Film Study: Assessing the 2015 Ohio State Defense After Eight Games

While the origin of one of the most well-known cliches in sports history is unknown, its acceptance has been nearly universal. Though Ezekiel Elliott and the dynamic quarterback duo of J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones are often the first names associated with Ohio State's 2014 national championship run, few could overlook the efforts of the Buckeye defense along the way.

Joey Bosa and Michael Bennett seemed to live in opposing backfields while Darron Lee became a tackling vacuum in 2014. Meanwhile, the secondary issues that plagued the early years of the Meyer era seemingly vanished thanks to the efforts of play-making safeties Tyvis Powell and Vonn Bell.

As the 2015 season drew closer, expectations for the unit grew even higher with all of the aforementioned stars except Bennett returning for another year. Yet life at the top spot of the national rankings skewed the views of many fans and analysts alike, engendering a belief that the unit should be invincible. 

After Western Michigan, Indiana and Maryland all seemed to move the ball with some success in consecutive weeks, a quick scroll of Twitter or Facebook would make anyone believe the Buckeye defense had fallen far from the previous year's performance. But when taking a closer look, the 2015 edition of the Silver Bullets is as good as originally advertised.

Much of the frustration and hand-wringing has occurred after big plays, as many seem to wonder how a team with talent far superior to each and every opponent could let that slide. Yet as my colleague Eric Seger pointed out recently, the 2015 OSU defense has actually been far superior to their predecessors when it comes to preventing long gains.

Not only are this year's Buckeyes proving better at eliminating big plays on the ground, they're among the nation's most elite units in this regard.

When trying to understand why the Buckeyes are so improved in this area, statistics alone don't tell the full story. Lee was expected to be among the team leaders in tackles once again after finishing third on the team with 81 stops in 2014. However this year, Lee ranks only sixth on the squad with 33.

The lack of production of both Lee and OSU's opponents go hand in hand, however. Teams simply choose to run away from the star linebacker, and with his regular placement to the wide side of the field, his presence alone often eliminates two-thirds of the field for opposing runners before the ball is snapped.

Along with the continued dominance of Bosa and the emergence of Tyquan Lewis at either defensive end spot, teams have had little choice but to try and run between the tackles. The result has been a big year for middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan, who leads the team with 74 tackles thus far.

But the linebacker play has been spotty at times, specifically when the the defensive line in front is asked to slant into another gap. Against Penn State the Buckeyes regularly slanted away from the strength of the formation, hoping to disrupt blocking schemes and free up the linebackers to make tackles. Yet McMillan and backups Donte Booker and Cam Williams (who replaced the injured Josh Perry that evening) looked a step slow at times to step into the vacated gaps to the outside, letting PSU running back Saquon Barkley bounce outside a number of times on his way to 194 rushing yards.

But other than Barkley, no opposing running back has broken the 100-yard mark against Ohio State. The chances of that mark standing are pretty good, as the Silver Bullets have already faced the top two running backs in the Big Ten not names Ezekiel Elliott. Only a potential conference title-game matchup with Iowa and running back Jordan Canzeri could threaten this impressive stretch.

However the image many fans still have in their heads about this year's defense is likely one of a scrambling quarterback breaking contain and picking up huge chunks of yards as a tired and confused Buckeye defense tries to chase him down. While some of the blame for these big runs can simply be blamed on one or two missed tackles, the real culprit for most of those runs is in the defensive backfield.

The OSU secondary has been nothing short of dominant thus far in the 2015 campaign, continuing to shine even as injuries and suspensions have depleted the depth at both safety and cornerback. Though the unit was much improved after Chris Ash's hiring last year, this year's efforts have been extraordinary, shutting down opponents and forcing them to run more.

Only Indiana has broken the 200-yard passing mark against Ohio State so far this season, with four opponents failing to even break 150. While the Big Ten might not be known for the passing offenses that can be found in the Big-12 or Pac-12, the Buckeyes have nonetheless come out unscathed after already have faced the conference's top aerial attack.

The reason for this dominant streak is fairly simple: Ohio State's players really are just more talented than their opponents. As last week's matchup with Rutgers showed, the Buckeyes aren't afraid to play man-to-man defense on the outside against 'Pro-Style' teams, betting that their defensive backs are up to the task of beating receivers alone. Such an ask is rarely seen in this era of college football so dominated by spread offense principles, yet young cornerbacks Eli Apple and Gareon Conley have more than stepped up to the task.

With the Silver Bullet secondary now showing the ability to shut down the opposition with any combination of Cover-1, Cover-3, or their base Cover-4, offenses are forced to bend existing playbooks and philosophies to catch them off-guard. But coverage on the back end isn't the only reason the OSU pass defense is so highly ranked. 

The Buckeye defensive line has also taken a step forward this year, having replaced Bennett's production by plugging in Adolphus Washington at his '3-technique' tackle spot after spending much of 2014 at nose guard. Washington has thrived in the role, not only living up to his once-lofty recruiting hype, but building a similar reputation among NFL scouts.

Once the Buckeyes get into clear passing situations, they've relied heavily on their 3-3-5 nickel package that emerged last season, with new nose guard Tommy Schutt coming out in place of a fifth defensive back. Yet the three-man front can take multiple looks, allowing the Buckeyes to experiment and confuse the offense, making an already unenviable task even harder. 

The 'Even' front in this look allows Lee to use his speed off the edge as a pass-rusher, and was seen quite often early in the year as the Buckeyes faced some lesser competition from non-conference opponents.

The presence of three individual rushers that each command attention in Bosa, Lee, and Washington, offenses have been forced to simplify their blocking schemes instead of focusing on one side or player. The result has been countless one-on-one battles with opposing linemen that favor the more-talented Buckeye rushers, resulting in players like Lewis and situational rush-end Sam Hubbard getting to the quarterback regularly.

This consistent pass rush has not only racked up 26 sacks so far, ranking in the top-ten nationally for the metric, but has caused countless hurried throws and scrambles that net little or no yardage.

Only Marlyand quarterback Perry Hills has burnt the Buckeye pass rush, looking more often to break the pocket and pick up yards with his feet than through the air, leading to most of the aforementioned big rushing plays. Yet much like the remaining running backs left on the schedule, the Buckeyes don't face a truly mobile quarterback again in the regular season.

Overall, the Buckeye defense has more than lived up to their pre-season billing, and is the major reason why a team that with a revolving door at the quarterback position has held a firm grasp on the top spot in the weekly polls for the past 10 months. While the Buckeyes' best competition still awaits in late November, statistically the OSU defense has already faced their biggest challenge against Indiana and have no reason not to expect similar results in November and beyond.