Ohio State Defense Effective, But Far From Perfect vs. Arkansas State

The Buckeyes ultimately had a good day and kept the Red Wolves out of the end zone, but they weren't nearly as sharp as they were last week against Notre Dame.

Final Score: Ohio State 45, Arkansas State 12

If a defense can be effective and incredibly irritating at the same time, Ohio State's first half would be exhibit 1a.

The Buckeyes couldn't get out of their own way. They largely looked exactly how they should, stuffing plays at the line of scrimmage and forcing James Blackman into some uncomfortable spots.

On the positive side: they didn't allow a touchdown, they held Arkansas State to one rushing yard in the first quarter and only 27 in the first half, Mike Hall came up with a huge sack to force a turnover on downs and the Buckeyes effectively took every play out of Arkansas State's playbook that featured a run between the tackles.

But .......

Freshman All-American cornerback Denzel Burke played so poorly that he was replaced by the beginning of the second quarter. He committed two defensive pass interference penalties on the same drive mid-first quarter that allowed ASU to kick its first of three first half field goals. He also got absolutely torched on a couple of plays.

Burke returned for the start of the second half and made a key tackle for loss on the first series, so it was good to see him shake that off quickly.

There were also way too many penalties and sloppy mistakes. It's not realistic to expect perfection, but the Silver Bullets kept beating themselves. Jack Sawyer and Zach Harrison each were flagged for offsides. Teradja Mitchell leaped over the punt shield and negated a return for touchdown.

Steele Chambers, Tommy Eichenberg, Ronnie Hickman and J.T. Tuimoloau all stood out to me with great performances. 

I also think it's fair to give Arkansas State some credit for how they handled the play-calling. They did a good job of getting the ball on the flanks quickly to let their athletes on the outside operate in space. They also called a few delayed handoffs that were effective and they pestered the Ohio State defense.

Back to Hall for a moment, who sustained what appeared to be a left shoulder injury in the middle of the third quarter. For a defense that hadn't forced a turnover in the first six quarters of the season, I thought he made the biggest play of the first half. 

With just under 1 minute left in the first half, Arkansas State faced a fourth and 2 from the Buckeyes 40 yard line. Hall sacked James Blackman to force a turnover on downs and give C.J. Stroud and company 51 seconds to work with before the half from basically midfield.

The offense unfortunately went 3-and-out, but the defense did it's job.

Perhaps their most impressive stat of the game, the defense was great on third downs all game. They held ASU to 5-for-20 for the day, most four of which came after the game was already out of hand.

More to come from Columbus after Ryan Day's press conference wraps up.

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