Ohio State's secondary in hot water
Trevor Ruszkowski - USA TODAY Sports
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The product Ohio State put forth on the field against Oklahoma is not Buckeye football, especially not Urban Meyer Buckeye football.
The easiest man to blame is the quarterback, even if he is a three-time team captain. J.T. Barrett has struggled mightily against a pass defense he exploited last year, but he is not fielding the blame from his teammates and coaches.
He deserves some of it, as does offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and Meyer. But, a closer look at the stats reveals something most people are putting in the backseat behind the offensive woes.
Ohio State's pass defense has been shredded for two straight weeks.
It doesn't take a mathematician to see that allowing 403 yards per game — just through the air — is a very bad thing. It gets even worse considering the Buckeyes allowed just 172.2 passing yards per game last season.
Ohio State lost three players in the secondary who turned out to be first-round picks in the NFL Draft, so growing pains were expected.
But what fans have watched so far is downright torture.
“I think our problems in the secondary tonight were different than the other night," said defensive coordinator Greg Schiano after Saturday's loss. "Doesn’t make it better or worse. Just different. There wasn’t as much one-on-one coverage. There (were) more mistakes. We need to do a better job of coaching.”
The "other night" was in reference to Indiana, a game where Hoosiers' starting quarterback Richard Lagow torched Ohio State's secondary for 410 yards, with the help of some out-of-their-mind performances from his receivers. Lagow has never been a legend killer of a quarterback, and was benched on Saturday against Virginia in favor of freshman Peyton Ramsey.
Lagow finished the game against the Cavaliers with a 3-for-10 mark for just 24 yards and a pick. His last pass was the interception, and came at the 14:27 mark in the second quarter.
Against Ohio State, Lagow had 119 yards and a score at the same point in the game.
Clearly, things are very wrong in the Buckeyes' secondary.
"It was awful," Meyer said. "And we got beat by a good team, a very good team and a quarterback that was dynamic. I thought our defense hung in there against, like I said, a very good player."
"Hung in there" is usually not a good phrase to use for a defense that has now allowed a combined 806 yards through the air. Things have looked solid against the run, with the Buckeyes allowing 121 total rushing yards in two games, but that was to be expected with a defensive line stacked with potential first-round selections.
On multiple occasions, the Buckeyes allowed receptions with no defender within 10 yards of the receiver. Baker Mayfield played well, but it doesn't take an outstanding quarterback to hit his teammates with passes when the defender is in a different area code.
Barrett and the offense still have to answer for their obvious shortcomings, but there will come a time when the defense will be facing the music as well.
