Ohio State football vs. Arkansas State: Defensive grades

The Ohio State football team surprised everyone with how good their defense looked against Notre Dame. They only allowed only 10 points in that game, including shutting out the Fighting Irish in the second half. There were big things expected out of the defense against Arkansas State.

Ohio State allowed 12 points against the Red Wolves. The first half of that game did provide some questions though. Some people thought that the Buckeyes would shut out the Red Wolves, or at the very least keep them from scoring more points than Notre Dame.

Perhaps the biggest surprise so far this season has been the play of the defensive line. It has been a complete 180 from a year ago when the Buckeyes were soft up front and kept getting pushed around in the running game. That has not happened this year.

Ohio State allowed just 53 yards on the ground against Arkansas State on 34 carries. That’s just 1.6 yards per carry. When teams can’t establish the run, that’s a massive issue. The star up front was once again Mike Hall, who continues to kill it. He had 3 tackles, all of them for a loss, and a sack.

The linebackers led the team in tackles in terms of a unit. Steele Chambers had 6 of them along with a sack. Tommy Eichenberg had another strong day with 5 tackles. Cody Simon also had 6 tackles with two of them for a loss. He played a lot more than people expected.

These guys were also a reason why Arkansas State couldn’t move the ball on the ground. So far, the linebackers have done a good job of coming up and plugging those running holes. It’s hard to find too many faults with this much-improved unit right now.

The biggest issue for the Buckeyes last year was a poor secondary. Really, it’s plagued the Ohio State football team for the last two years. Not everyone played poorly on Saturday, but a few bad performances soured what could have been a solid defensive performance.

Denzel Burke was really bad for the second game in a row. After he was torched a few times against Notre Dame, that poor play continued against the Red Wolves. He was burned a few times and got called for two pass interference calls. He was supposed to be the best player in the secondary. So far, he’s been the worst.

On the bright side, Josh Proctor actually played well. He was pulled after just one series last week. He surprisingly got the start again this week and was able to play pretty well. He had 3 tackles and didn’t allow anyone to get behind him in coverage.

The defense is still a work in progress. Even so, it’s already better than it was last season. That’s all this team needs to be extremely dangerous.