3 takeaways from Ohio State Football’s thrashing of Indiana
By Riley Thomas
2. The rushmen could finally be back after their dominant performance
Even with the Buckeye defense improving in recent weeks, the pass rush of the defensive ends has not been good enough. This was expected to be one of the best D-end groups in Ohio State history. Finally, the rushmen turned in a dominant performance, hounding the opposing QB.
The box score had OSU with five sacks, however, the broadcast credited the Bucks with 7-8 sacks at least. Regardless, any Indiana quarterback that came in took a beating. It was not one player dominating either, the entire unit looked very good.
The interior defensive line did their thing yet again, with every D-tackle having a nice game. Zach Harrison, Tyreke Smith, J.T. Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, and Javontae Jean-Baptiste at D-end all applied pressure non-stop. That is the entire rotation for the defensive ends, what a game it was for them.
This is what Buckeye Nation is used to seeing from an Ohio State pass rush. The defense as a whole has been way better without a doubt. The only area that was still not meeting expectations was the pass rush, more specifically the defensive ends. Now, that lingering problem could be no more.
The entire defensive line is extremely talented and is capable of dominating against anyone. The OSU defense was approaching a solid to a pretty good level, with the d-line playing the way they should this defense could actually end up being a good unit.
Saturday night’s game against Penn State game will be huge for the pass rush as they finally play some better competition.