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Ross Fulton Analysis: Previewing The Ohio State Defense vs Notre Dame · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Friday, September twenty second. I'm your host,
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tom Or. The Notre Dame game is tomorrow, the game against Michigan
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in sixty four days. On yesterday show, we talked to Ross Fulton about
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the Ohio State offense, some of the good things that we saw last week
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against Western Kentucky, what it might mean moving forward as the Buckeyes face a
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significantly tougher defense this weekend in Notre Dame. Today, we're flipping the script
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we were on the other side of the ball talking about the Buckeye defense.
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We're going to take a look at some of the stuff they did against Western
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Kentucky that worked pretty well and what it might mean moving forward, as well
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as take a little bit of a sneak peek at some at a little bit
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of Notre Dame as well, talk a little bit about what the Buckeyes might
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do on defense against Notre Dame this week. And of course we're doing it
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once again with our buddy Ross Fulton, Everybody's foot smart football friend, our
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ex's nosguru at Buckeye Huddle dot com. Ross, Let's start with a guy
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who has been pretty much universally good for Ohio State. That is Denzel Burke.
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He's been really solid in coverage all year for the Buckeyes. This first
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play is another jample of Hey, Denzel Burke, nice coverage. That's good.
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But you said there's a bunch of other stuff going on here as well
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that you wanted to talk about. Yeah, I mean I think that the
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along with probably Tylie Williams, I would say that Denzel Burke and David Sinning,
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we notice I've really been probably the brightest spot of this defense or like
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the most you know, performing above expectations, if you will. And I'm
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you know, I think you know in man, they they they play tight,
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they play physical at the line of scrimmage, they're making plays on the
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ball. You know, I'd include Jordan Hancock and making play on the ball
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as well in that. But you know, this is this play kind of
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captures a couple of things. So the first thing I wanted to talk about
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is, you know, we talked about entering this game, how you know
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what Jock Proctor's role would look like and how this would versus you know,
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a more pass happy offense, and you know whether he can handle that situation,
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what one thing that's jumping out is they're very interchangeable or Jim Knowles is
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being very changeable on how he's using the safety, So the adjuster or the
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field safety and bandit boundary safety as you will are you know, I'd say
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actually more of the time it's probably late than Ransom as a deep safety.
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As you like seeing this clip. You know, anytime offense has puts trips
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to the field like in this clip through wide receivers or put their formation strength
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to the field, a lot of times it's Josh Procter rolling down when they're
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a single high coverage which you know placed as some of his strengths near the
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line of scrimmage, with Lathan Ransom as the deep safety. You know.
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Conversely, like if you get a two by two formation with like this slot
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receiver or the boundary, then they might flip that end up be Ransom down
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with Procter as the deep middle. But so you're seeing them the versatility that
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those two are giving them in terms of being able to handle some of both
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of those responsibilities. The next thing I want to note in this clip is
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that it gives a good example. So this is cover three from Ohio State
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It's a good example though, of how High State's increasingly matching within their zones.
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I know Jim Dalls has talked about that, We've talked about in the
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past years, some of the problems with spot drop or country cover three match
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and so on. This play, actually it's sunny. Styles is a really
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nice job opposite where the throw actually goes in terms of at first the slot
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receiver runs an out route and you can see Styles matching him, and then
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once he releases vertically he lets him go and plays his zone. But so
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again and a couple of clips are going to kind of hit on this here.
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But like the growth and expansion if you will, of the Ohio State's
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past defense and past concepts, which you know, as we've discussed, I
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think as a pretty necessary step. Sometimes it fits and starts. They probably
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are still better in man coverage, and they are in terms of matching something
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within some of these zones. But you know, you can't run man coverage
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all the time. We've seen what happens when you do that. It becomes
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easy to pick it apart. And so you're seeing more variety in the zone
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coverage schemes as well. And the past defense has been good this year,
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because it hasn't. I mean, the corner play has been good, the
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safety play has been you know, seems like pretty good for the most part.
