Will The Real Ohio State Defense Please Stand Up?

EAST LANSING, MI — There was a point in the second quarter of the Buckeyes’ 38-7 win over Michigan State where the Spartans where chewing up yards like the green Hungry, Hungry Hippo.

It was a greedy Michigan State offense against a frustrated Ohio State defense.

Quarterback Aidan Chiles had the Buckeyes guessing — and most of the guesses were wrong. Passes were being completed against what is supposed to be the nation’s best secondary.

There were times in the first half when the secondary that calls itself “Best In America” failed to live up to their moniker. Chiles, a sophomore transfer from Oregon State, completed 10-of-13 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

But he finished the game just 13-of-19 for 167 yards.

It was a tale of two halves. The first half was a fun action-adventure for the Spartans. The second half was a dystopian tale of woe.

Michigan State managed 186 yards of total offense in the first half and averaged 6.9 yards per play. The second half, however, saw the Spartans manage just 60 yards of total offense — and 41 of those yards came against backups in the fourth quarter.

After allowing 186 yards in the first two quarters, the Buckeyes’ first-line defense adjusted and held the Spartans to -6 yards rushing and 25 yards passing in the third quarter. It was complete domination.

And therein lies the biggest question about this Ohio State defense.

How can the same defense be responsible for both halves? And why is it happening?

For the game, Michigan State had seven “explosive plays” on offense, meaning runs of 10+ yards or pass plays of 15+ yards. Of those seven plays, five came in that second quarter. And all of them through the air.

But none of them led to any points.

This was an Ohio State defense that bent for one half but never broke. Then when it was time to stop bending to one side, they bounced back over to the other side and imposed their will like a great defense is supposed to do.

Michigan State running back Nate Carter had a 19-yard carry in the first quarter. His other five carries on the night went for a total of eight yards. The Spartans had just one explosive running play. For all of the worry coming into this game about the Buckeyes’ ability to stop the run, they allowed just 47 yards on 25 attempts. That will always be a winning number.

No defense is perfect. That gets proven every week by every team. But when this Ohio State defense plays well, they look as close as you can get.

And when they don’t, they look like a lot of other defenses. At least for a while.

Michigan State’s only touchdown drive was one play of 12 yards following an interception return of OSU quarterback Will Howard. That was MSU’s third drive of the game. Their first drive went 55 yards and was stopped at the Ohio State 20-yard line when they failed to convert a fourth-and-one.

The Spartans’ second drive went 64 yards and ended at the Ohio State 11-yard line when nickel back Jordan Hancock forced a fumble on a play that gained 26 yards. Their fourth drive went 59 yards and ended at the Buckeye 16-yard line after safety Lathan Ransom forced a fumble on Chiles.

This was both a bend-but-don’t-break defense and a bend-and-break defense, but it was the Spartans who kept getting broken. And it was the Ohio State defense that still made the plays to stop those first-half drives.

The Buckeyes were playing with fire in the first half. It’s just fortunate for them that they were playing a bunch of scarecrows.

But they went into the half, looked at the film, and adjusted. They fine-tuned the calibration to a perfect pitch of dominance and destruction. Until the final drive of the game that went 32 yards, the Spartans’ longest drive of the second half was just 16 yards.

And remember, they had five plays longer than that in the first half alone.

Every defense has the potential to give up yards. They’re not playing against air, after all. Every offense is going to come into a game against Ohio State showing something they haven’t shown before, trying to find any possible advantages or weaknesses.

Opposing offenses know they are going to have to play their best ball — and often times they do, for a while.

Then the overwhelming wave of inevitability kicks in. The Buckeyes kept fighting, never worrying about the yards they were giving up. And since there are no points awarded for yardage, the Ohio State defense kept pushing.

So which Ohio State defense is the real Ohio State defense?

The one whose head was spinning in the first half, or the one that was stomping the Michigan State offense like a rug fire in the second half?

The answer is…yes.

The Buckeyes still have work to do on defense, but the second half showed that the work is progressing. Seeing effective adjustments being made at the half is a good thing.

It may be frustrating for fans to deal with in the first half, but I promise that you’d rather have a second-half defense than a first-half defense.

The last three Michigan losses should be proof enough of that.

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