Ohio State’s defense left the Horseshoe with more questions than answers after Oregon carved it up in a 41-point outing that exposed just how shaky the Buckeyes looked when the game got real.
The raw numbers weren’t pretty, and the context made them worse. Ohio State entered the night giving up 95.8 rushing yards per game, but Oregon still managed 108 on the ground.
That nudged the Buckeyes’ season average to 97.1, which still ranks 15th nationally, but the passing defense took a far harder hit. Ohio State had been allowing 177.8 passing yards per game before the Ducks hung 287 through the air, lifting that average to 189.9 and dropping the Buckeyes to 35th in the FBS.
The total picture was just as rough. Oregon piled up 395 yards, more than 120 above Ohio State’s previous average of 272.3.
That pushed the Buckeyes to 287 yards allowed per game, good for 14th right now. The points column told the same story.
Ohio State had been surrendering 15.9 points per game before Oregon dropped 41 on it, raising that figure to 18.3 and sending the Buckeyes to 21st nationally. The defense followed a bad road showing with an even bigger breakdown at home.
Strip out Ohio State’s three easy wins over Ball State, Kent State, and Maryland, and the numbers look a lot less flattering. The rushing defense would sit at 112.7 yards per game, closer to 28th than 15th.
The pass defense would balloon to 243.7 yards allowed per game, which would rank 114th instead of 35th. Total defense would land at 356.4 yards per game, more like 66th than 14th.
And the scoring defense would jump to 23.8 points per game, near 64th rather than 21st.
The fixes are obvious enough on paper. Ohio State needs a pass rush, and badly.
The Buckeyes are 119th in the country with nine sacks as a team through nine games, tied with Rutgers, Purdue, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Marshall, and Arkansas at that spot. That’s not exactly the kind of pressure profile a defense wants, especially when the previous defensive coordinator is sitting atop the nation with 39 sacks from his unit.
The scheme hasn’t helped much either. Ohio State keeps dropping a defensive end into coverage and leaning on zone looks, and neither has done the job. The Buckeyes have never really thrived in zone, and this version doesn’t sound any different from the last time it was tried this heavily in 2013.
The takeaway is just as blunt when it comes to turnovers. Ohio State has only four interceptions this season, which ranks 106th nationally. If the pass rush isn’t getting home and the coverage isn’t forcing mistakes, there isn’t much left to lean on once the opponent stops handing out easy possessions.
One stat captured how bad the night got: this was the first time Ohio State has allowed 38 unanswered points since 1999, when the Buckeyes blew a 14-0 lead against Wisconsin. It also marked the most points Ohio State has given up in a loss since 2020.
The article also pointed to the sharp contrast in Dylan Raiola’s play in two different settings. Against UCLA at home, Raiola threw for 257 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions against one of the top programs on the road.
At home against a new head coach and a team that’s been in the college football basement for decades, he went 6 of 19 for 43 yards and two interceptions, which got him benched for third-string quarterback Brock Thomas. A competent coach held Raiola to 43 yards and two picks.
Ohio State allowed 257 yards and two touchdowns.
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Day said there will not be any more coaching changes before the next game, but the evaluation process is still ongoing. That leaves Ohio State in a familiar late-season spot: trying to clean up a costly problem quickly, with limited time to see whether the new arrangement can bring order to a unit that has already given away too many damaging moments. [Read more 🡒]