Why I’m almost ready to trust the Ohio State football team’s defense

In 2021, the Ohio State football team was ridiculously good on offense. If they were going to lose a game, it wasn’t because the offense didn’t put up enough yards or points. It was going to be because the defense couldn’t make critical stops at important times.

The defense simply couldn’t be trusted last year. Ohio State had to rely on the offense to score pretty much every possession in order to guarantee a win. The only game in which the defense played really well was against Michigan State, where they were amazing.

This year, the story is different. I’m almost ready to completely trust the Ohio State football team’s defense even though I haven’t seen them play a game yet. That’s because of the trust that I have in Jim Knowles and some comments he’s had in recent days.

Knowles said that about 75% of the defense is installed. He also said that it was only at about 25% a few weeks ago. The jump surprised even him. He didn’t think that the team would get this far into the system this quickly, which is still in just its first year.

Knowles also said that the defense won’t ever be completely 100% installed because he wants to leave wiggle room in there for new looks. That tells me that the defense isn’t going to be behind schedule when Notre Dame comes to town in a couple of weeks.

I still can’t completely trust them because I haven’t seen them in a game against another opponent yet. That will come on September 3rd. But I can tell you right now that if they look good in that game, I’m ready to go all in on this team and overreact in a good way.

I just can’t wait for the opener to get here.