Ohio State football: Buckeyes need to keep forcing turnovers

The Ohio State football team forced a decent amount of turnovers in 2020. To keep their level of success high in 2021, they need to keep that up.

The Ohio State defense was clearly the worst part of their team. Their secondary was a disaster most of the season, and it finally bit them in the National Championship once they played an elite offense. Even if that was the case, they did do one thing right; they forced turnovers.

Despite only playing 8 games last season, Ohio State still recovered 12 fumbles. That was good enough for second in the country while being tied with a bunch of other teams. Recovering that many fumbles in just 8 games is pretty damn good for any team.

Even the secondary did a pretty decent job of forcing turnovers. Again, with just 8 games played, the Buckeyes were able to force 7 interceptions. That was a pretty average number in comparison to other teams around the country, but again they only played 8 games.

If Ohio State wants to get back to the National Championship next season, they will have to force turnovers at a similar rate. They will have a new quarterback to break in. Even though he will have a great supporting cast around him, a good defense never hurts.

Getting more interceptions will be the key. Ohio State returns a lot of the same players from last year’s secondary, which may not be a good thing, but they have experience. That experience should allow them to get in better positions to make big plays on the ball.

We will find out early if the defense is up to the challenge. They face Oregon in the non-conference slate in what could be the Buckeyes’ toughest game all season long. The defense will get an early test to see what they are made of.