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Are Jim Knowles And The Ohio State Defense Ready For Michigan? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to another special bonus edition of the Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning Podcast. This is
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  a Michigan Week thing that we're doing lots of interview clips with Michigan players,
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  Ohio State players, Michigan coaches, Ohio State coaches. Today, you're gonna
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  be hearing from Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Knowles was brought in in
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  the twenty twenty two season after a couple of years of very, very bad
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  Ohio State defense, and his first year was a significant improvement over those two
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  bad years under Terry Combs and Matt Barnes. They got better, it was
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  not good enough, especially in the game against Michigan when they had five big
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  plays that really kind of swung the game in Michigan's favor. Now, when
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  Jim Knowles looks at that game and he's looking at the previous Ohio State Michigan
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  game trying to figure out what lessons need to be learned for this year's game,
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  does it occur to him that, you know, maybe he made good
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  calls at times and oh, I don't know, how can we phrase this?
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  Maybe some other outside factors may have factored into some of those results.
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  No, you know, what we have to be focused on what's happening right
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  now, you know, the things that are in our control. And you
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  know, lack of ego and being selfless. I mean a lot of that
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  applies to whatever happened happened, you know what I mean. That's not going
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  to help us. What's gonna help us? You know my freshman history teacher,
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  father Vincent tigert S J But him, remember you started first, times
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  are frustmened, like you know, those who forget the past are doomed to
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  repeat it, you know. But then like you like that? He also
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  used to say, he said, well, you know, you got to
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  live in the present moment. You know, highest form of sanities live in
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  the present moment. So I think what I finally, I don't know if
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  you ever figure it out in life, but that like those things that happened
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  in the past, Yeah, you have coaches, you have mentors, and
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  yeah, like I need to figure all that out and process that and determine
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  what's important to then pass on to the team because they don't need to be
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  worried about any of that. They got to play hard, they got to
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  play tough, they got to play fast, so they don't really need to
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  be worried about that. I mean, I can I can think about that,
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  ruminate on that, and you know, go through all the things in
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  the off season, but ultimately we're better right now because of it, So
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  we got to stick with that. There was a lot of introspection for Jym
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  Knowles and the defense after that lost to Michigan last year's and they have made
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  a lot of changes in response to what happened against the Wolverines in Ohio Stadium
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  this last year. So how excited is Jim Knowles to see how much that
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  actually, all that hard work actually pays off this weekend? Main reason are
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  players or coaches or are people who run the cafeteria the main because you want
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  to you want to be the best, and you want to compete against the
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  best, and you want to challenge yourself you know too, to see how
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  you stack up. So yeah, I mean, you know, you you
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  do things, They take a long time. There's a lot of work that
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  goes into it. Ultimately, it's all to give the players the best chance
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  to win right now at the Ohio State in this game. You know,
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  it all kind of points right to there and you just have to perform.
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  You got to be tough, You got to be physical, you got to
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  be fast. You can't be thinking too much, you know. I mean
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  that's where all the fundamentals and all the development of the scheme really comes into
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  play. Michigan's offense can present a unique challenge for a defensive coordinator. They
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  were not shy about loading up with offensive linemen, loading up with tight ends
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  and just trying to straight up bully you. Bill Landis asked about the challenge
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  of covering a nine surface front. So basically there are nine gaps you have
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  to cover and edges you have to cover. That's a lot of different spots
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  where you need a lot of different guys. When Michigan is loading up with
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  guys up front, it's a big challenge. It's unusual. You know,
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  everybody has to understand the scheme and the gap fits, and there's there's an
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  exactness that comes with it that I think a lot of people don't understand that.
