The 2020 season came with its ups and downs, eventually landing Ohio State in the National Championship. Both the offense and defense had their fair share of positives and negatives, but was never consistent enough for the fan bases liking.

Offensively, Ohio State struggled early to run the ball consistently, but excelled in the pass game.

Defensively, the Buckeyes couldn't stop the pass, but were very good against the run. What happened on defense?

Why did Ohio State finish No. 44 in total defense but still end up in the National Championship? What was the schematic issues on defense? How can we get better on defense? All of these questions will be answered and more.

In 2020, the statistics behind the defense shows who they really were and where the fallout happened. Ohio State played 572 total snaps in 2020 and played with at least a 3 LB set on 510 plays (90-percent of snaps). Ohio State had a nickel package where Lathan Ransom would enter the game for Tuf Borland. They used this package on only 62 snaps, which totals to about 10-percent of all snaps.

Through eight total games, Ohio State was giving up 401 yards a game (3,213 total). Through the air, the Buckeyes secondary surrendered 2,438 total yards. On the ground, the Buckeyes dominated opposing rushing attacks only giving up 781 yards.

Opposing offenses were averaging 304 yards a game passing, while ONLY giving up 97.6 on the ground a game. With exceeding at stopping the run, what happened with the pass defense? Let's start with the the alignment and base coverage Ohio State used.

Last season, Ohio State again based out of their 4-3 personnel with a slot corner. This was identical to the personnel Ohio State used in 2019 that they found much success with.

Injuries did plague the secondary as Cameron Brown went down early, and Marcus Hooker late. Obviously, this has consequences forcing inexperienced youth to step in during their absence. The corner rotation of Brown, Sevyn Banks, and Shaun Wade was halted due to Brown's injury vs. Penn State.

In terms of personnel, Ohio State utilized 4 down lineman with two 5 techniques, a defensive tackle at the 3 technique, and nose at the 1 technique. At all times, Ohio State put their Will LB and Mike LB in the box to stiff the run in 30 and 10 techniques. This means vs any open 3x1, or 2x2 set Ohio State was +1 in the box. Offenses were forced to either read a defender or throw a RPO off a LB.

Versus sets that added a TE to the box, Sam LB Baron Browning would bump back into the box. This allowed the defense to be +1, and force offenses to read a defender in the run, or RPO a LB. Ohio State put a huge emphasis on stopping the run, which they very well exceeded at. Browning proved in 2020 that he could both play the box, and keep up in pass coverage as the Sam LB.

This is the most versatile position on Ohio State's defense, since the Buckeyes ask the position to do so much. In 2021, the Buckeyes have a big position to fill with the departure of Browning.

In 2020, Ohio State based their 4-3 defense around country cover 3. Country cover 3 is a very basic spot drop zone coverage where defenders drop to an area, and attach to a receiver that threatens their coverage area.

Again, this was the primary coverage Ryan Day and his staff used in 2019, and brought the same mentality in 2020. The key difference in 2020 was Kerry Coombs as the defensive coordinator. Coombs is not familiar with this system Day brought with Jeff Hafley, who adopted it from the Seattle Seahawks. This, in itself, presented the major issues in 2020.

As this has been talked about before, playing cover 3 presents many weaknesses when defending the pass. This is a big reason there are not many teams still playing country cover 3, as QB's today can pick it apart. In terms of the weaknesses, teams like to attack the curl/flat area with quick game, crossing routes, and RPO's.

All 3 of Ohio State LB's were responsible to be in the run fit, so hitting the curl/flat off run looks offenses exceeded at. All three LB's also had a pass responsibility, so offenses took advantage of the double duty LB's were carrying.

The problem with Ohio States version of this, is that Ohio States WLB is responsible for the weak curl/flat and has to do it from the box. The Sam LB is usually bumped out of the box vs light sets (10 personnel). The Will LB has to push to the curl/flat from depth, and a lot of the times struggled to get out there.

Penn State hit the crossing route off play-action multiple times to suck in Ohio States Will LB. The Will LB is responsible for the curl/flat area to the boundary. Penn State runs play-action with a pulling guard that sucks in all three LB's with the run action. The WLB is also responsible for the backside B gap in the run fit. With two responsibilities, Ohio State gets hurt with their own rules at play.

Clemson attacks the backside curl/flat area with a play-action y-cross concept. With the play-action fake, they are trying to force LB's downhill. Pete Werner is the curl/flat player who takes the back on a flare route to the flat area.

This leaves Tuf Borland who is responsible for the weak hook to run with the crosser. This is just another example of teams trying to use Ohio States defensive rules against them.

Penn State again hits a crossing pattern where Baron Bronwing is the weak curl/flat player. Browning does not gain any depth on his drop and the crossing route gets completed behind him. This is another issue playing cover 3 vs crossers.

