Late Touchdown Denials at Indiana Sign of Growth for Ohio State Defense

By Eric Seger on October 6, 2015 at 3:15 pm
Ohio State's defense rose to the challenge against Indiana late.
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Luke Fickell's been around the Ohio State block more than a few times in his life, especially in regards to defense.

Ohio State's co-defensive coordinator was born and raised in Columbus. He played for the Buckeyes under John Cooper from 1992-96, blossoming into one of the best defensive linemen in program history. After a brief stint in the NFL, Fickell returned as a grad assistant under Cooper in 1999, before taking a defensive line coaching position with the University of Akron in 2000-01. Then, Jim Tressel made Fickell his special teams coordinator in 2002. The man with 212 career tackles and now a pair of national championship rings hasn't left since.

“You put on the (91st) snap of the game and you see guys fight, strain and claw. Is it perfect? No. But do they have the makings of what we think has a chance to be special? Yeah, and that’s what we’re going to continue to build.”– Luke Fickell

It's that special 2002 season under Tressel, though, that Fickell brought up Monday when asked about his defensive unit's growth in stopping Indiana quarterback Zander Diamont's final pass attempt in a 34-27 victory Saturday.

"You can look back, I think in 2002, I think we had four games come down to the last play. It’s a growing opportunity," Fickell said. "You can’t design that kind of pressure, you can’t manufacture those situations to put guys in."

Tressel's crew survived scares at Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Purdue and Illinois. You could even throw in the heart-stoppers in Ohio Stadium against Penn State and Michigan, wins that ultimately sent the Buckeyes to the desert for the BCS National Championship Game against Miami (FL).

Fickell is by no means comparing the 2015 squad to that of Tressel's bunch in 2002. The jury's still out on that.

All he meant was Diamont's heave to the the back of the end zone could have very easily gone the wrong way for Ohio State, but Eli Apple and Co. stepped up and made a play. You can't duplicate those situations in practice.

"I don’t mean that we’ve got older guys and they can handle those situations, no, it’s the way that those guys grow together. They had never been in that situation as a group, as a unit together, so those kind of things are invaluable," Fickell said. "You’ve just gotta continue to hopefully it builds upon the year."

Ohio State's defense was on the field for 91 plays Saturday, but it was the last few where it rose to the challenge and slammed the door on the Hoosiers. Two plays and a pair of timeouts before the final play, it was Vonn Bell who got just enough of a Diamont pass to Jordan Fuchs to cause the ball to fall harmlessly to the turf.

"It's growth. We know each other very well, now," Bell said Monday. "The bond that we built, especially last year during those last three games, just growth each week. We trust each other, holding each other accountable so everybody can do their job."

That's why Urban Meyer, Chris Ash and Fickell brought guys like Bell, Apple and other defensive backs to Ohio State — to make game-saving plays in tough situations on the road with an undefeated season on the line.

"Me and Coach Ash, we had been talking about it all week. My message to him was, 'They're not going to catch the ball on me. Just sit back up there in the box and relax,'" Bell said. "That's what I did."

He and the rest of the defensive backs did, though they admittedly played out of position and took poor angles on Diamont's 79-yard touchdown run 10 minutes earlier. Ezekiel Elliott had just put the Buckeyes up two touchdowns, but on Indiana's first play from scrimmage, Diamont sliced the lead in half again.

"You always have to have leverage as a defense. I know we missed two tackles on that play. I gave up the leverage on that play," Bell said. "Coach Ash gave me a minus on my sheet for that. It's something to learn from."

Bell denies Fuchs

Meyer made note of the big hit allowed to Diamont in his press conference Monday, but if you take away the long run Ohio State held Indiana to 97 yards rushing on 54 carries.

"Defense, you know, they eliminated their tailback, eliminated their quarterback and then that athletic guy got in there and hurt us a little bit," Meyer said. "Obviously, a big hit was a missed tackle and missed leverage.

"But overall, attitudes are good. Guys are running around (Sunday), a chance to get better. And I think college football teaches us all each week is you better show up and you'd better play each week or you're in a dogfight."

Ohio State had plenty of other mental errors on both sides of the ball that allowed the Hoosiers to hang around until the final minute, but Bell and Fickell's unit rose to the challenge when it absolutely had to.

Just like the group did in 2002.

"You put on the (91st) snap of the game and you see guys fight, strain and claw," Fickell said. "Is it perfect? No. But do they have the makings of what we think has a chance to be special? Yeah, and that’s what we’re going to continue to build."

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