Ohio State football: Burke’s Law

Way back in the mid-’60s, Burke’s Law was a tv show about a millionaire captain in the Los Angeles Police Department who was driven to crime scenes in a Rolls Royce. The Ohio State football team has their own version of Burke’s Law this season. Cornerback Denzel Burke is not driven to games in a fancy car, but he has laid down the law to opponents: Don’t throw in my direction.

The true freshman from Scottsdale, Arizona was originally recruited to play safety. He was moved to cornerback and had an eye-popping spring. Burke started the opener against Minnesota when Cam Brown was out and Sevyn Banks was relegated to a backup role and hasn’t been out of the lineup since.

Pro Football Focus recently put out a stat on Burke that makes you realize just how good he’s been. In over 195 snaps, Burke has not given up a reception of over fifteen yards. He’s not being beaten on throws of any real substance. Barstool OSU tweeted before the Maryland game that teams have thrown at Burke 29 times and completed just twelve. A dink and dunk offense like Maryland’s can skew numbers like that, but it is obvious Burke has turned into exactly what a good defense needs: a shutdown cornerback.

As the Rutgers game progressed, I noticed they were not challenging Burke. That is exactly what you want to see, a cornerback who can take one side of the field away from an offense. It limits what they are able to do and stops them from being able to use the entire field to attack a defense.

Burke has just one interception and six pass breakups so far, but cornerbacks like him don’t get a lot of those because teams don’t throw at them. He may not arrive at games in a gaudy car now, but if he continues to enforce Burke’s Law, some NFL team will eventually pay him enough to allow him to be delivered to games in whatever he pleases.