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But they've gotten they got a little help from the linebackers last week as
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well. Steel Chambers had a nice play where he dropped into coverage had an
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interception from Austin Reid. That was the next play you wanted to talk about
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here. Yeah, and again, so like one thing that jumped out of
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me from this game is that Highest Sea it ran quite a bit of cover
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four or quarters sections on display. They also ran some quarter quarter a half
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which is covered two to one side and cover four to the other, both
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of which you know they're in maybe a little bit of cover four last year,
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but not very much. I don't think that they've run it at all
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this season, and I'm not sure I've ever seen him run quarter quarter a
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half. So again, you know, obviously, playing a pass happy team,
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they had to expand some of their concepts. But again that's the something
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that sort of and I know others have been calling for, is that you
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got, you know, need more variety. And so again here you see
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you know, basic quarters concept. Chambers passes off the wide receiver that goes
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vertical and is able to sit underneath that route and pick it off. You
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know, you will notice in the play that Jordan Hancock gets a little lost
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in terms of this the shallow crosser coming from the other side in terms of
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whose responsibility, and like, you know, they're probably gonna have some growing
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pains in terms of you know, the more concepts you run, obviously,
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the less reps you have at them. And you know, we can talk
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a little bit more about like Jordan Hancock's role at Nicol and how that continues
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to expand, and so you know, he himself needs some reps. But
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I still think even if there's some you know, some coverage busts in terms
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of implementing some of these schemes like being able to use cover for and some
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other these split safety schemes, that doesn't makes them less predictable by down a
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distance and less predictable by formation. And it's a good thing. You know.
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The other thing you see them doing, you know, is there disguising
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more so, like there's a couple of plays during this game where like Proctor
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would line up sort of as an underneath defender similar to the first clip we
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saw, and then at the snap he would drop very quickly deep and Ransom
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would spin down into the hook curl zone. And so you know, you
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see that kind of disguise. Like on the first series where they stopped Western
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Kentucky on third and third down, they ran a cover zero with two rats,
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and then on fourth down they dropped into a Tampa two and you saw,
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you know, Western Kentucky ran a mesh concept, which you know we've
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talked about that a lot further High State offense, but that's a play you
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run against man coverage. So obviously, like Western Kentucky was expecting to get
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man coverage again and instead, Oh I State fooled them with the zone and
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was able to make the stop. So again that kind of goes to what
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we're talking about in terms of being a wile to to change things up,
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change up the looks for the opposing quarterbacks. You just don't know what's coming
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based on pre snap alignment, all right. And so the next one,
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this is one where the defense gets down off the field on third down,
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but they didn't do it probably the way they were necessarily expecting. This is
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one where the receiver went out of bounds and so you had a loss of
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down penalty for Western Kentucky. But you thought this was an interesting play paper,
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perhaps for some from different reasons other than just the you know, I
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don't, I don't think they have them run out of bounds is going to
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be the part of the game plan that they're gonna be able to carry forward
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to reliably. So what else, what else did you see on this one?
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Yeah, Well, as you know, I've been play in the past
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about the lack of creepers or simulated pressures from Ohio State, and so when
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they run one, I have to give them credit. And again I think
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this goes sort of impart and parcel with what we were just talking about before
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in terms of they continued expansion of the scheme beyond just being sort of having
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to run what they were running before a lot of single high cover one with
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some cover three mixed in. And so here you have, you know,
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first of all, they're overloading or showing staff that they're overloading one side,
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and so Western Kentucky actually shifts their uh, their slides their line to the
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right where they think they have you know four they have you know, few
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defensive linement and the two linebackers, and so they slide that way and actually
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hig State drops off that side and brings styles and if we noticon on a
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blitz to the field and behind it a high State runs, what is an
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effect like up too deep with Denzel Burke is one of the deep safeties and
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a four under our scheme, and so Proctor drops down and so you've got
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you know, Jack Sawyer and the two linebackers as the four unders. So
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again, that's that's kind of what I've been discussing in terms of where they
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need to move to, particularly on passing downs, in terms of you know,
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causing uncertainty for the offensive line in terms of who they're picking up,
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and you know, causing hesitancy for the quarterback when you do this. You
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know, we talked about the last week when there was a lot of concern
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about you know, pressure from the defensive ends, and I think that was
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certainly better this week. You saw from you know, Sawyer and JT to
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melowhile like the pressure numbers were much improved. But you're also going to make
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it easier on those guys than everyone else if you're not predictable where you're four
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rushers are coming. From all the time and that the offensive line knows where
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their landmarks are. And so you again you you're just gonna help everyone out.
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You know, this again wasn't executed perfectly. Like as you said.
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The reason this play didn't succeed is because Western Kentucky's receiver stepped out of bounce.
