Ohio State Football: Creating big plays on defense necessary

We’ve talked ad nauseam about the fact that the Ohio State football team needs a better defense this season if they want to truly contend for a national championship. The secondary was the reason why they didn’t a year ago because they gave up too many big plays.

Apart from improving that part of the defense, the Buckeyes also need to create more big plays on defense. Forcing turnovers is one way to keep the secondary from getting burned as often as it does. Anyone on the defense can create these turnovers.

The Ohio State football team was just 20th in turnovers forced a season ago. They forced 18 turnovers over the course of the season. Creating a few more would have given them a shot against Georgia and TTUN. I do think they can do it with Jim Knowles’ help.

This will be the second year that Knowles is coordinating the defense. The players should be better in their understanding of Knowles’ complex system. Ohio State is better equipped to force turnovers now that they won’t have to think anymore and they can just react.

Reacting is always a better way to play defense. Thinking slows defenses down. Playing fast is the objective. Defenses that play faster create more turnovers. Turnovers win games. Ohio State’s goal is to win all of the games they play on their schedule this season and win a national championship.

The Buckeyes will likely take more risks to create these turnovers, in doing so, there’s a chance they can still get burned in the secondary for big plays. As long as they tackle better than they did last year, they can keep those big plays from being touchdowns.

I’m really interested to see how well this defense plays in the second year of Knowles’ system.