'Ticked off' Ohio State defense has something to prove against Georgia in Peach Bowl
ATLANTA — By the time Saturday’s Peach Bowl arrives, Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will have had 35 nights go by since his team last took the field for a game.
Not that he slept soundly after the 45-23 drubbing delivered by Michigan on Nov. 26 that left the Buckeyes needing help to get in the College Football Playoff.
That’s a long time to recount what went wrong as things unraveled for his defense against their rival on the Buckeyes’ home field. Knowles admitted Wednesday it’s kept him up replaying what went wrong.
“When you have those kind of plays happen you definitely go back to the call and you go back to every part of what you do,” he said. “There’s some dark times that just kind of stay within myself. You’ve got to take responsibility and then you want to fix it.”
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Knowles making the jump from Oklahoma State last offseason provided just the results Buckeyes coach Ryan Day was looking for during an 11-0 start.
The Buckeyes ranked in the top 10 in total and scoring defense entering the Michigan game and were second in the Big Ten in sacks and tackles for loss. That was quite a jump from finishing 59th in total defense and 38th in scoring defense and 97th in passing yards allowed in 2021.
Then Michigan rolled up 530 total yards and gashed the Buckeyes with five big plays.
“I think this last month we’ve done a good job of fixing some of the mistakes that we made that came,” safety Lathan Ranson said. “At the end of the day missed communications, busted coverages. It wasn’t like we were getting beat one-on-one.”
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Ohio State led Michigan 20-17 at halftime but was outscored 28-3 in the final two quarters.
Four of the five touchdowns went for 69 or more yards and the other went for 42.
“It definitely pissed us off with the way that game ended and how well we played in the first half,” defensive end Jack Sawyer said. “In the second half we gave up a bunch of big plays and the rushing numbers were off the charts. Our defense is definitely a little ticked off. We’re ready to go out there and put our feet back on the turf and get another shot at this.”
Donovan Edwards scored on touchdown runs of 75 and 85 to blow the game open in the fourth quarter.
J.J. McCarthy’s three touchdown passes came against a Buckeye defense that plays aggressively.
Cornerback Cameron Brown missed a tackle on a hitch route and Cornelius Johnson turned it into a 69-yard touchdown on a blitz with nobody deep on the first big scoring play.
“I don’t regret the call,” Knowles said. “I could have done a better job of coaching Cam. …You look at guys that miss a play or miss a tackle or their eyes get violated and I think it’s too easy for the fans or the coaches to point at the player. Let’s go back to me, how I installed it.”
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Safety Cameron Martinez was beaten on a double move for a 75-yard touchdown by Johnson against softer coverage.
Ransom bit on play-action and tight end Colston Loveland scored on a 45-yard touchdown.
“I think it's easy and a cop out as a coach to say, well, that guy blew this particular play or he didn't get it right and I coached him on that,” Knowles said. “Well, I didn't. I didn't do a good enough job.”
Edwards broke free for the two long touchdown runs to ice it.
“The lesson learned is everybody’s got to do their job. If one guy is peeking in the wrong gap, it’s 80 yards down the field,” Sawyer said. I don’t think that game is very indicative of what our defense is and who we are. It’s on our resume so we can’t run from it.”
Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken said the things that hold true in other games stand up for facing Ohio State.
“If you're not able to be explosive, you're going to have a hard time scoring,” he said. “It just worked out in that game that Michigan hit some plays that gave them a chance to be explosive. And that's in games we've had success against unless we've been significantly better, if you don't find ways to be explosive, you're going to have a hard time scoring points.”
Monken said Knowles “has an absence of fear, is not afraid to pressure you.”
Said Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett: “They try to cause havoc. They can come from a lot of different places. They do their assignment, and in order for us to be successful, we have to do ours.”
Kirk Herbstreit, the former Ohio State quarterback who will be the ESPN analyst for the game, wonders how Knowles will approach this matchup.
“Will they be that same aggressive in your face man-to-man, safeties up tight kind of defense against this offense with Georgia's weapons, or will they be more conservative and try to bend but don't break, which kind of go against who they've been all year,” he said. “But I don't know. I'm anxious to see how they respond …emotionally and schematically, especially on the defensive side.”
Herbstreit said that Ohio State had become predictable with their defensive structure the last two seasons under former coordinator Kerry Combs.
“What he's done is he's brought in the ability now to get into different looks, not just man you up, but play some cover two, some quarters,” he said. “They have a variety of different packages that he likes to use.”
Ohio State must find answers for Georgia’s dynamic tight end Brock Bowers, Herbstreit said.
“Who do you put on him?” he said. “Is it Lathan Ransom, who's got some pretty good ability? When Ohio State defended Notre Dame in week one, that was a big part of trying to slow down that Notre Dame offense and the big talented tight end (Michael Mayer) that they had. And for the most part, till late in the game, they did a pretty good job. Now you have two tight ends, NFL quality, tight ends. I wouldn't be surprised to see them be more conservative, play a little bit more shell coverage and try to make Georgia be more patient and then execute in the red zone. Georgia's been hit or miss in the red zone this year. …So, instead of giving up big hits like they did against Michigan, I would be surprised if they didn't try to force Georgia into being more patient and make them have to earn their points as opposed to rolling the dice trying to get it to Bennett and hoping, playing man to man and hoping to get to him before he can burn you.”
Knowles said he believes in “fix the issue but stay the course. Hopefully when you’ve had a little bit of a resume, a little bit of experience and success, particularly the players, it boils down to the players, you want them to have confidence.”
Knowles is big on the defensive stop rate, a metric tracked by The Athletic that measures the percentage of a defense’s drives that results in punts, a turnover, or a change of possession on downs. Ohio State ranked second in the nation entering the Michigan game at 79 percent.
Ransom said Ohio State has had physical practices with an emphasis on fundamentals in the lead-up to the Peach Bowl.
Ohio State’s defense has another chance to put the Michigan showing behind it against Georgia.
“We're anxious,” Knowles said. “I mean the guys, they have an edge. I know they're grateful for the opportunity to be playing on the biggest stage and really just want to go out and play their best.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Ohio State defense wants 'another shot' after gashed by Michigan
