Ohio State's defense regains its swagger by 'going back to the basics'

In the immediate aftermath of Ohio State's hard-fought victory over Penn State on Saturday, a road victory against what was, at the time, the No. 3 team in the country, the footage from a raucous visiting locker room swiftly went viral on social media. The video shows the Buckeyes cramped into a narrow space at Beaver Stadium as rap music blares and different members of the coaching staff take turns dancing in front of the team. Everyone's excitement and jubilation reach new levels when defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, age 59, forces his way into the middle of the melee and unleashes, well, something. 

"It was a big hit in the '80s," Knowles deadpanned earlier this week when asked about his spine-tilting, feet-flailing dance moves that prompted several players to whip out their cell phone cameras for documentation. 

Imagining Knowles at the center of a celebratory fracas seemed entirely unlikely as recently as three weeks ago, when Ohio State and its fans were reeling from a 32-31 road loss to Oregon in which the defense surrendered 496 yards of total offense and the secondary was gashed by quarterback Dillon Gabriel, a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate, for one downfield pass after another. It seemed unlikelier, still, after the Buckeyes came off their bye week only to escape with a 21-17 home win over Nebraska that included a fourth-quarter deficit and the defense yielding more than 120 rushing yards for a third consecutive outing.

But then came last week's 20-13 road win over Penn State and what amounted to a defensive masterpiece from Knowles and his players. Against an offense known for its confusion-inducing pre-snap motion and algebraic formational variety — the likes of which placed the Nittany Lions among the best teams in the country for third-down conversion rate this season — Ohio State became the first team in a decade to hold Penn State without an offensive touchdown. The Buckeyes limited an elite running back tandem of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen to fewer than 2.5 yards per carry combined and twice stopped the Nittany Lions at the goal line, including on what proved to be Penn State's final offensive possession of the game. And just like that, the early-season swagger that once permeated Ohio State's defense returned. 

The next test will be Saturday afternoon against Purdue (noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App). 

"You're happy for the players," Knowles said. "All the work they put in. We've been preaching that [that] has to be our standard, you know? It just has to be the expectation. So it builds confidence, and I think not just in the players, but the whole team or the whole staff, fans. I mean, when you have a defense that you can count on, I think it just mentally gives everybody a sense of calm."

The subsequent descriptions from head coach Ryan Day and Knowles regarding exactly how the Buckeyes reached this point, how they regrouped and recalibrated after getting torched by Oregon, were rather fascinating. Day, who addressed the media immediately prior to Knowles in a regularly scheduled news conference on Tuesday afternoon, was forthcoming about the soul-searching that went on following Ohio State's loss to the Ducks. And Knowles, who was more guarded in his responses, acknowledged that part of the turnaround could be traced to the conscious decision to implement more of the things he did as the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, where he guided the Cowboys to top-10 finishes in both scoring defense and total defense during the 2021 campaign, after which Day brought him to Columbus with a hefty contract. 

What that looked like, according to Day, was a process of reengineering the defense that required the Buckeyes to "almost start from scratch" during the bye week. The staff gathered for discussions about which base formations they preferred, who they considered to be the unit's best players and how to get those players into more favorable spots that would allow them to be successful. Having ceded the offensive play-calling duties to Chip Kelly, his longtime friend and former coach, Day himself was free to take on a larger role in the defensive retooling. He started by asking a series of questions that allowed him to better understand the coaching staff's mindset in situations like early downs, third downs and the red zone, and from there he offered "a little bit of feedback on what I'm seeing as an offensive coach," to inject the conversation with an alternative viewpoint. 

"It wasn't like, ‘Hey, we're redoing all of this,'" Day said. "It's like, ‘Let's just trim all this out of here and focus on these things right here. These are the best things we do right now.' And then kind of go off [that stuff] and have the one-offs from there. So again, you didn't all of a sudden start to see a three-down front. It wasn't like that. It was just really cleaning up some of the communication, how we do things, putting the right guys in the right spots. It doesn't take much to be a little bit off, you know? And I think that we're moving toward where we want to be. And there's gonna be really good offenses coming at us here soon."

From Knowles' perspective, the reconfiguration was about "going back to the basics," which in his mind, begins with getting properly aligned in response to whatever an opposing offense presents, both in terms of tempo changes and formational choices. Rather than focusing on shuffling players in and out of the lineup or from one side of the field to the other — all in an effort to create the perfect matchups — the staff became more concerned with ensuring whoever was on the field would get "their feet set and [be] ready to play when the ball is snapped." 

The other primary point of emphasis was finding ways to generate more pressure on opposing quarterbacks after several weeks of relying on traditional four-man rushes that proved ineffective, with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban going so far as calling the Buckeyes' plan against Oregon "antiquated" during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show." What followed in the win over Nebraska were more five-, six- and even seven-man blitzes than Ohio State had utilized for much of the season, especially on critical downs. And against Penn State, which had injuries along the offensive line and at quarterback, the Buckeyes relied on more stunts and twists than they'd previously shown on film, according to one Nittany Lion offensive lineman.

In limiting Penn State to just 270 yards of total offense and twice rebuffing offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki's group inside the 5-yard line, the Buckeyes regained their swagger at what might be the ideal time. They have two manageable games against Purdue and Northwestern before the high-flying Indiana offense comes to Ohio Stadium on Nov. 23. That means two more weeks of tinkering for Knowles, both with his defense and his dance moves. 

"What happened [against Oregon and Nebraska] happened," Knowles said. "So you have to look at yourself. And it's my job to have the answers."

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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