Ohio State Football: Three questions OSU must answer vs. Akron

Who are the starters on defense?

With the heart of the season a week away, one of the most concerning things that the Buckeyes have shown is that they have no idea who the 11 best defensive players are. At this point, there should be a clear order of starters and backups with maybe a handful of spots still open because of the closeness of the competition. Right now, it seems there are 9-10 position battles still occurring with nobody breaking away from the pack.

The reason this is such a problem is that it takes away the defensive player’s ability to get into a rhythm. Constant shuffling needs to stop as the season progresses, and the defensive staff needs to choose their best players and put them in positions to succeed.

As we have already seen, that might mean that freshman and underclassmen are getting increased playing time because of how they have performed on the field. Ryan Day cannot be concerned about giving upperclassmen playing time if they are not the best player at that position.

I am hoping to see a consistent group play for much of the first half this week, before being replaced by the backups in the second half when the game is out of reach.

If by the end of the game, we still do not have a sense of who the starters and backups were on defense, there could be more trouble brewing for this unit as the level of competition improves.