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  I think you men and women do because you you know, I'm not
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  just blowing your horn, but you men and women do a great job here
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  of really technically knowing the game. But you're right, I mean, that's
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  there's a lot of gag all of a sudden, there's a lot of different
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  gaps, and their running backs are talented and their offensive line is talented,
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  and so there really is an exactness and a preciseness that our players need to
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  understand, and that's my job. My job is to get them to understand
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  by Saturday and be able to do it fast. This year's Ohio State defense
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  has unquestionably been better than last year's, but they looked pretty good going into
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  the Michigan game last year too. That the big plays have definitely been way
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  way down this year, But on the whole, I think people were expecting
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  a pretty good performance from the High State defense last year against Michigan and that
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  did not was not exactly how that game played out. So where's Jim Knowles's
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  level of confidence in this year's defense as compared to where he was going into
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  the Michigan game last year. Yeah, I can't really comment on last year,
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  but I can tell you what I see right now, and I think,
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  to me, confidence is playing fast, playing fast, and that competitive
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  excellent excellence, which is like win the moment, like be at the right
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  place at the right time, playing fast with a bad attitude you know you
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  put when when you watch it, you know you can see it, and
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  I think everybody can. And that's what we've really honed on as a defense
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  is let's be a defense that everybody can watch and even if they don't know
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  the exactness or the preciseness of the game, they can see people playing fast
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  and showing up in the right places. And that gives everybody confidence, you
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  know, so our confidence that I think spills over to the team and the
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  fan base and whoever. You know, you feel like you're gonna be okay,
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  no no matter what happens. Michigan ranks among the better teams on offense
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  in terms of certainly in terms of scoring points this year. So what is
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  Jim Nole's biggest can concern facing this year's Michigan's offense. It's hard to pinpoint,
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  you know, because the running game is multiple because of all the different
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  formations. They do a great job of hiding their formations and their intent.
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  And the offensive line is as good as we faced, and the backs are
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  really good. So I think when you look in the history of this game,
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  the game, it starts there. You know, you have to do
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  that. So then I think the balance becomes, Okay, how do you
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  prevent the explosive plays on the back end with not over committing to this and
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  leaving yourself exposed here? So that's the real balancing act. The buck guys
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  are expecting to be pretty healthy for the most part. Sounds like Lathan Ransom
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  is probably not going to play, but just about everyone else sounds like they
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  are probably going to be ready to go. So how does getting someone like
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  Mike Hall along the defensive front changed things for the Buckeyes heading into this weekend's
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  game. Mike's a great player, plays with great energy and great enthusiasm.
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  I think he lifts everybody up around him. And yes, I've been saying
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  it all year, So he helps us not just using up blocks, because
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  I'm saying all year, our defensive tackles have actually been making tackles. And
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  when we have defensive tackles that make tackles, it helps the whole defense.
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  Last year against Michigan, the Buckeyes gave up three big plays through the air,
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  which then set up a desperation situation at the end of the game where
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  they gave up two big plays on the ground, big breakdowns to the air,
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  big breakdowns on the ground. That's about all the places you can have
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  big breakdowns. So how much better prepared are they on those two fronts now
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  compared to a year ago. It started last spring, Like I said,
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  we're competing against our offense, some of the best receivers, the best receiver
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  in the country. And uh, you know, our guys forget about the
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  scheme. You know, that's not their their issue, that's my issue.
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  But they played with a more competitive nature, you know, all spring,
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  all camp, and you can't just turn it on for this game. It's
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  just something like you said, that's grown and you see them competing for more
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  balls and and you know, playing close to receivers, challenging routes. Yeah,
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  I just that that makes me confident, But that really makes the rest
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  of the team confident, and that's what's important. Mentioned earlier that Lathan Ransom,
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  the safety, is expected to not be able to play on Saturday.
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  So how does having Sunny Styles kind of he's they've talked about him as a
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  Swiss Army knife and a sucret weapon. How does not having Leathan Ransom out
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  there impact how they're able to use Sunny Styles? Absolutely? I mean you
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  have to Yeah, we would love to have Lathan. That certainly allows us
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  to do different things with Sonny, you know, and and without that,
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  we still have to do different things with Sonny, but you can be less
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  focused, Yeah, Sonny. Sonny has got to be spread around in different
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  locations, you know, because we think he can make a lot of plays.
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  Jim Knowles has been part of plenty of rivalries in the past. He
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  coached at Duke and they have a pretty big rivalry with North Carolina, and
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  coached Oklahoma State, who of course plays bedlam every year against Oklahoma. But
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  the Ohio State Michigan rivalry, well, it's kind of on another level,
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  as you probably have figured out. So when did Knowles really grasp just how
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  big this rivalry was for the first time? Yeah, I think when you
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  when you live through it and you feel the disappointment and you and you you
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  know, uh take that personally, not personally like you and angry, but
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  personally like you don't want to let anybody down. You know, you don't
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  want to let the fans down. Most importantly, you don't want to let
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  our players down. So you see how how they feel, you know,
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  and you just want to do better. Michigan under Jim Harball tends to be.
