Even in years where there hasn't been so much uncertainty about the defense I am always more interested/concerned about that side of the ball because my basic thought process has always been if you don't let the other team score then you have a good chance of winning (Must be the B1G in me). With that in mind I watched a Youtube video with all of Tyler Buchner's plays from last season. They definitely had packages for him and he got burn during key moments in some games. Feel free to watch for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gozQ3O9W9JA

I came away with a few thoughts:
1. The kid is tough. They mostly used him as a runner on zone reads or QB draws with the RB as the lead blocker. He is fast, can make a man miss, and tends to fall forward.
2. He has good arm strength and hit a few nice deep shots when he had time. His accuracy is suspect though and missed several completable balls on out routes or to the flats.
3. My guess when he does pass is he will be first read and then take his safety valve in the flats. I don't think he go over the middle much but when he does I am sure he will be looking for Mayer. I think there will be opportunities to confuse Buchner with coverages.
4. I was not overly impressed with the wideouts that will be playing against Ohio St.

I am sure Knowles will have the QB run game well scouted so this comes down to one question: Were last years defensive issues personnel or coaching? I believe it was a little bit of both but definitely skew towards coaching. If Knowles has our guys positioned well and they ball out then I think we roll. If ND pushes us around and we can't tackle then they will sustain long drives running the ball and then the game gets shorter and closer.

All in all I will say watching his tape made me more confident in the outcome on Saturday. Now if we run the ball with success then I think game over whether they can move the ball or not but that is for another thread.