If the LB's playing the curl/flat doesn't gain enough depth, this route will have space to work with. This was consistently an issue with Ohio State's defense in 2020.

Another area teams were attacking was utilizing play action to force the Will LB in to throw the comeback to the sideline. With corners having a deep third responsibility, they have to be in front of the #1 WR. This gives the receiver space to run a comeback, and the play-action causes the Will LB to play his run fit.

Penn State runs a RPO concept specifically attacking the strong curl/flat defender. Since the Sam LB is responsible for the D gap in the run fit, he plays it downhill post snap. Once he attacks the D gap, Penn States QB pulls and throws the slant off him.

Sevyn Banks is responsible for his deep 1/3 in cover 3, so he has to stay on top and use outside leverage. This is just taking Ohio States defensive rules against them again.

This is another example of how an offense attacked the weak curl/flat defender who has double responsibilities. Seyvn Banks is the deep third player and Justin Hilliard (Will LB) is the curl flat player.

Alabama is running a "free access" route off the run game, specifically attacking cover 3. Because of the run fake, Hilliard has to respect the run first and foremost.

Here, Alabama runs a RPO off of counter. Again, their primary goal is to put the Will LB in conflict, which they successfully do. Alabama runs a slant replacement RPO off of counter, forcing the Will LB to commit to the run.

Coverage in the back end in Ohio States cover 3 became an issue that will need to be addressed this off-season. Cover 3 presents many weaknesses, especially when teams spot drop.

One of the weaknesses of cover 3 is only having 3 defenders to defend 4 deep areas. This means, if teams sent 4 receivers on 4 verticals, there would be receiver running free.

In 2020, opposing offenses routinely influenced Ohio States MOF safety with deep crossing routes to get him out of position. They would then run deep posts over top of the MOF safety, and create big plays.

This is where teams who run spot drop cover 3 run into issues. With only 3 deep players, it's impossible to cover both a deep crosser and post that are being run at the lone MOF safety. A good rule of thumb for the safety is to be deeper than the deepest route.

Corners in spot drop cover 3 typically play with outside leverage to funnel deep routes into the MOF safety. When the safety jumps the crosser, obviously there is nobody to funnel the route to and the corner is in a horrible position to play the ball.

This is the first example of teams running both a crosser and deep post at the MOF safety. Banks is in press technique, and loses at the line of scrimmage, but this is what happens when teams attack the middle of the field safety. If he plays his deep third correctly, this gets snuffed and it is dead in the water.

This is a great example of how 4 verticals hurt spot drop cover 3. The slot corner (or Sam LB at times) is responsible to play the flat first, even if the slot receiver is up the seam. This gives the slot receiver space and a void to hit the ball in the hole.

This is another weakness of spot drop cover 3, is that it gives offenses plenty of space to hit throws in hole shots. Like here, the ball gets completed in between the MOF safety and Sam LB.

This 4 vertical shot from Indiana might be the best look at the weakness of cover 3. Indiana is running a version of 4 verticals that puts the saftey in conflict. The MOF safety is responsible for his deep third in the middle of the field, and has two seam routes running into his coverage.

He has to choose which vertical he wants to run with, and the QB simply goes the other way with it. Nick Saban used to utilize spot drop cover 3 until Dan Marino threw 4 verticals on that coverage all night.

Teams that utilize spot drop cover 3 have adjustments so offenses can't run up the seams.

As I offer my opinion on how to fix this, remmeber I have only coached high school football so it may be invalid. But, first, I think Ohio State first needs to install and base out of pattern match cover 3. Or what Saban calls, "Rip/Liz".

This does a variety of things as a coverage, but it negates slot receivers running of the seam without a defender. Once routes are distributed, this turns into man coverage (which Kerry Coombs is familiar with).

Ohio State is hell bent on stopping the run and getting to +1 in the box. Running Lip/Riz also gets to this point, as Ohio State would be able to still be in 1 high and have an extra hat in the box.

This is where I think Ohio State should base their coverage around, and it has built in answers to stop the RPO. This also allows defenders out of the box to focus on their pass responsibility first and foremost.

Without being responsible for a gap inside the box, this negates most of the RPO's that Ohio State got beat with this year.

For Ohio State to improve, I think they need to get with the times and adjust their cover 3 coverage, but also play with lighter personnel and mix up fronts/looks. Presenting opposing offenses with different looks vs. a base 4 -2 box would give offenses some fits.

With Larry Johnson running the defensive line, I don't see them getting away from the 4 down system playing with a 2 gap technique. But, with that teaching technique, I would like to see them mix in some 3 down looks. Running a 3 down look presents a new look, but Ohio State can run their base stuff from this front.

I think mixing up looks, and playing with a nickel can really solve a lot of their problems.