The Ohio State football team had one of the best defenses in the country last season. We’ve talked about how good they have been all offseason long. They had the best pass defense and the second-best scoring defense. In all statistical categories, they were elite.
We know that the run defense needs to get a little bit better. That’s part of the reason why they moved Sonny Styles to linebacker. They were able to do that because they landed Caleb Downs in the transfer portal. Adding Downs makes the Buckeyes harder to beat.
Ohio State also needs to create more turnovers. In fact, they were one of the worst teams in the country in forcing turnovers a year ago. They created just 11 of them. That was tied for seventh-worst in the country. That’s something that they will be working on this offseason and something that can make them even better.
Even if the Buckeyes become just an average team at forcing turnovers, they become without a doubt the best defense in the country. They might even be that already even without getting those turnovers. Adding that to the toolbox makes them even harder to play with.
Adding more turnovers would also help an offense that will have a new quarterback for the third year in a row. If they can give that offense a short field to work with, that makes the job of Will Howard a lot easier. That’s the next thing that Jim Knowles is going to work on.
Part of the reason why the Ohio State football team didn’t force that many turnovers is partially because they were focused on not allowing big plays like they did in 2022. They weren’t allowing themselves to be aggressive because they didn’t want to get burned.
I fully expect them to be better at creating those opportunities for turnovers this season. It should make the team even scarier to play.
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Publish date : 2024-07-11 09:00:05
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