Ohio State Football: Three ways to fix the defensive line
By Ryan Stano
Besides the last game against Akron, the Ohio State football team has had an issue with the defensive line getting pressure on the quarterback. Prior to last week, they only had two sacks in three games from members of the defensive line.
Playing Akron does seem to cure a lot of things. The Buckeyes had 8 sacks as a team last week against perhaps the worst college football team in the FBS. They are about to play much more talented teams now that the Big Ten schedule is starting and we are in the middle of the season.
Rutgers is first up and they will not be the walkover that they have been in the past. They will be tougher to beat now that they have Greg Schiano implanting his culture. They showed signs of improvement last year and have only improved further this season, only losing their first game last week.
The Buckeyes can fix their defensive line. There are three main ways they can do so. All three of these ways aren’t too complicated and should be implemented this week. Kerry Coombs needs to have his defense be better, or he’s going to be removed from the staff. Matt Barnes might be too.
The defensive line drives how the rest of the defense plays. We all thought this was going to be the best unit on the team. We have been very wrong. They’ve mostly underperformed. The first way to fix their underperformance has to deal with the personnel they’re using.