Over much of the offseason, talk about Ohio State's defensive opportunities mostly centered on the pass defense.
That certainly makes sense as the Buckeyes ranked No. 122 out of 127 teams in passing yards allowed per game in 2020.
But during tomorrow night's season opener against Minnesota in Minneapolis, it's Ohio State's rush defense that will find itself in a critical position to make or break the game's outcome.
That fact isn't lost on Ryan Day as he previewed the game during his Monday press conference, noting the strength of Minnesota's ground attack keyed by tailback Mohamed Ibrahim and a mammoth offensive line, and what Ohio State needs to do well to slow it down.
This guy is built low to the ground, he breaks tackles... We spent a lot of time tackling in the preseason and we gotta find ways to get him down... We're going to have to defeat blocks and tackle well.
Limiting big plays on the ground will be a key focus for the Buckeyes which comes with playing assignment football and being sure tacklers. So who will Day count on to get the job done, particularly within a retooled linebacking corps now that Pete Werner, Baron Browning, Justin Hiliard and Baron Browning are no longer in the fold?
Teradja Mitchell is a lock to see a ton of snaps at the weakside linebacker spot but when asked about who else he has confidence in, Day ripped off a ton of names.
I feel good about Tommy Eichenberg, Teradja, Dallas (Gant), Cody Simon, Steele Chambers is going to get in there. K'Vaughan Pope will be in some different spots. We have some depth there but like you said, at some point those guys have to go in there and play and produce because they have some big shoes to fill.
That's five guys, besides Mitchell, to fill the void in the middle, spell Teradja on the weakside and likely even man a strong side spot instead of Ohio State employing the bullet we've heard so much about this offseason simply because of Minnesota's probable game plan. Three of those five - Pope, Simon and Eichenberg - played a combined 37 snaps last season.
That said, Ibrahim is a really good back but I'm not sure you can classify him as a great back. Sure he averaged 153.7 rushing yards per game last year - good for No. 2 in the nation - but he did it logging 28.7 carries per contest, good for the most in the country.
Meanwhile, his 5.4 yards per carry didn't register in the top 100 nationally.
He averaged 4.1 versus Purdue's 18th-ranked defense in yards per carry allowed and put up a 4.4 average versus Penn State's 5th-ranked group. On the flip side, he did gash Wisconsin's No. 14 ranked yards per carry defense for 151 yards on 5.8 per try. (For what it's worth, Ohio State also ranked No. 14 last year giving up 3.35 per carry.)
It feels like Ibrahim is more of a grinder than a game-breaker, reinforcing the need for Ohio State's inexperienced linebackers (and others) to execute their assignments and gang tackle.
Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen thanks to the huge amount of experience and production lost with the departures of Werner, Browning, Hilliard and Borland. The quartet logged an incredible 1,423 snaps last year and accounted for 33% of the team's tackles. All four ranked in the squad's top five in stops.
With those guys relied on so heavily, Mitchell saw 95 snaps, Gant 80, Pope 17, Simon 14 and Eichenberg six.
The lack of experience at the linebacker spots is surely a bit concerning but the bright side is the group isn't short on talent, most had full spring and fall camps, and will have some help from what should be talented defensive line and at least one safety capable of delivering a big hit in Josh Proctor.
How this game within the game unfolds should go a long way in determining which team starts the season with a victory.
