What In The World Happened To Ohio State's Secondary?
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Saturday's postgame press conference with Ohio State head coach Ryan Day had a decidedly different tone than the previous 11 games this season.
Day was quiet, soft-spoken and lacking answers to why and how things could have possibly gotten quite this out of hand in the game they had been preparing to play for the last 365 days.
The reality is a little bit hard to wrap your head around, but the problems that manifested themselves semi-regularly throughout the season in the secondary were put on blast Saturday afternoon.
Michigan had absolutely no business being in the game in the first half, but Ohio State's defensive backs had a brutal day.
The Wolverines ran 25 plays in the first half and three of them went for a total of 177 yards. The other 22 went for 37 yards, which included 11 rushes for 10 total yards.
Not a single one of the guys in the secondary are going to watch the film from this game and feel good about it. Denzel Burke, Cam Brown, Cam Martinez, Ronnie Hickman - they all were at fault at different points throughout the game. The Buckeyes got absolutely torched in man-coverage all day.
The Maize and Blue racked up 222 yards on four passing plays and added late rushing touchdowns of 75 and 85 yards where the defensive backs couldn't make tackles when Donovan Edwards got to the second half of the defense.
J.J. McCarthy finished the day just 12-of-24 passing, but he accumulated 263 yards and threw for three touchdowns in the win.
Essentially the entire defensive coaching staff was let go at the end of last season, and a huge part of that decision revolved around the unacceptable performance in Ann Arbor last fall.
I have a hard time seeing a similar exodus coming this year because the overall product has been dramatically better this season. But there is going to be some serious soul-searching in the secondary, on the coaching staff and around the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Will the Buckeyes still make the College Football Playoff? Their very nervous wait officially begins to see where the committee will rank them this week.
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