The last couple of years I have harped on the importance of coordinators. Many commentators on this site downvoted me into oblivion for being so critical. But, frankly, Kerry Coombs was one of the worst coordinators The Ohio State has had in the modern era. His 2020 pass defense ranked 122nd overall, a stat so laughable it's hard to contemplate how he wasn't immediately fired and I still find it strange how many casuals on this site apologized for Coombs' lack of production.
The first game against Notre Dame is a very small sample size, but it looks like coach Knowles fixed the defense. I am impressed. I am fully onboard the Knowles bandwagon. Every level of the defense looked great: the linebackers, the secondary, and the defense line. That was the best defensive performance since Hafley was here and I think we are going to have a top-ten defense this year, which is crazy considering how horrid we were last year and two years ago. This is a perfect example of just how important the coordinators can be for having success. Frankly, we have only had two years since Urban has been here when we had elite coordinator play on both sides of the ball. The first couple of years with urban we had poor coordinating on defense, and when we brought in Chris Ash, he fixed the defense. We only had one year of the Chris Ash and Tom Herman duo and we won the title. Then we went through the dark-ages of Tim Beck and Ed Warinner, and the offense was only fixed when Urban brought in Coach Day and Kevin Wilson. Unfortunately, Schiano's defenses, which were good for a couple of years, fell apart. The second time we had great coordinators on both sides of the ball was in 2019, when Day hired Jeff Hafley. The combination of Jeff Hafley on defense and Wilson/Day on offense created one of the best teams in the history of Ohio State football, a team that was fully capable of winning a title most years. I am optimistic. I feel this might be that type of year. The culture problems seem to have been fixed (which were almost solely on defense) and Mikey Mariotti's more intense strength & conditioning paid dividends in the game against Notre Dame. I know we didn't play the cleanest game against Notre Dame but we ran the ball well with Henderson and Williams averaging over 6 yards a carry and the defense only allowed 250 yards. The main problems were with the passing game and I am fully confident Day will clean that up. This is all to say that I think the Day/Wilson and Knowles combination is comparable to the years with Chris Ash/Tom Herman & Day/Wilson and Hafley. The Death Star looks to be fully operational.
I am not saying we will win the title because Alabama looks to have one of their better teams this year and Georgia will also be really good, but the odds are much higher than the average year. I think we should take the time to really enjoy this season, they don't come around very often.
Go Bucks.
