After philosophical change, Jim Knowles' Ohio State defense gets biggest test vs. Michigan
Jim Knowles quoted his freshman high school history teacher and likened the process of transforming the Ohio State defense to that of a gardener.
He was hired last year as defensive coordinator to fix a unit that was dysfunctional in 2021. That happened, until it didn’t. The progress the Buckeyes made statistically last year was wiped away by the big plays it allowed against Michigan and Georgia in season-ending losses.
It drove Knowles back to the drawing board. The Buckeyes’ defense has been superb throughout this season. But now comes the real test – Saturday at Michigan.
As he climbed the coaching ladder, Knowles, 58, earned a reputation for designing defenses that disrupt a quarterback’s timing. At many of his stops, Knowles didn’t have elite talent. He had to use deception to confuse offenses, often with blitzes.
That comes with risks, and Michigan and Georgia exploited it. As soon as the offseason began, Knowles evaluated everything he did.
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“My freshman history teacher, Father Vincent Taggart, S.J., said ‘Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,’” Knowles said. “But he also used to say, ‘You’ve got to live in the present moment. The highest form of sanity is living in the present moment.’”
That’s what the Buckeyes have done. They have not overlooked opponents. When they've had a bad play, which hasn’t happened much, they've turned the page immediately.
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When Knowles did his self-evaluation, he realized that at Ohio State, he didn’t have to outsmart opponents on every play. With the talent the Buckeyes have, the key was to put them in position to use that ability to the fullest.
This is a veteran Ohio State defense. In the second year of the scheme, players know not just what to do but why they’re doing it and how each player fits into the whole.
“We've – or I – just adapted to the talent, the situation, the program, doing what's in the best interest of the defense, for the team, to win games and to produce a top-five defense,” Knowles said. “I said from the beginning, you're at ‘the Ohio State,’ you should have a top-five defense.”
Ohio State has allowed the second-fewest points (9.27 per game) nationally, behind only Michigan (9.0), and is third in yardage allowed (252.9), behind Michigan and Penn State.
Sacks and turnovers often are used as a measure of a defense, but the Buckeyes rank 84th in sacks with 21 and 111th in turnovers with 11.
“We need to keep working on those things that are working for us and avoid the temptation to try to go after the flashy play and maybe expose yourself somewhere else,” Knowles said.
Ohio State has allowed only one play longer than 40 yards, and that was the double-hike trick play by Rutgers.
Knowles was candid in acknowledging that making the philosophical adjustment wasn’t easy.
“It's a long arduous, grinding process to get here, but it's extremely rewarding,” he said. “The job of a leader is to have a vision, to learn from your mistakes, not have an ego, which a lot of us coaches do.”
The other part, and the most important, is to get players to understand and buy into that vision.
“Then you're selling it for 365 days and you're growing it and you're watering it and you're feeding it and you're nurturing it,” he said.
Now it’s harvest time.
Ohio State hasn’t played an elite offense all year. Michigan will test the Buckeyes like no other opponent.
“You want to be the best and you want to compete against the best and you want to challenge yourself to see how you stack up,” Knowles said.
“There's a lot of work that goes into it, ultimately. It's all to give the players the best chance to win right now, at ‘the Ohio State,’ in this game.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How improved is Knowles' Ohio State defense? We'll find out Saturday
