Fulton Analysis: Setting the Edge

As with the Ohio State offense, the Buckeye defense was caught off-guard by Wisconsin’s game plan. Using the bye week to their advantage, the Wisconsin coaching staff correctly guessed that Ohio State would rely upon the cover 1 man-over scheme that the Buckeyes successfully used in the 2014 Big Ten Championship game.

Man-over means that, if the offense aligns in twins, the opposite-field corner will flip over to defend the second receiver – rather than stay to the tight end side. The defense’s goal is to avoid allowing an offense to formation the defense into having a safety or linebacker outside the tackle box, while a corner plays over the tight end in force support. Ohio State likewise wanted to set their 3-technique to the formation strength to prevent Wisconsin from outnumbering them to the boundary.

But the downside of these choices is that defenders must flips sides, depending on formation. By using shifts and motion, Wisconsin was able to cause confusion and still sometimes out-leverage Ohio State to the boundary. For instance, Wisconsin often aligned in 13 bunch personnel to the short field. The Badgers would then shift to a weak I to the field (forcing the Buckeye defensive tackles to switch sides), before motioning the Y-off back to the boundary.

This forced Ohio State to maintain gap discipline across sometimes ten shifting gaps. Wisconsin had some success getting the edge after Buckeye linebackers (particularly Will Jerome Baker) got caught in the wrong inside gap.