http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8509061/urban-meyer-ohio-...
The most interesting part of the article for me was:
"Defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, the beleaguered interim head coach a year ago during a woeful 6-7 season, hinted at two problems.
First, the Buckeyes lack a distinct leader of the defense along the lines of former players such as James Laurinaitis, A.J. Hawk and Matt Wilhelm. They were middle linebackers who called signals, made plays and were savvy enough to cover up mistakes by others. If a quarterback slipped containment, they could close the deal by bringing him down. If a back found a hole and appeared to have daylight, they might rush to the spot and slow him down until help arrived."
Is that what the problem boil down to at the core? A mental problem. That there is no one defense that is mentally prepared to lead and call out plays? Someone who knows the weaknesses of their fellow teammates and will help compensate for it. It would make sense why Boren was moved to LB last week if Urban was looking to install some more leadership on the defense.
It's a number of things. We have an offense that's not on the field for long periods of time...we have a lot of big plays and we have some 3 and outs as well. The defense is on the field sometimes more often than it typically used to be. We've got injuries at key positions and we're playing a friggin' fullback at linebacker now. As the article mentions, we don't have that leader/playmaker at linebacker. Rather, we have guys like Shazier (and Bryant in the secondary) that play very undisciplined and it sometimes leads to us getting burned. Outside of Shazier we're not very athletic at LB and spread teams like Indiana can exploit that. Part of the reason this defense looks so bad in comparison to years past is because we're playing more spread and uptempo teams than ever before. MSU is really the only completely conventional offense we've played against and we were well suited to shut that down. I'm a bit disappointed that we've got all sorts of talent on the d-line but our pressure and penetration into the backfield seems very inconsistent. Sometimes its like they can't be stopped. Other times it seems that they can't beat their man whatsoever. We seemed to start having success when bringing pressure from elsewhere but have also gotten burned against the quick throwing spread teams. We have serious issues with personnel I think, especially at linebacker and that's the biggest problem along with some of our players at key positions play very undisciplined. Some of it must fall on the coaching as well but I don't think as much as people are making it out to be. The coaches do need to work to find strengths on this D to try to cover up its weaknesses.
I agree that the D-line has been inconsistent this season, but I think huge part of the reason is Nate Williams' limited availability. Williams is the defense's best pass rusher and when he's lined up opposite of Simon, the D-line is the best in the conference, but when Williams is out of the line-up opposing offenses can isolate Simon and effectively shut him down. I'm hopeful that with the return of a healthy Michael Bennett to complement Williams that the line will become more consistent (I still don't see why Noah Spence doesn't get more playing time in Bennett's and Willams' absence).
I'm worried that our LB corp is filled with 2008-2011 Sabinos, players with all the talent in the world, but just can't manage to grasp the playbook or run the defense. It part of the reason why I also don't put all the blame on the coaches. If a player can't absorb lessons, then there's only so much a coach can do.
I think the days of OSU having a dominant defense are over. Yes, we can still be an above average defense with the right players. However, as has been evidenced by almost every college team in recent memory, teams with a spread offense do not usually put out top notch defenses. As referenced above, an offense that is only on the field for 5-10 play drives does not give you defense time to rest between series. Also, it hurts your defense to practice against the spread offense everyday and then play a pro style team 8/12 games a year. Look at Oregon, decent defense. Look at Peyton Manning in Indy all of those years. Throwing the ball like they did did not allow their defense to stop the run because they did not practice against it much.
Let's look at the positive, though. A great offense and an above average defense should lead to success.
The belief that teams with a spread offense can't have a good defense is garbage. Meyer's Florida teams had great defenses, Auburn had a good defense the year they won, Utah has had good defenses throughout the past decade. Also it's not like we're some super quickstrike team all the team, for heaven's sake we had more TOP than Indiana. The thing is ESPN is right, we have no leader at MLB on our defense.
I agree William...
Also, AJ Hawk was an outside LB..not to nitpick the article lol.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
Welll Urban was right..Grant has to be good or we're in trouble.
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
I just hope the light comes on soon for Grant. So much talent with that kid....
