yup. something OSU has struggled with the last couple years in the big games. Oregon and M ran all over them in '21 and their inability to stop the huge play killed them down the stretch vs M and UGA in '22.
OSU will have to turn that defense around if they want to reach their ultimate goals in '23.
I still say the main problem at least in The Game in 22 was the offense not the defense.
Ohio State dominated most of the first half but only led 20-17. Why?
The major reason was offensive inefficiency. The Ohio State's offense scored TD's on drives of 81 and 79 yards but only FG's on drives of 58 and 41 yards. They also had non-scoring drives of 36 and 21 yards. Six drives of 20+ yards for only 20 points?
Compare to Michigan, they had:
- 4 three-and-outs: -1, 2, 5, 9
- 2 TD drives: 70, 75
- 1 FG: 44
This is MUCH more efficient. Michigan scored every time they moved the ball.
Michigan's offense (and Ohio State's defense) were very much feast-or-famine. I *THINK* this was intentional on the part of Ohio State's defense. They loaded up the line and generally took a lot of risks and it worked most of the time. More than half of Michigan's drives were stopped cold (4/7 were three-and-outs).
Additionally, one of Michigan's TD drives *SHOULD* have been another three-and-out:
On Michigan's first TD Ohio State stopped Edwards for 2 on 1st and 10 then pushed him back a yard on 2nd and 8 to set up 3rd and 9. The third down pass was caught short of the sticks with an Ohio State defender in position to make a routine tackle for about a 5-6 yard gain which would have brought up 4th and 3 or 4 for yet another three-and-out. Instead, the defender went for the ball, missed, and watched Cornelius Johnson run all the way to the end zone.
Even with the bone headed play to give up a TD on a 5 yard pass on 3rd and 9, I think Ohio State's defense did what they were trying to do. Michigan's FG drive was 10 plays in about four minutes but none of their other drives was more than three plays and none even took 2 minutes. The Ohio State defense played a high risk / high reward strategy that got the ball back QUICKLY.
That gave the vaunted Ohio State offense SEVEN opportunities in the first half (not counting an eighth possession with only a few seconds left). That offense that was so good all year otherwise only managed 20 points on SEVEN possessions.
I expected 2022 to be better than 2021 but ultimately it wasn't and, IMHO, there are two reasons for that:
First, the running game didn't improve much (if at all) mostly due to injuries. I expected Henderson to have a breakout season but instead he was gimpy most of the year and completely unavailable by the end: zero carries in the losses to Michigan and Georgia.
Second, the WR Corps was merely great instead of unbelievably phenomenal as I had expected. With JSN in the lineup the tOSU WR Corps is flat out ludicrous:
- JSN is arguably the best WR in the game.
- Marv is almost as good as JSN (in some ways better) and inarguably the best #2 WR in the game.
- Egubka is phenomenal as the #3 WR. He was pretty good as #2.
- Fleming is probably a better #4 WR than any other team has.
With JSN effectively out all year everybody had to move up a spot:
- Marv goes from EASILY the best #2 WR in the game to one of the best #1's
- Egbuka goes from the best #3 WR in the game to a pretty good #2.
- Fleming goes from the best #4 WR in the game to a pretty good #3.
It was still a really good WR Corps but it wasn't quite the insanely impossible to defend embarrassment of riches that JSN/Marv/Egbuka/Fleming would have been.
Based mostly on those two injuries Ohio State's running game became a MASH unit of backups, practice squad guys, former LBers, water Boys, and cheerleaders and Ohio State's WR Corps became just human enough for defenses like Michigan's and Georgia’s to be able to contain them.
Injuries are part of the game so don't take thus as excuses. Ohio State's coaches needed to find a way to win without Henderson and JSN and they didn't. That said, it would have been a heck of a lot easier with JSN or Henderson or both available.
