Through eight uneven and largely unimpressive performances, the 2018 Ohio State defense has inspired more than a few “F” words and “S” words from fans. But Wednesday, defensive coordinator Greg Schiano dropped the “C” word.
No, not that “C” word. Schiano said the defense was “Close.” And he didn’t just say it once.
In a 21-minute press conference, Schiano said the defense was “close” or “closer” to significant improvement exactly eight times.
It started with his very first answer of the day.
“You know what, I think we’re getting close. And just in the nick of time because we need to go out and play really good defense down the stretch if we’re going to accomplish the goals that we set out for at the beginning of the year,” Schiano said.
On the surface, it’s hard to understand where that optimism is coming from.
In the last four weeks, the Buckeyes have given up 6.5 yards per play to Penn State, 5.8 to Indiana, 7.1 to Minnesota, and then 7.5 to Purdue. There is a definite trend there, and it is not one that suggests that good things are on the horizon.
Schiano says he knows what his defense has and hasn’t accomplished over the course of the year.
“I’m not being naïve to what’s been put on tape and what’s been done, but I feel really encouraged that we’re close to getting back to playing mature defense. And mature defense to me is not only making these really good plays, but not allowing the bad plays,” he said.
Those bad plays have come with shocking regularity so far.
The Buckeyes rank 123rd out of 130 FBS teams in an advanced metric called IsoPPP+. That link leads to a chart filled with numbers and acronyms, but basically it’s an opponent-adjusted measure of how many explosive plays you’ve given up.
And you don’t need to be a stat nerd to know that 123rd isn’t just bad, it’s cataclysmically bad.
Ohio State and their defense loaded with 4-and-5-star recruits is surrounded by teams like Connecticut and UNLV. Unless it’s a conversation about basketball programs from the early 1990s, that’s not the company you want to keep.
But the good news is that for the Buckeyes to dig themselves out of sub-basement of the stat sheet, they don’t have to be perfect. They just have to get better.
“You can allow some plays. A 10-yard out or a 15-yard dig aren’t going to kill you. But a 46-yard run, that’s going to hurt. Or a 79-yard pass, that’s going to hurt. We need to… we need to… we’re close. I really do feel that way,” Schiano said.
You may be rolling your eyes at that, but when you’ve been one of the worst teams in the nation, there’s nowhere to go but up. Schiano said one of the reasons for optimism is that there are signs of progress during the week.
“We’re getting closer. I see it in practice where it’s actually being done exactly right. There’s this thing called the pressure of the game which can make a player do something that he hasn’t done in practice, and that’s where you’ve got to take it from the practice field to the game field. And we’re getting really close to doing that.”
A month from now, all the talk about being close is either going to look prophetic or pathetic. And even Schiano knows that hopeful words on a Wednesday mean nothing if his team can’t deliver on a Saturday.
“I think we’re closer and I’m encouraged by that, but until we do it, it’s just a thought. We’ve got to make it happen.”
“Almost there”. Was he on the phone when he said that? That’s what I say when I’m running late and I’m still miles away. With the defense almost there and Urban working on schemes it sounds like the team is right where they should be and in good hands. Don’t know why everybody is so worried with Schiano on the job. After 8 weeks of mediocrity it only took this miracle worker 4 days to get it almost straightened out. How did BC ever let him go?
I know you meant Rutgers, but that’s not who let him escape. How in the world did Ramapo HS ever let this genius get away!
