Ohio State Football: 3 things to improve in 2022

This is perhaps the simplest thing for the Buckeyes to improve. It’s the easiest for them to fix because there are several non-contact drills that you can do to improve tackling. Tackling was a massive issue for them in most of their games this season, even ones that they won.

The Rose Bowl is the perfect example of this. The tackling display that the defensive put on in that game was perhaps the worst I’ve ever seen. It was so bad that I legitimately thought that Utah was going to put up 70 points against the Bucks. That’s how bad it was.

The Big Ten is a tough conference. There are some tough guys to tackle. But there is simply no excuse for how many missed tackles the Buckeyes had this season. Those missed tackles led to huge plays from other teams, and many times led to touchdowns.

This is a job for new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. He has to fix this team’s issues of bad tackling. They don’t wrap up and drive. Instead, they lead with their shoulder and just try to hit a player hard enough to know them down. That’s not a recipe for success.

Improving all three of these things will make the Ohio State football team a much better team than they were in 2021. It would make them true contenders to win it all. Failure to fix these things will lead them to the same place they got in 2021.