Ohio State put together its most complete game of the season in a 45-0 win over Purdue. It was the Buckeyes’ second shutout of the season and first against a Big Ten opponent since a 56-0 win over Rutgers in 2017.
Ohio State showed some new stuff on defense that we can talk about, along with two plays on offense that I really liked.
Let’s get to it.
Chip Kelly still building off some earlier play calls
Ohio State carried over its offensive momentum from the Penn State game and put together a strong performance against the Boilermakers. The Buckeyes averaged 4.9 yards per carry and scored on six of seven drives when the starters were in the game.
Purdue isn’t very good defensively, so we won’t go into a lot of the offensive stuff, but there are two plays that I thought were interesting enough to highlight.
Here’s the second play after Ohio State blocked a Purdue punt.
By now, you all probably recognize that Ohio State likes to run this counter in various situations.
Ohio State has had a lot of success with this play. Here, though, the Buckeyes added to it with Will Howard’s read on the backside.
I know it didn’t result in a touchdown, but it was one of my favorite offensive plays of the game because it’s a tendency breaker. By now, any coaching staff preparing to play Ohio State is scouting that counter, so when you add the read look for Howard it makes it even more dangerous. With the counter, there are two things to look for: Can Ohio State get it blocked on the front end, and can the running back run away from the people chasing from the backside? This puts the backside defenders in conflict because they have to play for Howard’s ability to run. And if they don’t, like in this clip, Howard can get a few yards with his legs. If they play Howard, that’s a walk-in touchdown for Judkins if Ohio State blocks it correctly.
This is a great play design by Kelly.
This looks like a simple option call, but it was a designed quarterback run the whole way. They use the fake to freeze the defense slightly and then, if you watch Judkins, he’s a lead blocker for Howard.
Coaches talk a lot about the quarterback run game giving the offense another “hat” or blocker up front and that’s exactly what this was. Judkins leads the way and Howard follows him into the end zone.
Ohio State is going to have to excel at this going forward. Northwestern, next week’s opponent, isn’t great, but the Wildcats are strong against the run, allowing just 108 rushing yards per game.
This is even more of a look ahead to the Indiana game. The Hoosiers lead the nation in rush defense, giving up just 72.2 yards per game and are second in the country allowing only 0.96 yards per carry before contact, according to TruMedia. If Ohio State wants to have success in the run game against the Hoosiers, it will need to mix in Howard’s legs to free up an extra blocker.
Jim Knowles finally breaks out the jack position
One of the biggest takeaways from the game was Ohio State’s use of the jack position, a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker that has been a big part of Knowles’ defenses historically but hasn’t been used much during his time with the Buckeyes.
Ohio State decided to mix it in on Saturday — with mixed results.
Here’s the first play utilizing it, with Mitchell Melton as the jack.
It’s a 3-3-5 base look, but Melton comes on as a late blitzer, and the Purdue offensive line doesn’t handle the pressure well at all. I like the idea of the jack in passing situations because Ohio State can move him around up front however it sees fit. In some plays on Saturday, the jack started next to the nose tackle and then blitzed off the edge. Here it’s a more traditional edge blitz, but it puts the tackle and guard in conflict if they don’t know what’s coming. Nothing special on this rep, but it’s one of the few passing situations in which we saw this alignment.
The problem with the 3-3-5 defense is that it can be susceptible to the run game. Ohio State ran this with its backups on Saturday.
On the third drive of the game, Ohio State gave up 41 rushing yards, and much of that came in the 3-3-5 with some second-team players like C.J. Hicks on the field. It went back to it in the second half, which the clip above is from.
This shot does a good job of showing some of the downsides of this defense. When facing the run, it relies on the nose tackle being a game wrecker since he’s lined up directly over the center and asks the linebackers to fill the gaps quickly.
Ohio State has talented safeties, so they can help in the run game too, but too often chunk plays occur because gaps are just wide open.
In the play above, Malik Hartford comes off the right edge, and there’s a large hole between him and the right tackle that Purdue does a nice job opening. The problem for Ohio State is that there’s nobody there to fill it.
Arvell Reese got lost in the middle on this play and it opened things up for Purdue. Ohio State got out of this defense on Saturday because Purdue was running on it — at will.
I like this defensive concept, though. I think it can cause problems for teams when they are passing, and Ohio State will work through the problems against the run.
