Ohio State football: Three ways to fix the defense
By Ryan Stano
The Ohio State football team has a defensive problem right now. It’s a problem that has gone back to the beginning of 2020 when Kerry Coombs was added as co-defensive coordinator. It reared its ugly head again in the Buckeyes’ 35-28 loss to Oregon.
As we saw last year against Alabama, having a defense this bad isn’t going to allow you to beat good teams unless you have a legendary offense. Justin Fields kept Ohio State afloat last season. He’s not here anymore, and even he couldn’t overcome the defense’s nonsense against Bama.
The offense has problems of its own that they need to address. But the facts are that they have been good enough to win both of Ohio State’s games so far. The defense hasn’t It’s as simple as that. If the Buckeyes want to save their season, the defense must be fixed.
After looking at the tape of both the Minnesota game and the Oregon game, as well as the Alabama game last season, I’ve found three main things that Ohio State must fix on defense. Most of these are fairly easy fixes and should immediately improve the play of the entire unit.
These are changes that Coombs isn’t going to like. But if he doesn’t like them, he can find a new job. These are things that will help the success of the team in the long term and keep their Playoff hopes alive if they can get some help from other teams.
The first thing they need to change is the scheme itself.