Grading the Buckeyes' Defense Against Nebraska

The Silver Bullets played yet another rock solid game to lift Ohio State to a big road victory in conference play.

Tommy Zagorski | Nov 8, 2021

The Buckeyes were fortunate to come out of Lincoln with a victory. Offensively, the Buckeyes struggled mightily. Only able to rush for 90 total yards in the game (first time under 100 yards since 2018), the Ohio State Buckeyes did not look like their normal selves. Turnovers as well and an inability to control the line of scrimmage on the offensive side of the football made this game closer than most people anticipated.

On the defensive side of the football, the defensive line just continues to get better. Linebacker play was up and down, and the safeties need to clean things up going forward. Let’s take a look at the Buckeyes win in Lincoln.

As far as how to interpret the following grades:

Grading Key

A: National Championship-level play ... dominates the opponent and executes at the highest level.
B: Big Ten Championship-level play ... consistently beats opponents, but leaves a few areas to grow.
C: Bowl Eligble-level play ... does enough to win in a close game to just get bye. Needs to improve quickly.
D: Home for the Holidays-level play ... exposed multiple times and a major liability to the greater whole.
F: Losing-level play ... unit was dominated in many facets of the game and is a major detriment to success. Major changes needed immediately.

If you missed the offensive grades, you can check those out here. Let’s take a look at how we graded out the Buckeyes this week:

Defensive Line: B

The Rushmen are back! Led by in state Buckeyes senior Tyreke Smith and junior Zach Harrison, the defensive line gave the young Husker offensive line all they could handle on Saturday in Lincoln. Four of the five sacks on Saturday were credited to this group. The aforementioned Smith and Harrison, along with Javontae Jean-Baptise and Jack Sawyer, each had a sack. Taron Vincent continues to shine inside along with Antwuan Jackson.

The only reason this group gets a B in lieu of an A is the ground attack of Nebraska. The historically great ground attack of Nebraska was held to 3.3 yards per carry, but much of that is overshadowed by the fact that the five sacks the Buckeyes got home on yielded a net loss of 31 yards. The defensive line is trending in the right direction and have been a pleasure to watch.

Linbackers: B

This unit has seen the most improvement thus far. A group that was written off earlier this year has stormed back and taken advantage of more zone coverage schemes, than just running around in man coverage. Cody Simon led the Buckeyes with eight tackles and Steele Chambers wreaked havoc in the second half with six tackles and an interception. Tommy Eichenberg led the team with two tackles for loss, as Palaie Gaoteote IV and Teradja Mitchell added value in their roles. The group is tackling better and Al Washington does not get enough credit in his development of the room.

Defensive Backs: B-

The ups and downs of being a defensive back, often directly correlate to the men playing in front of you. Some of the pressure up front allowed the day to be easier on the group, while other times, their outstanding coverage led to pressure on the quarterback. Ronnie Hickman and Bryson Shaw continue to make tackles, as they are called to in the MOFO (Middle of the Field Open) coverages.

However, there are times that they still give up big plays (which is a vulnerability of the run stop cover 4 defense.) Samori Toure had four big catches and one yielded a touchdown that kept Nebraska in the game. Denzel Burke added a pass breakup in his Freshman All-American campaign, as Cameron Brown and Lathan Ransom continue to flash in their growing role. This will be a huge week as Purdue comes to town off of a 536 yard performance by fifth year senior Aidan O’Connell and a monster game from All-American candidate David Bell.

Special Teams: A+

Normally, this group is omitted from the grades portion of the week, but it cannot continue to be unrecognized. Noah Ruggles is putting in an All-American campaign. He is 49-of-49 on extra points and 15-of-15 on field goal attempts. He's converted four field goals now in back to back weeks, something that's never been done before at Ohio State.

Jesse Mirco averaged 40.5 yards a punt on Saturday. “Mr. Everything” Jaxon Smith-Njigba averaged 15.5 yards per punt return and Emeka Egbuka continues to be a shoe string away from taking a kickoff the distance. Egbuka averages 35.2 yards per return!

The other aspect has been the coverage units. Buckeye opponents are averaging only 15.3 yards a kickoff return and 5.5 yards per punt return. This is a testament to not only scheme, but more impressively the Buckeyes' depth and culture.

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