I mentioned this in the offensive play-by-play analysis, but I am actually a University of Utah graduate. One of my most common things I bring up with my Utah friends is the desire that Ohio State had Utah’s defense. Well, except for this game, at least. They play physical, fast, and don’t miss a lot of tackles without the assistance of many superstar players. They’re similar to Iowa or Wisconsin, basically.

I was genuinely impressed and surprised by the job that Matt Barnes did over the course of a season, as he patched massive holes in the defense that had already existed. The run defense went from a disaster against Minnesota and Oregon, to being a tough unit to run on immediately after. Ohio State was allowing close to 120% of their opponents’ YPC average while Coombs was the primary coordinator. After Barnes got the job, that number dipped to around 70% up until the Michigan game. This stat controls for level of competition, so it’s hard to say that the lackluster competition had much to do with it.

That Michigan game was something of an anomaly, but the cracks were there. As has been posted by many scheme experts who have analyzed The Game, Ohio State’s fixes to their run defense were rudimentary, and they were exposed by a team that was able to consistently change gaps with a power run game to confuse the defense. I also thought that they had relied enormously on their defensive line, whose struggles coincided with a disaster of a performance.

Regardless, Barnes was able to fix a lot of things, and he included a lot of interesting stuff in Bowl practices as well. In fact, at times, it seemed like he was doing a few things that Jim Knowles was known for. In particular, the usual four down lineman was often replaced with three down linemen, sometimes in a “404 Tite” front, where the nose tackle is directly over the center, and the other DT and SDE are playing the 4-technique. The WDE would then act as a standup pass rusher. Tyreke Smith played this role most often in this game, though Zach Harrison had reps in this position as well.

They also used Zach Harrison in a few different positions on the defense while he was standing him up. While most of the time he was used as a traditional defensive end, there were multiple times where he was lined up as a linebacker. I don’t remember him being “mugged” up against the center of the line with three down linemen, but it certainly might have happened. Ohio State hadn’t had this type of versatility for that position at all this year, so I must imagine this was a change designed to cater to Knowles’ scheme, or potentially give him a look at what things might look like in the future. Cade Stover’s move to linebacker may have also been an audition for the Leo position, as he was often lined up as a pass-rushing linebacker but did have more traditional linebacker snaps.

All of these changes were made with the future in mind. As for the game itself, they worked out…poorly.

Tyreke Smith, Taron Vincent, J.T., Ty Hamilton, Tommy Eichenberg, and Kourt Williams all graded out as champions for me. The four defensive linemen were a surprise, but the four that graded out that well really didn’t make many mistakes, even if Vincent was the only one who really flashed in this game. Here is the defensive chart:

The defensive line was fine, which was more than acceptable after a disaster of a game against Michigan. Utah’s running game is excellent; despite the fact that they had plenty of successful runs against Ohio State, they ran for much less than they usually do. Utah also doesn’t have long developing plays, so most of the point totals are limited to run defense rather than pass rushing. Also, I have never been impressed with Utah’s offensive line, so this performance wasn’t totally unexpected.

As alluded to earlier, Vincent was probably the most interesting performer on the defensive line. He was a guy that they were hyping up in 2019 as being a potentially huge contributor before his season ending injury. In 2020, he was largely a rotational piece. This year, he rotated with Haskell Garrett fairly equally, and was a significant downgrade. That’s not an insult at all; Haskell Garrett was an All-American. It’s totally fine to not be as good as him. This was the first game though where his potential really started to show. I sincerely hope that he comes back for next year, which I am assuming he will. If he emerges at that spot, that would be a huge need immediately filled. This is doubly true considering Tyleik Williams hit the freshman wall hard.

The story of the day on defense was Tommy Eichenberg’s breakout game. I have been grading him well all year, so seeing him getting the traditional counting stats was gratifying and validating. He was the player that improved the most after Barnes took over play-calling duty, going from the biggest liability on the defense to one of its best players. I can’t say enough about how huge his play down the stretch has been for this team, and how big it will continue to be moving forward. He’s legitimately good.

The other linebackers were okay. Chambers played fine, but not as well as he was playing earlier in the year. Still, after an entire season, he has solidified his spot in the starting lineup. A game against a run heavy team doesn’t really suit his strengths in coverage and tackling in space. Holding up fine was a good thing to see.