Knowles is embracing Ohio State’s growing blitz habits
Ohio State’s pass rush was severely lacking in its loss to Oregon. It had no sacks and blitzed on only 25 percent of the snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
Part of the “reengineering” of Ohio State’s defense was finding more ways to get pressure on the passer without rushing four. Since then, Ohio State’s blitz percentage has jumped to 35 percent against Nebraska, 34.5 percent against Penn State and, its highest of the season, 60.7 percent against Purdue.
Ohio State had a season-high pressure rate of 57.1 percent against Purdue, as well.
That didn’t just happen by chance. Ohio State designed some effective blitzes to make Purdue uncomfortable.
Here’s a well-designed blitz by Knowles that frees up Jack Sawyer for a shot at the quarterback.
Before the Oregon game, Ohio State was a bit too simple with its pressure, even when it did blitz. That’s not the case now.
The numbers are even here — it’s six rushers on six blockers — but the right guard and running back get confused about who they are supposed to pick up because it seems like nobody saw Sawyer coming. We’re seeing more of these stunts from Ohio State as ways to free up its best pass rushers to get easy shots on the quarterback.
My favorite blitz of the game, though, was this one, on fourth down. From the blitz design to the execution up front and coverage on the back end, this was a great call by Knowles.
We’ll start up front. To the naked eye, it looks just like an overload. But Ohio State is rushing only five. It dropped J.T. Tuimoloau into coverage, off the left side, and sent Cody Simon and Jordan Hancock off the right side. In the process, Ohio State got the numbers advantage on one side, without sending six or seven players.
Purdue blocks it relatively well, but Sawyer does a nice job getting upfield, and Ohio State collapses the pocket. What’s really good about this play, and shows improvement, is Ohio State’s ability to blitz but still contain the quarterback. It struggled with that against Nebraska and Penn State, but there seemed to be a concerted effort to focus on that on Saturday. This was one of the calls that prevented that. As the pocket collapsed, there was no lane for the quarterback to run, Hancock and Simon were in a few running lanes and Ty Hamilton also did a nice job staying in his gap.
Lastly, on this play, the coverage is notable. The pressure doesn’t come in right away, but the coverage is perfect. Tuimoloau gets the right depth into the flat on the left side, but watch Lathan Ransom in centerfield, as well. He comes down from what may have looked like a high-safety look and takes away the crosser in the middle of the field. This is a one- or two-read play, and the quarterback didn’t have anything open. Everything worked together on this play.
One more defensive play. This is, again, Ohio State sending five, getting pressure and playing solid coverage on the back end.
This is similar to the last play. Ohio State sends a linebacker and the nickel off the left side while dropping the right end into coverage, creating the numbers advantage.
With these blitzes, though, we’re seeing more confusing coverage looks from Knowles. This could’ve been a pick six for Hancock.
He’s playing safety and comes across the field to take away a curl route. Jermaine Mathews Jr. came from his spot at outside corner to jump the curl route, and the pressure was good enough that Hancock came up and nearly walked into the end zone. Again, what’s open?
Sonny Styles takes away the slant on the other side of the field, and the outside corners are retreating and taking away anything downfield.
Knowles was doing a lot of Knowles things on Saturday. Regardless of the competition level, it’s good to see the continued growth of the defense.
A few quick-hitting thoughts
• Hancock is playing really well. He gave up one catch on four targets on Saturday and had a sack, a pass deflection and three tackles as well. But he’s been good all season. He doesn’t get a lot of attention, but this defense looks a lot different if he isn’t on the field because he can play nickel and even safety as he did on that last clip. For the season, he’s given up 15 catches on 26 targets for 115 yards and no touchdowns. He’s earning himself some money this season.
• Hicks arrived at Ohio State ranked No. 7 in the Class of 2022, a five-star from Dayton, Ohio, but he has yet to find a home on the defense. He struggled on Saturday. He was a linebacker when Ohio State went to its 3-3-5 look and was out of place. He had a free run at the quarterback for a sack but missed, which resulted in a 12-yard run. He tallied four tackles in the game, so he made a few plays. But big picture, he is struggling. He may be better on the edge, permanently, but in that case, he can’t miss free sacks as he did on Saturday.
• One player who is living up to the hype, though, is freshman defensive lineman Eddrick Houston, a former five-star recruit. He was fantastic on Saturday, playing 27 snaps while moving from the edge to defensive tackle. He had three tackles against Purdue and is likely earning himself more playing time even after Tyleik Williams returns. He has a chance to be a star in the future.
(Photo of Jordan Hancock and Lathan Ransom: Samantha Madar / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
