Ohio State v. Marshall Defensive Review

This was the usual solid Ohio State defensive performance, though I think some things such as pursuit angles need to be cleaned up going forward.  This may be a result of so many defensive starters missing significant amounts of fall practice. 

The Ohio State Nickel

I want to thank 'Dvo45' of the OhioState.Scout.com 'Ask the Insiders' Board' for his insight and analysis into the OSU 4-2-5 nickel over defense.

This game gave a good look at the myriad of fronts (and coverages) OSU uses with their nickel.  The Ohio State defense keeps the looks constantly varied, giving the offense a different front nearly every down.  To wit, this game OSU showed with their nickel personnel the following fronts:

The latter was the primary set OSU utilized against Marshall.  OSU's 4-2-5 over has much in common with the TCU defense that has made its name on this look, but Ohio State is more varied in the fronts they apply. Ohio State's typical front is a 4-3 under:  to the weakside a '1' technique and '5' technique, to the strength a '3' technique and a '7' technique.  The front goes to the offense's strength.  Rolle follows the 3 technique.

Ohio State will adapt and play the 'under' as a nickel defense (see below).  Essentially the front is the same for the front 6--they will set to the strength.  The back 5 then goes to the field to the field.  So it is effectively a 4-3 under without the Sam linebacker and nickel pass coverage behind it.

OSU tends to play this under-nickel in first down and third and short situations against spread teams.  OSU will turn to the 4-2-5 over, however, in passing downs.

Here, the defensive front six is again set to the strength.

But OSU does not flip their interior defensive linemen.  Instead,  Heyward and Simon would stay to the same side and play either a '5' or '3' technique depending upon the strength call.  In the above picture, one can see Heyward as the 3 technique and Simon as the 5.  The LEO will move, however, and play the '7' technique to the formation's strength (Thomas to the top, above).  As with the under, Rolle will go to the 3 technique's side, and Homan to the 1 technique.

The back five, meanwhile, will play to the field and adjust to any shifts or formations.  Above you can see the typical position for the 'Star' a bit inside the slot receiver in the 'gray' area.

Against 'trips', the defensive back and linebackers will slide to the trips, with the star extending out to number 2, and the back safeties rolling towards the trips.  (See below.  H/T).

OSU thus shows a variety of looks to opposing offenses that change in gradation from those most concerned with the run to those more pass-focused.  I will continue to chart the tendencies as to when and how much OSU is playing the various defenses, and what coverages they are placing behind.  It will be interesting to examine what looks OSU gives Miami who, like the OSU's offense, is multiple in nature. 

Dexter Larrimore and the OSU Run Defense

I believe Dexter Larrimore may have had the best game on the OSU defense, and that bodes well for the OSU defense going forward.  Larrimore was one of the most underrated players on last year's unit.  His absence in the middle of the year was noticeable in terms of his contribution to the OSU run defense. His presence was again on full display against Marshall.  Marshall could not establish any zone run game because Larrimore controlled and re-set the line of scrimmage, often controlling and shedding the center or guard to make the tackle. 

The one play Marshall ran that gave OSU some difficulty was the spread counter trey back into the 5 technique side of the over (see above.  This was more an artifact, however, of OSU being unprepared for the play and having the 5-technique come too far upfield.  Once the defense adjusted Marshall again could not run the football. 

If Larrimore continues to play at this level OSU will be very difficult to run on this year.  This bodes well because OSU is best when they make teams one-dimensional and have to use a ball-controlled passing game down the field.  It will also make things more difficult for Miami, since they emphasize play-action passing (of which I will say more later). 

The OSU Pass Rush

Some consternation has been raised regarding the OSU pass rush.  Such criticism misses the point, however.  Marshall's offense was entirely of the 3-step drop and screen variety.  That philosophy makes it difficult, if not impossible, to get a sustained pass rush.

In addition, it misses the OSU philosophy against such spread teams.  OSU has been very successful at controlling the 0-5 yard area against such teams.  The goal is to keep everything in front, make the tackle and limit the play to a 3-4 yard gain, and dare the offense to drive the field with such small gains.  Most offense's cannot.  Essentially, the OSU goal is to turn these offense's passing games into the equivalent of an ineffective run game.  Indeed, trying to get a hard charging, vertical pass-rush against a team like Marshall because their offense is predicated on the jailbreak screen.  The defensive line needs to play under control against such teams.

In sum, though 'bend but don't break' is often used as a pejorative, the OSU defense has nearly perfected playing against spread zone read and dink and dunk teams and it is difficult to think of a game in recent memory where OSU struggled with such an offense.

Tyler Moeller and the Star Position

Many have already commented on this, but Tyler Moeller's play should be heartening for all OSU fans.  This is not only because of the great personal comeback story involved, but the crucial role the Star plays in the OSU nickel.  The star must play to the field in space, be able to play zone coverage and stop slip screens , but also be able to quickly get into the box on run plays.  Considering that most teams run some form of spread formations, the Star gets the majority of defensive snaps.  Moeller's high level of play bodes well for the defense and shores up a critical area of need.