Question? How can you go thru the off season conditioning, spring practice , fall practice, and not see that some of the linebacker corp, isn’t showing what you actually thought they were.The last couple of years, the linebackers, just haven’t been as good as advertised coming out of high school or they haven’t been developed properly , which is it? On most running plays, you don’t even see them in the picture or lagging way behind, or lunging to make a tackle. If you got linebackers that constantly get isolated on speedy receivers that they can’t cover, then play some sort of dime package with extra defensive backs. But of course you need at least one good linebacker in the middle and for the defensive backs to play close to the line and be able to tackle , so maybe that won’t be an option. The coaching brain trust has said they see what we see from the first game of the season, so why does it take till a blow out loss for them to get down to the business of making changes, not just adjustments. On the offensive side, when i played there was two things the coaches told the running backs, if the lineman aren’t making holes where the running backs are suppose to run, then run up their backs next time, they will either block or get the hell out of your way. Also i remember one practice where a couple o-lineman didn’t block after a second time of letting the running back get smacked in the backfield by 3 or 4 defensive players. The coach then just threw the ball to the o-lineman and told the defense to tackle him, after being hit by about five players from the defense , he got the message of how it feels. Lesson learned! I’m just saying.
Two quick points-
1) Sounds very much like the COACHES are succumbing to “the pressure of the game” as well
2) Are you supposed to be ‘close” BEFORE the season starts? Isn’t that what practice is?? Hello?
You gotta love coach speak, but they can’t be honest because they’d be throwing their players or fellow coaches under the bus and then backing over them. He’s right though, they’re 49 points closer to being close. 7 weeks in you can’t make personnel changes because that says you were stupid coaches by choosing the wrong player. So they’re stuck with what they are and who they are. But they are a week closer to the season being over, hopefully three coaches accept job offers elsewhere. Or 4 if Myer elects to go, but if he brings 3 more friends on board, what is to be gained?
Sorry Kurt, but the Buckeye defense SUCKS.
You don’t have to even be a beginner football fan to look and see a linebacker lined up over the top of the fastest and shiftiest guy on the opponents team and ZERO personnel in the middle of the field to know that with-in 1 – 2 ticks after the snap that opponents jet is about to leave a completely overmatched linebacker completely in his wake, with so much green surrounding him that pro landscapers don’t want to have to mow that much empty space around him.
Schiano actually has the nerve to say he’s only walking 1 linebacker up………..So where are the other 2….out to lunch, because they CERTAINLY are NOT fitting gaps or in the second level.
It’s been an 8 game shitstorm of a comedy of errors and clown level coaching. Or maybe Schiano is just talking about elevating to just being an ATROCIOUS defense whereas they have up to this point been absentee “land” lords.
Malik Harrison and Tuf Borland are not newbies to the defense. Both came into this season with plenty of experience. The odd man out is Pete Werner. He’s just not a very good football player at this point.
I’m sorry but the following is pure IDIOT level psycho drivel from a clueless wannabe coach.
“You know what, I think we’re getting close. AND JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME because we need to go out and play really good defense down the stretch if we’re going to accomplish the goals that we set out for at the beginning of the year,” Schiano said.
Did 2017 NOT teach these idiots anything? Win the Big 10…..WHOOPIE FREAKING do. Win the Big 10 and after having gone out and turned your team into a clubbed seal at the hands of a piss ant roster and perennial bottom feeder, you get left sitting the wall while the studs dance. NOBODY wants to dance with a clubbed seal………..and the POC agree’s.
Luke Fickell and a really good Buckeye defense after dropping a game by 14 points in the 2nd week of the season (thank the offense for the late game failing turning the ball over), became one of the best defenses in the Country………..and it didn’t take more than half a season to get things fixed. I seem to recall PSU needing 6 quarters (double OT) to put 24 points on the board and a couple weeks later traveling to East Lansing and positing a 12 point win against the #7 Spartans. That 14 point loss to Virginia Tech was a distant memory from a really early season game.
Last years complete embarrassment to Iowa is exactly BETTER than getting your pants dropped on National TV by a 3-3 bottom feeder. That game has eliminated the Buckeyes from National Title talk. It would take a calamity of top ranked teams losing twice for a Big 10 Conference Buckeye team to even sniff a spot. Even that would be a stretch unless those other top teams drop THEIR pants on National TV and become the buffoons of College football.
