Ohio State's Defense

Sure, Ohio State has the number one scoring defense in college football this year. But what does that mean? Will they be able to dominate Michigan defensively the way they've dominated their other opponents? Let's take a look at what they've done, and who they've played. Their non-conference schedule included Texas. Sure, Texas was a big win, but look closer at the game. Texas had a true freshman starting at quarterback, and the game was their second of the year. Obviously, you would expect Texas to play conservatively, and run the ball. OSU should have been able to load the line of scrimmage and shut down Texas's running game right? Wrong. Texas outgained OSU 172 yards to 79 yards on the ground! Okay, but at least they were able to shut down Texas's passing game, right? Again wrong. Texas was able to complete 60% of their passes, and averaged 8.1 yards per completion. Not too shabby. Although OSU won by three scores, they only outgained Texas by 22 yards, even knowing that OSU had all of their offensive weapons back from last year, and Texas had a true freshman leading them.


Okay, but OSU destroyed all of the other non-conference opponents, right? Yeah, they crushed Cincinnati, Northern Illinois, and Bowling Green... Whoopie. But wait... Northern Illinois rushed for 151 yards against the vaunted OSU defense? How could that be?


Well, at least OSU performed well against the Big Ten this year... ...except that they have yet to play EITHER Wisconsin or Michigan, the two best teams besides OSU in the conference. Ohio State's schedule has been mediocre at best, and they are still giving up over 90 rushing yards per game. I'm looking forward to a good game for Michael Hart.