The Ohio State defense has had its share of struggles this season and given up a good chunk of yards and points of late.
If the Buckeyes are going to beat Michigan on Saturday, those struggles will need to take the week off.
The Wolverines will bring a versatile offense to Columbus. It can be a simple I-formation offense, or shotgun spread, or meet somewhere in the middle with the pistol. There are drop-backs, hand-offs, read-option runs, and run-pass options.
In other words, the Ohio State defense will have to prepare for almost every possible look.
Ultimately, however, they will still see plenty of between-the-tackles offense from Michigan, which the Buckeyes are looking forward to.
“This will be a more physical running game,” said fourth-year junior defensive tackle Davon Hamilton. “Last week, Maryland ran the ball a lot, too. It was more downhill running with (Maryland). I live for run game teams.”
Knowing what the Ohio State defense has looked like this season, and the possibilities that Michigan presents, does this need to be the Buckeyes’ best performance as a defense this year?
“It’s got to be damn near close because they are a really good team,” Hamilton said. “The stuff we’ve been doing all year, working hard, that’s the real message this week.”
The question then becomes if the Buckeyes need to play their best, can they even get there based on what we’ve seen over the last month?
“I think we can,” Hamilton said. “We can’t be perfect as a team overall. Nobody can be perfect. Our best game is yet to come. Really, we can shut out teams if we put our minds to it. We’ve just got to put it all together.”
There is a school of thought that much of Michigan’s offense suits the Ohio State defense better than most teams. The Wolverines like to stay between the hashes, but they will also spread the Buckeyes out with sweeps and quick passes. Ohio State has the ability to defend both, but they also have the ability to give up 300 yards rushing to an offense that can’t throw the ball.
Despite that fact, middle linebacker Tuf Borland has confidence in his teammates to find a new level.
“I have the utmost confidence in this team to play really well and play at their best,” he said. “I think sometimes success doesn’t show right away. In some of our practices, we’ve been practicing really well. We’ve had really good days and sometimes that just kind of lags behind what is shown on the field at times. I have confidence we’ll play (well).”
Playing “well” and playing “your best” are two different things. Depending on how OSU’s offense goes, either may be good enough to win. Does Borland agree that the Buckeyes need to be at their best?
“I think we need to play our best every week,” he said diplomatically.
“I don’t think we’ve played up to our expectations that we set forth at the beginning of the year. I think there’s still room for improvement and hopefully we can get there this weekend.”