Ohio State football: Toughness of Buckeyes questioned again

We all saw it. We all saw how often the Ohio State team got shoved around in 2021. The regular season culminated when they were physically dominated in embarrassing fashion by Michigan. Most Buckeye fans did not see last season coming, but others did. In an article for The Athletic by Austin Meek and Scott Dochterman, they quote an anonymous Big Ten assistant coach,

"“What we thought coming into (2021) was, ‘That’s a different program than when Urban was there. Urban was maniacal, and obviously some of that’s come out now in a different way. There was an edge to that program and a certain level of toughness. I don’t know if they’re that way anymore. Ryan Day is amazing, as good as there is as an offensive play caller and a tremendous human being. But they’re not going to show up and push you around.”"

A lot of Ohio State football fans got very upset when Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said Ohio State is not a tough team. I think it is fairly obvious the rest of the conference felt the same. For Ryan Day’s program to remain at the top of the Big Ten and one of college football’s true elites, that has to change.

While change begins with the way Ryan Day chooses to steer his program, it was put into effect when winter conditioning began under the watchful eye of Mickey Marotti. Coach Mick is old school and has the reputation of being the best strength and conditioning guy in college football, so when his team’s toughness is challenged, it directly reflects on him. He said that the loss to Michigan forced everyone associated with the Buckeyes’ program to look in the mirror.

Change also has to come along the offensive line and the defense as a whole. Too often last year, the offensive line was not able to get a push in short-yardage situations. I’m staunch on my thinking part of that is the fact they had tackles moonlighting as guards.

Low man wins at any level of football and it is difficult for someone 6’6” to get underneath a 6’3” defensive tackle who is coming out of a low stance. Do you know who else wins battles in short yardage? The meanest guy. The Ohio State offensive line needs to be just plain meaner in run blocking. New offensive line coach Justin Frye will have to instill in this group a level of mean we didn’t see very often last year.

One way for new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to bring toughness to the Buckeye defense is to do away with the read-and-react mentality. Read and react breeds passivity and you can’t be passive on defense. I firmly believe a defense must be aggressive and force an offense out of what it wants to do or do something faster than they want to do; it makes them feel rushed.

That seems to be what is going to happen. Speaking at Big Ten Media Days, safety Ronnie Hickman said they will be flying around on defense. No more being rooted in place making endless reads. A more aggressive approach will change the mentality of the Ohio State defense. I do not expect this unit to be shoved around like they were too often last season.

Finesse doesn’t win championships in football. Toughness in the trenches, along with being mean and nasty on defense wins championships. Toughness is a mentality.  If this Ohio State team is going to win a championship, that type of mentality needs to return.