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You know, Jack Sawyer needs to get more depth or more you know,
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width and get to the curl flat zone. And so again there's trade
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offs right in terms of execution. The more volume you have, the more
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you're probably opening yourself up to have having less reps and some bumps along the
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way. But I still think to get where they want to go defensively,
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this is sort of the path they need to follow. Well, last we
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we talked about the fact that Western Kentucky was not going to run the same
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type of offense as Notre Dame, but at least it was going to be
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more passing than Ohio State had scenes. It would prep prep the Buckeyes for
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what they might see from Sam Hartman a little bit better than what they had
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gotten out of Young Sound State and in the end and before that, but
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one area where there was maybe a little bit of a closer parallel is you
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know Western Kentucky they you saw them run power a few times and this is
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one of the this is one of the plays that where they did that.
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This next one, you thought this might be something you know, useful to
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sort of and sort of forward looking way in terms of how what Ohio State
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might have to do against the Irish this weekend. Yeah, I actually think
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Western Kentucky had some success with gap run schemes against Ohio State. And you
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know, I mean again, you kind of you can't defend at all,
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so you do have to play the pass, and so there are times where
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like you know, Tommy Eickenberg had to like on this play, he kind
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of triggers quicker. Sometimes he has to sit though, because like when you
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watch this play, it has a backside rpo and if you know, the
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quarterback could thrown and pulled and thrown this pass because he triggered down early.
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But again, like so you know, you got you're aligned to the field
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with your passing strength, you got your run strength of the boundary. By
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pulling the lineman, you're adding a gap, right, and so Ohio State
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needs to match that. You know, they still Chambers has to be more
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physical taking on the pulling guard. And Tylie Williams, again we talked about
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him earlier. I mean, he makes a lot of plays and made a
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play here, and that will be obviously key against otter game because if you're
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defensive tackles can control the run game action, it can clean up for a
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lot of faults and let you sit back on the pass more. But like
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Notre Dame, you know will they do have a very diverse run game.
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Like they'll use a lot of zone schemes, They'll use gap schemes. You
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know, you'll see different types of power, different types of counter tray,
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they run duo, they change gaps a lot, and so High State is
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going to have to match that and be able to move with the gaps the
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Notre Dames creating. And so again I think there are times against Western Kentucky
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that they struggle with that either because they linebacker didn't get over at the top
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to the other side, you know, the defensive ends didn't pinch downward enough
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or you know, didn't take or someone didn't take on a pulling guard with
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enough force in the hole. So again, I think this is an issue
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to watch. To me, Notre Dames you know, their spread offense,
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you'll get plenty of twelve personnel, but you know they'll also you know,
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go foard attached or three attached plenty. But either way, I think a
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lot of it starts with their right game. You know, I don't think
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that they their passing game is super complex in terms of the number of concepts
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they're using, but they definitely will. They use a lot of run concepts
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and they will, and they use a lot of hard play action off of
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it too. So if you oversell it on the run, you know,
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you'll get a lot of bootlegs and apartments. He's mobiles, so he'll you
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know, he he's comfortable out of the pocket or part play action throwing a
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tight ends in the flats or on vertical routes. Well, one thing you
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saw a couple times from Ohio State last weekend was the Buckeye scoring on one
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play drives. Well, they're not the only team that's gonna be playing in
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South Bend this weekend. They can do that. Notre Dame had one that
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you wanted to talk about. There was a one play Adyar drive from the
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North Carolina State game a couple of weeks ago that was a long touchdown run
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by Audric Estimate o Hire State. Obviously, my professional advice would be they
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should not give up an adyar touchdown run if at all possible. So what
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do you see here on this play? And what does Ohio State need to
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do to not have this happen to them? Yeah, and again, so
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you know this is just a basic power run. So again, but you'll
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see Notre Dame uses different formations here. They have an offset fullback and a
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pulling guard, but like you know, they'll use multiple tight ends. They'll
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pull different linemen like they have a very especially their offensive tackles are very skilled
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and good athletes, and so they like to pull them in different ways.
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You know, I saw them run dark, I've seen them run variety of
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countertrays, and so again they're gonna test whether your gap sound and obviously North
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Carolina State was not on this play. And then it's exacerbated by their deep
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safety taking a poor angle. And so obviously you know you need everyone on
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defense needs to flow to the ball because again, what a lot of what
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Notre Dame wants to do is build off that downhill gap scheme run game.