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  I mean, the reputation is man Ball, and they have lived up
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  to that to an extreme degree at times. This year. Thirty two straight
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  carries for the offense at Penn State, no passes, well there's one that
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  was a pass interference, but no passes in the box score, and thirty
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  two straight runs. So what sounds stands out to Knowles about Mission's commitment to
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  running the football. I mean, that just shows me they have great confidence
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  in their running game. They have great confidence in their defense, right.
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  I mean a team that's willing to do that, is willing to play the
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  long game, the four quarter game, and trust their defense and the and
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  their offensive line and running backs. And you know, that shows me that
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  we better be ready to slug it out for four plus quarters or whatever it
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  takes. One of the most dangerous parts of JJ McCarthy's game is the fact
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  that he is a willing scrambler and can get out of the pocket and not
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  just run but also by time to make throws down the field. McCarthy has
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  not run a lot in recent weeks. He's been banged up a little bit,
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  but his nole's expecting him to use his legs quite a bit this week.
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  Yeah, I expect him. He's a he's a really good runner.
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  You know, he ran some against us last year and and he runs from
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  time to time when they need when they need it. He's a competitor.
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  So you just have to always be ready. You have to always be ready
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  for it, and you have to understand the types of runs that he likes,
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  the types of scrambles he likes, and you know, he's a really
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  good player, so you'd better be aware of his ability to throw as well
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  as run. One of the most amazing stats for this season is the Buckeyes
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  through eleven games, have given up exactly one to play of forty yards or
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  more all season long. That was that fumble rusky weird double snap play trick
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  play that Rutgers ran on fourth and short. That's it. That's the only
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  time anyone has gotten for the Buckeyes for more than forty yards at any point
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  this season. So when did Jim Knowles feel like, all right, we
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  have the big plays under control. We got that down, no worries there.
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  Yeah. I never never feel like we have it down. Ever.
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  It's a constant pursuit to defend explosive plays and look at the one that got
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  us. What was that, that fake sneak thing. Hats off to them,
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  what a great play, you know, But yeah, you just don't.
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  You never know where they're going to come from. You better be on
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  high alert. It better be something that's a priority. It has shown to
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  be a real factor in this game when you study statistics, it's been a
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  real factor. So we can never stop talking about it, defending it,
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  practicing it. Talked earlier about all the things that Jim Knowles has done since
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  the Michigan game, since those five big plays really swung that game last year.
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  What does that look like? What if the last three hundred and sixty
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  five days looked like for Knowles as he has tried to make sure what happened
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  last year doesn't happen again. It's a long, arduous, grinding process to
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  get here, but it's extremely rewarding, you know, And I think that's
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  the job of a leader is to you know, have a vision like you
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  taught, you know, to learn from your mistakes, not have an ego,
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  which a lot of us coaches do. So you know, maybe you
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  know, so not have an ego, you know, what's best? What
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  happened? How do I fix it? Have a vision of okay this Now
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  you have to communicate that bit like you got to get people to buy in
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  like you talk. Then you're you're selling it for three hundred and sixty five
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  days and you're you're growing it and you're watering it and you're feeding it,
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  and and you know you're you're nurturing it and you're bringing and showing this is
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  good. This is not good. This is good good good not good good
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  good, not good. You know why? Why? You know? It's
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  we have to go out and do this how you know, Okay, here
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  are the things, Here are the things that we're going to do. Here
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  are the specifics of how we're going to do this. And you sell it
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  to them and you motivate them and they see it. But it's a it's
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  a long process, but extremely rewarding, you know, and we have to
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  make it pay off for us this Saturday. Mentioned earlier that the buck Eyes
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  are expecting to have pretty much everyone back this weekend. That would include middle
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  linebacker Tommy Eichenberg. Eickenberg had to sit out Senior Day with an injury.
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  Did not sound like that was a fun conversation to have with him. So
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  how badly does he want to play this weekend? And what is he going
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  to bring to the Buckeyes assuming he does play everything everything, Tommy, he'll
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  bring every single ounce of his person to this game and he will fight to
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  defend our honor. That's just that kind of guy that he is. He's
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  a kind of guy we all want on that wall. Well, that will
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  do it for Jim Knowles. We'll be back with another episode of the Buckeyes
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  Small Morning Podcast at the usual time, and of course we'll still be having
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  a bunch of bonus episodes coming up throughout the next couple of days as we
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  count down to Saturday. To be here from more moral house date, players
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  and coaches should be it should be plenty hopefully to get you through uh and
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  and make the time go just a little bit faster before Saturday at noon.
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  So we will talk to you then.