs statement.

Texas runs for 165 yards per game (give or take), but you don’t think of the Horns as a rushing team.

Texas has a plus-12 edge in passing scores over rushing scores and while Quintrevion Wisner is a 1,000-yard rusher, his exploits are not likely talked about outside of the state of Texas.

Every week of the season, we can talk about making a team one-dimensional. There is a lot to that. If a team abandons the run, for whatever reason, you know that it is going to be a game where you can send your pass rushers in and not worry about them being blown right by either by the running back or quarterback.

Texas has been solid in running the ball in all but three games this season. The three? You don’t need to guess on two of them, both against Georgia and the third was the Arizona State game, a game that went to two overtimes. Georgia did not allow a rushing score to Texas and ASU allowed one.

Vanderbilt and Arkansas both kept Texas out of the end zone as well, but the Horns did break the 100-yard mark.

Will Ohio State hold Texas to minus-23 yards like it held the Ducks? No, that is highly unlikely. But UGA did hold Texas to 29 yards on 27 carries the first time around, and then 31 yards on 28 carries. I am just saying that the run game has gone into hibernation before.

No PI for you

Finally, this is another obvious one.

Nobody ever wants to get called for pass interference and that was an issue that Ohio State dealt with for a good part of the season.
I feel that officials go into the playoffs with the mindset of letting things sort themselves out on the field and only throw a flag when needed.

But I also know that Ohio State’s secondary, namely Davison Igbinosun, have been accused and convicted (flagged) of being too physical and committing pass interference.

Ohio State has picked up 12 first downs by way of penalty this year, Texas has doubled that, plus one, with 25. Penalties are the great equalizer and allow teams to make up deficits. The Buckeyes were able to largely survive the Oregon wideouts, but Texas brings a new level to the table, and this will be Ohio State’s greatest challenge of the playoffs, based on who was/is available.

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