Buckeyes : How Ohio State’s defense crushed Will Howard……Read More
How Ohio State’s defense crushed Indiana and Will Howard thrived: Buckeyes film study
COLUMBUS, Ohio — How about that defensive performance?
In its 38-15 win over Indiana, Ohio State held one of the most explosive offenses to 151 total yards, with 145 coming on the first drive and the second-to-last drive.
Ohio State held Indiana to 2.6 yards per play, had five sacks and a season-high 21 percent sack rate.
There’s often a lot of talk about Ohio State’s defense in big games. While the Michigan game and potential rematch with Oregon will be measuring sticks, the defense deserves credit for what it did against a good Indiana offense.
It completely out-schemed and out-executed Indiana up front to the point that Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti said his team had no chance when it tried to pass.
“Every time we dropped back to pass, something bad happened,” Cignetti said.
Since the Oregon game, Ohio State has added this Jack Sawyer stunt up the middle to its repertoire and uses it nearly every week, trying to free him up for a shot at the quarterback. It’s not unique, and Indiana was ready for it.
The ease with how Indiana picked this up was impressive and made me think, in the moment, that it might have some success. I was wrong.
This was one of the few times that Indiana knew what defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was calling and where the pressure was coming from. One of the things that Knowles did the rest of the game was set linebacker Cody Simon free on Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
