What Ohio State’s Defense Needs to Improve Before Facing Iowa

Ohio State will face No. 14 Iowa on the road Saturday. The Hawkeyes are fresh off a last-minute victory over Michigan, while the Buckeyes took down Illinois 42-19.

Despite the Buckeyes’ 3-1 start, several defensive issues surfaced against Illinois that will have to be cleaned up before Saturday’s road test.

Ohio State Has to Stop Playing “Hero Ball”

The Buckeyes have to be more disciplined in their assignments and trust the defensive scheme instead of trying to make plays outside of it.

Senior captain Kenyatta Jackson Jr. described “hero ball” as basically abandoning your assignment to try to make a play yourself, a noticeable problem against Illinois.

“I think people just want to make plays,” Jackson said. “Play hero ball instead of doing their jobs and staying in their gaps … If you do your job, you don’t have to play hero ball. Just do your job.”

Day echoed that concern, emphasizing that one defender abandoning his assignment can impact the entire defense.

“It only takes one guy to be out of a gap, and you can turn it into an explosive play,” Day said. “So we all have to be disciplined in what we do. We don't just go out there and make plays. We have to play within the defensive scheme.”

The Buckeyes Have to Fix Their Run Defense

The Hawkeyes have leaned on their run game throughout the season and have already produced multiple dominant rushing performances.

Although Michigan held Iowa to just 58 rushing yards last week, the Hawkeyes ran for 298 yards against Northern Illinois in their opener before piling up 422 against Northern Iowa, with three different 100-yard rushers.

Before facing Illinois, Ohio State had allowed just 257 rushing yards through its first three games, an average of 85.7 per game. The Illini nearly matched that three-game total in one afternoon, rushing for 199 yards on 33 carries and averaging six yards per attempt.

Jackson said he and the captains told the D-line this has to improve.

“Two hundred rushing yards … it’s ridiculous,” he said. “We can’t have that, especially against the team that we’re about to play Saturday.”

Ohio State Must Eliminate Explosive Plays and Stay Locked In for Four Quarters

Explosive plays were another major concern for Day coming out of the Illinois game. He said the Buckeyes showed effort defensively, but their execution was “just not good enough.” Ohio State also incorporated more pressure and man coverage against Illinois, which Day acknowledged can come with some growing pains.

“Too many explosive plays … We’ve got to do a better job coaching, and the players got to do a better job of being accountable of that,” Day said.

Communication will be part of fixing that problem. Day said it starts with getting the call cleanly from the green dot, making sure everyone understands the call and then properly communicating the adjustments that come with it.

Sustaining that execution for the entire game will also be critical at Kinnick Stadium, where Ohio State will face one of its toughest road environments of the season.

“I think just sustaining a certain level of focus throughout the entire game is critical,” Day said. “And it’s going to be four quarters in this one right here.”

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