Sure the guys want to win the Big 10 title. But that would change when winning the Big 10 title is just for them to be sent to sit the wall while the studs get the dance. So what goals exactly is that idiot Schiano talking about? The goal to be a perennial wall flower because the coaching staff fails the talent around them with piss poor coaching? Lets face it. The landscape has changed. There are 2 Bowl games that should be the Ohio State goal EVERY year………whichever Bowls are hosting the playoffs. The rest of the Bowls are just participation trophies now. Kids come to Ohio State ….sure, to win the Big 10, but moreson because they win the Big 10, they get into the playoffs and get to test their skills against the “other” best teams in the Country.
Not to say this is going to happen but if they win out and win the big ten they will be in. Michigan would be a high ranked win and they are not leaving a 1 loss big ten champ out.
They had no problem leaving the Buckeyes out in 2015 with their only loss by 3 points. Even though they didn’t win the Conference title the committee also proved last year that wasn’t a prerequisite. The last time they let in a Big 10 Champion was the Buckeyes who got spanked, and against before that, MSU who got date raped.
The Big 10 is viewed as a clown show and the only way that’s going to change is for the Big 10 Champs not to get clubbed like a seal by programs they should blow out. The only team the Big 10 has right now the committee will view as a contender is if that crap can up north wins out (includes the BT Title game). The Buckeyes beating them lost its luster because of the no show in West Lafayette.
Date raped?????? You need to be clubbed like a seal because you are a clownshow! A shitshow!! Get some new thoughts! Much like the Buckeye defense, your comments are getting “close” to being good.
Because the opponents offense IS pulling their pants down, therefore exposing them, and, having their way with them on National TV, makes the comment accurate. It may be figurative, but it’s accurate.
I don’t much care who does and doesn’t like the way I describe things, or if anyone agree’s with me or not. The English language is a unique language and offers a lot of different ways to assemble your speech through terms and metaphors. I choose to use them to paint a picture. You may not like it, but the next person might. That goes right back to what I have told you several times now………………If you don’t like what I have to say, don’t bother reading it. Your problem solved!
Second rape comment you’ve dropped in the past month. Please, find another term to help express your anger. The rants have become tiresome. I get it: you once played football; you don’t care for the defensive coaching scheme; you are infatuated with perceived nepotism; you have opinions, etc.
I also don’t care about your hiding from words, Don. If words offend you………that’s YOUR problem, not mine.
Not hiding but words matter, James. Analogizing football with an act of sexual violence is ignorant, at best, but you do you. May you become enlightened without you or someone you love experience the act of rape to put these things into context for you.
Well put, Don.
I’ll tell you exactly what’s in and on my mind…I won’t hide because somebody has delicate wrists.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, but the usage of rape in sports terms is low brow. That’s just the truth.
I disagree that it’s low brow, and believe it to be absolutely appropriate. When you’re forced repeatedly to succumb to the will of an adversary, you have been raped. It may be a harsh accusation, but it’s correct none the less and the guys on the field should be violently angry about it.
Their DC put them in that position so if anyone has an issue with the truth………they should discuss it with the person who put them in it, not those who describe what they have been witnessing.
Don I dont know James Mills but I like most of his posts. How stupid are you that you dont like his posts but yet you always read them. Brilliant
Great response
Hank, I just don’t get people being offended………..If I was handed some of the most outstanding materials (in this case extraordinarily talented and smart young men) and I put them in a position to fail over and over, people would be justified in whatever derogatory accusation they fired at me. It wouldn’t take me half a season to check my ego and create a visible and steady improvement. If I couldn’t get it done………my ass should be fired because my abilities apparently aren’t worth a damned. We need to return to a merit based system where people take responsibility.
…….and duly noting that Schiano just threw the players under the bus because they can’t execute a scheme that makes entirely ZERO sense.
Horse shoes and hand grenades
The D really want that bad. It got torched late in the game. Imagine if our O could go on time consuming drives. PUR first four scores assisted by 4th down conversions and 4th down penalties.