Fulton Analysis: Uneven

After Ohio State’s somewhat uneven victory against Indiana – featuring a near record setting performance by quarterback Dwayne Haskins – Urban Meyer stated that Ohio State must improve its run game and defense. But while both areas can improve, certain shortcomings in both are explainable.

Most problems with the Ohio State run game are resulting from simple arithmetic – the Buckeyes are being outnumbered at the point of attack. That is, when you have six blockers (five offensive linemen plus a tight end) for seven defenders in the box, the defense is going to have an unblocked run defender.

Like previous opponents, Indiana’s defensive strategy was to outnumber the Buckeyes up front, protected by a soft deep zone – either quarter-quarter-half or a three deep, three under zone blitz. The Hoosiers frequently slanted their defensive line away from the halfback, brought a backside edge blitz, and/or had their safeties play aggressively against the run. Indiana’s unblocked backside defensive ends repeatedly tackled Buckeye runners.