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And so obviously you know I mean, it's not dissimilar from what Michigan likes
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to do. And you know we've seen o how I state that various problems
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with that in the past in terms of matching gaps when they change, and
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so that'll definitely be a challenge again. I think, as I said,
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Notre Dame has a very good offensive line. They're very sound, particularly the
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tackle spots. So I think it really is a question of, you know,
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Tyler Willilliams might call and Ti Milton inside, can they control of the
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line of scrimmage and then you know, force Notre Dame to play behind the
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chains, all right, So that that ends our sort of film breakdown.
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Look at this week, I did want to talk to you about something that
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Jim Knowles talked about on Tuesday. He was asked about the fact that it
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was really much more Jordan Hancock than Sunny Styles at that Nickel safety spot last
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weekend against Western Kentucky, and you know, he was asked sort of,
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how do you balance that and is that going to be true moving forward?
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And you know his answer was kind of it depends. So you know,
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how do you envision that position breaking down based on what you've seen for Hancock
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so far what we've seen from Styles before, because you know, I think
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we came into the year, I at least came into the year thinking I
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wonder how Styles will hold up in terms of covering those short, little speedy
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slot guys. You know, And was that just based on the matchup last
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weekend? Where do you see that that positional you know, the reps they're
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breaking down for a game's moving forward? Yeah, I mean, I think
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to echo Knowle's point, I mean I think it will be matchup dependent,
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so you know, when notre dames and two tight ends or heavier personnel like
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I expect Styles to be on the field, and when they are in passing
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downs with three wide receivers including a slow receiver on the field like I expect
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Handcock to be on the field. So I think it's much more NFL style
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matchups at those spots, you know. I do think Styles does give you
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some flexibility to be able to occasionally paying with a spread out formation. But
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I do think like Jordan Hancock brings another dimension in terms of owes say,
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being able to defend the pass. I mean, I think you can tell
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he's he is. It's still work in progress. In terms of him getting
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used to play in the slot, and you know, I just wonder how
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many reps he got in preseason at that spot, because it seems like at
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one point their planned was to probably play Cam Martinez. They're in passing downs,
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and obviously, like that didn't work out the way they wanted to.
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Early against Youngstown State, Handcock came in, he played a bunch. I
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mean, it's it's great and cover one to have three corners on the field.
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I mean there are still some growing pains sort of as I alluded to
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earlier with Hancock and handling, you know, handling motion, handling the zones.
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I mean, it's just different responsibilities at the nickel spot. And so
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you know, this will be a game where I would be surprised if the
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snaps between Hancock and Styles are fifty fifty between the two of them, maybe
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sixty forty two Styles. So I do think it'll be game dependent. But
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I would essentially think of Styles as like more of the same linebacker and Hancock
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is more of like you're bringing in a passing nickel defender. And so you
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know, each gives you, I think, because of their talent, like
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they each give you a little bit of flexibility. Like, as I said,
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Styles is better in space than your traditional linebacker, and Hancock is more
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is a pretty physical guy or quarterback. So Ohish State has that benefit to
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them. But I would still look forward to to break out, you know,
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based on responding to personnel groupings and down at distance. All right,
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I let you go on this. When you're watching the game on Saturday night.
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What is one thing you're looking for that would be you know, something
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that people could look at and go, aha, this is a very very
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good sign for the Ohio State defense. And what is one thing that they
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might see that might be you know, oh boy, this is a little
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bit of a red flag that this you know, the very very impressive defensive
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stats still far this season might be not necessarily about to hold up against Notre
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Dame. Yeah, I mean I would look at like at Notre Dame's rushing
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success rate, you know, particularly on first down, Like it's Notre Dame
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able to stay ahead of the chains, say ahead of schedule. That really
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opens up, you know, some of the quick game concepts they like to
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use. The play actually referred to you earlier if they're behind schedule. Hartman
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does like to hold the ball and so like he will hold it, he'll
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he'll he likes to play off platform and like you know, he'll have receivers
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at times that are open that he like need'd rather hold it in and see
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what else he can you know, generate through you know, broken players or
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scrambling and so I do think it will provide opportunities in passing downs for our
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high state to create pressure. But they got to get there, you know,
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you don't want to be in a bunch of third and ones thirtain twos
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throughout the game. All right, Well, if you enjoy listening to Ross
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