Cade Stover was the only other linebacker with extended playing time, and I thought he played pretty well. Gaoteote was also playing that Sam linebacker spot early in the year, but it looks like they got rid of that position and put him full time at the Mike. I don’t think they would have moved Stover over to defense if he had locked down that position, though. I think Stover was moved here because he is a good fit for what Knowles wants to do, particularly with the Leo. Did Stover play great? No. Was he average? Yes, and that is remarkable considering the challenge that Utah presented and the roughly one month that he had to learn everything. If I am correct and this was a permanent change to give Knowles options at the Leo, then his play in this game makes a lot of sense.

For the secondary, there were really only two notable players, both of whom are safeties. The first was Ronnie Hickman, who had his worst game of the season. He did have a clutch stop on fourth down late in the game. The team needed that play and he delivered. However, on the fourth quarter touchdown that tied the game, he got beat twice in a row on the exact same play to give up 30 total yards and a score. He didn’t play his best game today, though I still expect him to occupy the Bandit position in Knowles’ defense, which as far as I can tell is the closest thing to the Bullet that his defense has.

Kourt Williams played most of the game at cover safety, which is closest to the Striker in Knowles’ defense. This was an interesting change, as he hadn’t played this position much all year. I imagine it was partially due to necessity, as Craig Young, the natural fit for this game in that spot, had already transferred. Additionally, Marcus Williamson, who had been the team’s best tackler and a willing run defender, was not on the team any longer as well. Still, I would have thought Lathan Ransom would have gotten more reps here. Yes, I know that he had a horrific leg injury, but even before this, Kourt Williams was getting more playing time. Is this going to be a permanent spot in the defense? Maybe, though Tanner McCalister is transferring in to play this spot as well. I have no idea how interchangeable the safety positions are yet, but Williams’ versatility to show that he can play both of those positions well can’t be a bad thing for his future prospects. I think this guarantees that he will be on the field next year a lot, even if he doesn’t start.

What should we worry about for next year?

Upside for the interior defensive line. It’s hard to figure out exactly what will change with the defense after a change in defensive coordinators. However, for the secondary and the linebackers, struggling was not hugely surprising. The secondary lost a ton of production in 2019, and poor recruiting left them with few replacements. With Shaun Wade getting drafted and Cam Brown and Sevyn Banks being injured off and on the entire season, any struggles from an extremely young secondary were fully excusable. Similarly, the linebacker room had just lost four veterans, with about nine years of starting experience between them. Replacing that kind of experience was never going to be smooth.

The defensive line was supposed to break out this year though. Two guys in Tyreke Smith and Zach Harrison were getting a ton of hype in the spring and summer, and both guys were fully expected to be taken early in the draft after a monster year. Javonte Jean-Baptiste was supposed to be vastly improved. Garrett was a returning All-American. This group should have been the best on the team. Yet, they weren’t, and it’s hard to know why. They weren’t bad at all. They were easily the best position group on the defense and probably the fourth best overall behind the WRs, QBs, and RBs. Still, this group has been much better in the past, and it’s unnerving to see them not reach their potential. Personally, I think much of their lack of success was due to the lack of success of the defense as a whole. This is an area where I could see Knowles make an immediate improvement. With Ohio State for the past couple of years, you always knew what they were going to run. This does not cause any hesitation with the opposing quarterback, as they always know what they are seeing. When they don’t know what’s coming, they can panic, or at the very least get baited into doing something unsound. This is where big plays happen. Given Knowles’ track record with producing defenses, I could see this getting rectified soon.

What should we not worry about for next year?

The defensive performance in the Rose Bowl as a whole. The coaches were experimenting with things that they hadn’t done all year, likely to work toward next year with Knowles’ staff. This game was used to get a head start on next year, with new players in different positions. As can be seen from Michigan’s 2020 defense to Michigan’s 2021 defense, a coordinator change can completely change the quality of the defense, even if the personnel doesn’t really change much.

What should we be excited about for next year?

I’ve mentioned him repeatedly, but the arrival of Jim Knowles. This was about as good of a hire as Day could have made, and I can’t believe he pulled it off. I want to pump the breaks a little bit, as I don’t know if he will produce a dominant defense in year one. Still, I think he can improve on this year a little bit, at least to the point where Ohio State will have a top ten defense in SP+. By year three, I think he could have the best defense in the country. That, combined with Ryan Day would be unbeatable. Will that happen? I have no idea. I do think the possibility is pretty strong, however.

We should also be excited about Tommy Eichenberg, who had a statistical performance that matched what he has been doing for the second half of the season. He is going to be one of the best players on the defense next year, and I can’t wait to see how he looks in the new defense.