Buckeye defensive woes continue

Last night the Buckeyes defensive issues continued in a 52-49 win over Indiana.  The high score is a bit amazing and even more so when you consider the score was 10-14 with 5 minutes left in the first half.  That means the score was 42-35 in a little more than a half.  Good offense but really bad defense.

The game wasn't as close as the final score as the defense has some huge mental breakdowns late in the game.  It is troubling though that the defense continues to give up big plays so I decided to watch the game in slow motion to see what is causing it.

1st quarter - 2 minutes left - OSU 10-Indiana 0 - Indiana on their 41 yard line (59 yd run)

Indiana lined up in the shotgun with one man in the backfield, a tight end to the short side and 3 receivers split to the wide side.   The play was a simple handoff left designed to go the short side between Left Guard and Tackle.  The Buckeye defense line was Simon on the Right side (from the Indiana point of view), Hale at right tackle, Goebells at left tackle and Spence at left end.  The line double teamed Hale and did straight up blocking on the rest of the left side.  The Indiana left tackle pushed Goebells back and the tight end destroyed Spence.  As Ohio State didn't put anyone over the Indiana right guard, the line call pulled the guard into the designed hole.

The odd thing is as the right side was overloaded with 3 receivers, one safety and the nickel back shifted to line up over them.  In addition, the other safety (Bryant) lined up as if he was covering the deep right half on the right side as well.  The way the safeties lined up, the left corner (Roby) seemed to have responsibility for the left half of the field but he was lined up as if he was covering the short zone and expecting help from deep middle.

When the running back hit the hole, Goebbels was blocked and Spence was blocked.  Shazier filled the hole but didn't see the guard coming who kicked him out and the running back ran inside him.  , Roby attempted to get there but the play was too far inside for him to close.  It fell to Bryant who was 15 yards off the ball and beyond the right hash and he barely made it into the television screen as the running back raced for a score.

 I think the blame for the big play falls on Bryant who seems like he was out of position and took a bad read.  Certainly credit has to goto the Indiana offense who executed the play well for a touchdown.

1st Quarter - 30 seconds left - OSU 10 - Indiana 7 - Ohio State punt (blocked)

Camren Williams misread the play and helped Boren double team to his right while the guy to his left ran in unblocked.  Indiana also lined up one more person wide to the right than we had blockers and he would have had a good shot at making a block even if Williams man didn't get there first.  That may have been Williams issue.  It seems he assumed that everyone would shift over a man which is why he blocked the way he did.

 Part of the issue is the Buckeye are sending 5 men sprinting downfield to cover the punt (2 wide on each side and the long snapper) and when the other side only initially drops 4 for the return like Indiana did on this play you have 5 on 7 situation.

I'd say some of this is scheme and but the block probably wouldn't happen without Williams' misread.

2nd Quarter - 14:30 - OSU 10 - Indiana 7 - Indiana on OSU's 10 yard line (10 yard run)

Simple run to the right.  Boren blitzed from the left linebacker spot and Shazier moved into his position.  The Indiana tackle on that side did a nice job reading the play and after sealing Boren inside moved downfield to take both Bryant and Barnett out of the play.  Shazier took a bad angle and the running back run into the end zone untouched.

This seems to be on Shazier, Bryant and Barnett as they had 3 on 1 blocker and couldn't make a tackle. 

 3rd Quarter - 14:30 - OSU 24 - Indiana 14 - Indiana on their 35 yard line (40 yard pass)

This was a simple situation where Indiana's best receiver was matched up against Doran Grant, the backup cornerback and he couldn't make a play.  Howard got banged up in the first half and they put Grant in to start the 2nd but after this and a bad pass interference on the next play Howard came back in.  Indiana got 3 points out of this drive almost entirely because of Grant's mistakes.  That's not a good sign for next year when both starting cornerbacks will likely be gone.

3rd Quarter - 9:30 - OSU 31 - Indiana 17 - OSU on the Indiana 4 (Interception)

I'm including this because it was so frustrating based on what happened right after this.  A score and Indiana starts to quit.  The bad decision to throw the ball late off his back foot kept them in the game.

 3rd Quarter - 8:50 - OSU 31 - Indiana 17 - Indiana on their 26 (74 yard pass)

Storm Klein took his drop a bit too deep covering the inside receiver and let the middle receiver (Shane Wynn from Glenville who'd look great in Urban's offense) cut over the middle for an easy 6 yard curl.  The deep help on the other side of the field (Bryant) got caught up with the receiver running a hook pattern.  Wynn cut behind this block taking both Bryant and Klein out of the play.  At this point it was a sprint to the end zone.

Shazier might have had a chance to make a play but Roby was blitzing from the right side and Shazier had responsibility for short coverage on that side.  The blitz meant Bryant had play up closer as well.  If Klein were a bit fast or Shazier reacted quicker this would might have been stopped but the real key was the play call was perfect for the defense Ohio State ran. 

4th Quarter - 1:40 - OSU 52 - Indiana 41 - Indiana on the OSU 25 (25 yard pass)

After a really bad onside kick call by the refs, Indiana scored a few plays later.  They got a good rush with 4 defensive linemen and forced a shovel pass.    Zach Boren missed the tackle, Bryant took a bad angle, and Roby got caught on the wrong side of the receiver he was guarding who pushed him out of the play.

As I re-watched this there weren't as many big plays as I remembered.  That's actually bad because it means that Indiana was scheming us which would have taken way too long to review.  Kevin Wilson really had done a nice job with the talent at Indiana and I wonder if are going to make a push for the top half of the league in the future.

The players I am really liking on offense right now is Braxton, Corey (don't call me Philly) Brown,  Carlos Hyde, and Rod Smith.  I'm sure many would include Devin Smith as well but he's dropping too many easy passes right now.  The offensive line has been a nice surprise all season too.

Defensively it is hard to say.  Simon, Big Hank, and Roby all seem to be exceptional but without reviewing each play it is hard to say.  The bad thing is poor linebacker and safety play overshadows everything.  One bright spot is Zach Boren led the team in tackles at middle linebacker despite not playing the position since high school.  As he gets comfortable he might be a real nice surprise.

It should be interesting to hear Urban Meyer's comments this week after he looks at the film.