Ohio State Football: Expectations for defense need to be realistic

Ohio State football fans are some of the most passionate fans in all of college football. We love our Buckeyes as much as anything. I try not to be a homer on this site and try to write objectively, but ultimately I want the Buckeyes to win every game by as much as possible.

I say all of this because I have seen some Buckeye fans, and some media, have some unrealistic expectations for the defense this year. While the offense should be the best in the country, the defense has some serious work to do to improve on last season.

Last year, the Buckeyes were 51st in the country in yards per game allowed. That was behind teams like Nebraska, Troy, and South Alabama. Simply put, they weren’t very good. They even allowed 501 yards to Tulsa last year. TULSA!!!

Now, I’m seeing people think that this Ohio State defense could be a top-five defense in the country. That’s absurd to me. They were a bad defense last year. I’m just looking for them to upgrade to average this year, which I think is attainable. If they have a top-25 defense this year, they could win it all.

To think that a team would go from 51st to top-five in the first year of a new defensive system is unrealistic to me. I have no doubt that they can get there; Jim Knowles is a fantastic coach. But let’s pump the brakes on the expectations for what they can do now.

Just because the Ohio State football team doesn’t have a top-five defense doesn’t mean they can’t win a national title though. This offense is truly insane, so they just need a competent defense to help them out. I’m confident they can get to that point.

If they do somehow end up with a top-five defense, I’ll jump in Mirror Lake just like I used to.