Defensively Speaking: Penn State

I can say with confidence that Saturday was the best game Jim Knowles has called this season. In fact, it might even be the best game he’s called since he first arrived in Columbus in 2022. There was plenty of diversity, and the defense seems to have found an identity that will work for them going forward.

My favorite concept I’ve seen from Knowles over the past couple weeks is his use of 3-high safety looks with Caleb Downs as the middle safety, where he essentially becomes the Mike linebacker. Out of this look, the entire defensive line will generally pinch inside to close all four interior gaps and spill the football outside, and the defense plays Tampa-2 in coverage. See an example below:

I think this approach suits Ohio State well for a couple reasons. First, it allows Caleb Downs to be very involved against the run where he really excels. Second, it allows Ohio State’s aggressive corners to be involved against the run and doesn’t ask them to play man coverage on the outside.

Additionally, Knowles called for some coverage concepts that are designed for 3×1 looks from the offense. Below, for example, the defense is in what’s known as “Poach” coverage. In this coverage, the backside safety is looking to take the #3 receiver (the most inside receiver) on any vertical routes. See below:

Note how Lathan Ransom is looking to intercept any vertical/seam routes Tyler Warren (the #3 receiver in this case) might run.

Additionally, Knowles even called for some standard pre-rotated Cover 3 at times, such as below:

While this doesn’t seem fancy, it’s a very easy way to add some coverage diversity, particularly from a single-high safety look pre-snap. Having this in the toolbox allows the defense to play something besides Cover 1 when they are in a single-high alignment.

Another great call from Knowles was the 2-steal zone blitz that resulted in a sack for Cody Simon:

This is a 2-deep / 4-under zone blitz concept. Note how Caden Curry drops to the flat in the boundary, while the boundary cornerback (Davison Igbinosun) becomes the deep half player to the boundary. The field corner plays the flat to the field and the field safety is the deep half player to the field. Meanwhile, Lathan Ransom and Sonny Styles are the two seam players.

Aside from quarterback scrambles and one wildcat run when the defense wasn’t aligned, Ohio State shut down Penn State’s ground game all day. I mentioned Ohio State’s successful use of Tampa-2 from 3-high safety formations. I want to give a couple examples of that against the run to wrap up this article. Watch below as Penn State runs a counter bash scheme:

Note how the entire defensive line crashes inside, intentionally funneling the ball to the outside. Caleb Downs is able to read this as an unblocked free hitter and come up to make a great play.

Once again, watch Caleb Downs as an unblocked free hitter in the following clip:

After what we saw on Saturday, I think Buckeye fans should be very optimistic about the defensive scheme going forward. It seems as if we’re finally seeing some more modern concepts and that many of the issues have finally been addressed.