Washington RB Myles Gaskin Sees a Resilient Ohio State Defense

There is a certain sense of irony in saying that the big plays given up by the Ohio State defense this season have been impossible to miss.

No team in the nation has given up more run plays of at least 70 yards this season than the Buckeyes (6). There are 61 teams in the country who haven’t given up any such plays.

There are only 10 teams in the nation who have given up more than two 70-yard runs.

Washington isn’t generally known for their big plays. In fact, Buckeye receivers Parris Campbell and Terry McLaurin have combined for more 50-yard plays (6) than the Huskies (5).

But as we have seen this season, a big-play offense isn’t necessary to make big plays against Ohio State’s defense.

For Washington running back Myles Gaskin, he could look at the Buckeye defense and get himself lost in the possibilities of those big plays. Instead, however, he sees an Ohio State defense teeming with ability.

“They play fast. They play real fast,” he said. “They’ve got some big guys over there on that side of the ball, and they just play hard. I think that’s the mark of a good defense, just guys that always run to the ball. I mean, schemes are schemes, and they do have great schemes, but none of that works without guys that are just really hungry to get to the ball, running the ball, and that type of stuff.”

When a team prepares for an opponent, they don’t go in expecting to receive the opponent’s worst. They have to go in expecting their best, because if they don’t, and that’s what they get, then there will be trouble.

That’s why when Gaskin watches Ohio State, he may see the big plays given up, but he also sees plays not given up and the ground covered to make sure the ball gets stopped.

“You watch it, you watch any game, and you see 11 guys running to the ball even if it’s like a screen or a downfield pass, like that, you see guys turning and running,” he said.

“So I think that’s kind of the separator from good to great or just average to really good. So I think those guys – and they’ve got some great athletes already. They don’t just have regular athletes. They’ve got five-star recruits, guys that really know how to play ball, and they’ve got those types of guys doing that. So I think that’s a huge thing for them, and it’s going to be a real big challenge for us. I think we’re all excited for it, though.”

In watching film over the last month, Gaskin has seen the Ohio State defense over-pursue or be outnumbered or simply miss tackles. When asked why the Buckeyes have had trouble against the big play, he didn’t attempt to answer the question other than to say that the OSU defense doesn’t allow one bad play to define them.

“That’s a great question for them. I don’t know,” he said. “Like I said, I don’t have nothing to say. It’s hard. It happens to them. It happens to us sometimes. You can’t win every down. That’s a part of football. But like I said, they do play hard. So at the end of the day, that’s kind of the weird thing to see about, you see a team give up like an 80-yard run, and they come back like it’s the beginning of the game, all hyped up and stuff like that.

“So it’s not going to be a lay down type of fight if you get up big. I think that’s the biggest thing for us to know that these guys are going to play us to the very end. That’s how we want it. I think that’s how they want it as well. This is the Rose Bowl. This is a big game. A lot of people are going to be watching, so we’ll make it exciting.”

Gaskin understands that this Ohio State defense has had its share of big plays allowed, but what caught his eyes even more was the response from the defense following those big plays.

“I think that’s the more important thing,” he said. ” Everybody is going to have their plays, but just kind of seeing the defense always ready to bounce back and play better from that play or learning from what happened in that play, just in a separate series, not in the whole, ‘oh, we’ll learn next week.’ They learn not to give that up again, so I feel like that’s huge. I feel like that’s what we’ve got to be ready for and just be ready to fight.”