Could be wrong but I think Hawk did play MLB prior to Schlegel's arrival for his junior and senior seasons
If someone who has not played a down of defense in 3+ years can come in and lead the team in tackles, it has nothing to do with coaching. The game has slowed down for Boren, but not for the other LBs. Common problems for younger students of the game include delayed reaction because you are thinking too much, over and under pursuit because the game hasn't slowed down for you and you can't judge speed of the play and missing your assignment because you don't fully comprehend the defense.
The simplest answer is the correct one: the back 7 are young and there's no player there be the "in-the-huddle" coach.
@optimistic buck
What you are missing is that it didn't make a difference. IU still scored 49pts. If Boren had come in and the D had been stout, your point would be absolutely correct. Boren would have needed double the tackles he had to make a real difference. The team is out of position. That comes down to coaching and play calling.
Kevin
OH!!!!!
Proud parent of a Senior at The Ohio State University
Florida hardly had great defenses every year Meyer was there. But they had some good, above average defenses which is what I was referencing. Auburn had a good defense THE YEAR they won. Utah? Eh...I am talking about year in and year out great defenses that we are used to at OSU, not a few anomalies. Find me a spread team with an OSU/BAMA defense every year, and then I'll believe it a little more.
KFLECK,
I really disagree with that. The coaches can't put the players in position. The can only tell them where to line up how to react at the snap - that is what coaching is. The wrong play call can allow an offensive advantage, but not to the extent as to what we saw. A player in position who wraps up and makes a tackle eliminates nearly every offense advantage.
Boren didn't make a difference but he still led the team in tackles. I wasn't saying that Boren was the answer and he equals all of the past great MLBs. I was more saying "look at what happens when you throw a veteran in the position who is more in tune with the mental aspect of the game." Boren is probably the least talented LB we have, yet his understanding of the game, game experience, and sound fundamentals (after 3+ years of coaching) pushed him to lead the team in tackles. I am saying that Boren has everything (most things) we lack in the back seven and he was coached for all of one week on defense to put in that performance.
When a guy like that Houston kid hits the hole off left tackle and goes 59 yards untouched, with nobody there at the 2nd level - two things happened: 1 - nobody at the line of scrimmage could get off of their block, and 2 - the people behind that first wave were out of position. If he wasn't hit at the line, he was gone.
On the last IU touchdown, and the touchdown where the Wynn kid burned us after Braxton threw the INT in the endzone - I noticed 2 things happening. 1 - another IU receiver was out there throwing a nice block. 2 - A couple of our guys were out of position and got tangled up. Meanwhile, the IU guy is already running down the field, and by the time our guys are ready to go chase him, it's too late. The Wynn kid had too much of a head start and was too fast to begin with. I've noticed all year that guys are not good at getting off of blocks. The D-line has been inconsistent with this, and the back 7 has been pretty bad at it.
I think the tackling has slightly improved, but a lot of tackling involves being in position. To make a good tackle, you have to first get into position to make a good tackle. If a guy is out of position, and is lunging at the ball carrier in an attempt to tackle him, he's probably going to miss the tackle. I'm seeing less of where guys are there to make the tackle and are just simply not doing it. Most of the missed tackles lately have been more of guys being out of position and forced into poor form.
That said, senior leadership - very important. Zach Boren coming in at MLB may help with depth, but he isn't going to be an effective leader at a position that he never played for the first 3 1/2 years of his OSU career. Maybe if he learns more, he can improve in that regard. This defense isn't really going to have that solid leader this season, though. It's more on the coaching this year than it would be if we had a Laurinitis, Hawk, or Wilhelm. Sabino might have been a leader before he was hurt, but he's not on the level of the other 3 guys that the article mentions. It isn't the be-all-end-all - just one of the reasons, coupled with what I said above, plus depth and scheme and who knows what else. You can't blame one thing on what has been collectively the worst 2 game stretch of defense in OSU history.
Class of 2010.
@TOSUMAN
Urban had a top 10 defense in 3 of his 6 seasons at Florida (2006 - 7th, 2008 - 5th, 2009 - 3rd), those were also the seasons that Florida finished 13-1 with 2 BCS Championships and a Sugar Bowl win. So Urban knows that in order to be successful, a strong defense is key.