Ohio State's Success Shows Revamped Coaching Staff Working Well
Everything is working so well for fourth-ranked Ohio State there's a temptation to overlook the one thing that's working so well it triggers the Buckeyes' success everywhere else.
That would be head coach Ryan Day's revamped coaching staff, half of which is new this season, including four of his five defensive assistants.
Co-coordinators Jeff Hafley and Greg Mattison have reworked a unit that took and deserved heavy criticism a year ago for getting gashed with big plays, yielding too many points and finishing 72nd overall in the country in yards allowed.
Defensive improvement noticeable in the numbers
Day, after taking over for Urban Meyer, went back to where he came from, the San Francisco 49ers, and brought Hafley aboard to simplify the Buckeyes' schemes to get his players playing faster and with more confidence.
So far, soooooo good.
OSU has allowed only three plays of 20 yards or more. Through five games a year ago, it had allowed 23.
The Buckeyes are No. 2 in total defense (223 yards per-game) and are fourth in scoring defense at 8.6 per-game.
"We can still get a lot better," Hafley said. "We need to get a lot better."
Mattison and linebackers coach Al Washington were at Michigan a year ago.
"I really don’t know what happened before," Mattison said. "I didn’t care. What I did see when I walked in the very first day, I saw a group of guys that worked unbelievably hard every single day in that weight room and every single day in the spring and every single meeting in camp.
"You saw a group of defensive guys that loved each other and wanted to be as good as they could be, that respected each other and know that they’ve just scratched (their potential) right now.
Secondary coach Matt Barnes came from Maryland.
Opposing quarterbacks under siege from OSU defense
Along with Hafley, those four new defensive assistants work with the only holdover, Larry Johnson, whose recruitment and instruction of the defensive line sets the foundation for Ohio State's success.
Defensive end Chase Young has eight quarterback sacks, tied for first in the nation.
OSU has 24 sacks collectively, one behind the No. 1 spot in the country.
"If you’ve got a great rush and you can get the quarterback off his platform, that makes a huge difference," Day said. "Maybe he’s getting the ball out a little bit sooner than he wants, and then vice versa.
"If the secondary is covering and he can’t get the ball out on three in a hitch and on time, now he holds it for an extra second, that allows the defense to get to the quarterback, and that’s team defense right there."
