Ohio State football: Did OSU hit a home run with new defensive coordinator?

I’m sure the heads of a lot of Buckeye fans snapped around when they found Ryan Day was hiring Jim Knowles, a defensive coordinator from a Big XII team. The defense-optional Big XII. Well, here is something you may not realize: the Oklahoma State Cowboys can really play defense. They’ve turned into one of the best units in the country and it is because of Knowles. Did the Ohio State football team hit a home run with this hire?

The first thing I like about Knowles is he’s an experienced coordinator. He’s not a newbie to the role. Day needed to add a guy with experience. Two seasons at Western Michigan, eight at Duke, and the last four at Oklahoma State. Another thing I like is he’s coached linebackers three different times in his career. I think Al Washington has done a good job overall in his time at OSU, but that is a unit that needs help heading into next season.

The biggest thing I like about Knowles is his defense almost always improves from year to year. If he has a season where his unit slips a bit, they come back stronger the next year. In his time at Duke, they went from giving up 450 yards and 35 points per game his first season to just 332 yards and 20 points in his last.

It has been even better at Oklahoma State. 2018 saw the Cowboys torched for 452 yards and 32 points per game. By the end of this regular season, their opponents averaged just 278 yards and less than 17 points. Knowles oversaw a defense that shaved their points per game nearly in half and took 175 yards off their average per game total in just four seasons. He did it in a conference known for just about anything but defense.

Now, the knock on him has been his defenses haven’t shown much improvement during his first year. Ok, that’s a fair assessment, but he was coaching at Duke and Oklahoma State. We’re not talking about schools that pull in a lot of high-level recruits. While we are too well aware of the Buckeye defensive issues this season, they still have more athletic and better players than either of those programs. The cupboard isn’t bare for Knowles.

There is something I’ve noticed that seems to have flown under the radar. I don’t think Knowles has gotten enough credit for the halftime adjustments made against Oklahoma and Baylor. The Cowboys were tied with their arch-rival Sooners at the break, but the defense did not give up a point in the second half of what became a 37-33 win.

Baylor had their way with the Oklahoma State defense in the first half and built a 21-7 lead. Knowles’ guys shut them down in the second half and allowed the Cowboys to nearly pull off a comeback.

Knowles runs a 4-2-5 look, so there won’t be any personnel worries about guys not fitting into positions. For me, it will be interesting to see if/how he changes the bullet role and will the two-safety look be the base defense (after looking at the Cowboys’ defense, I’d say yes).

Has the Ohio State football program hit a home run with this hire? I’m going to say yes because I like how much improvement his defenses have shown over the years. I think Knowles is a very good addition to the Buckeyes. He begins his OSU duties on January 2nd.