It all starts with the defensive line
Tyleik Williams with a pancake of a sack.
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) September 26, 2021
We said it at the end of last year. We repeated it during spring, and we kept singing this song through fall camp. This Ohio State defense is going to only be as good as the productivity of the defensive line. It’s the most veteran unit with the most depth of talent on that side of the ball, and a lot of deficiencies on the back-end can be covered up by pressure up front with the front four.
But so far this year, things haven’t been up to snuff. The edge rushers haven’t been getting off the ball fast enough, and the middle of the line hasn’t quite been getting the consistent push you’d expect. It’s all resulted in a defense that looks like it has all kinds of holes.
Things looked much better in this one. Now, we must remember that Akron was severely outmanned in the talent department, but still, the Buckeyes were able to come at quarterback D.J. Irons in waves, tallying multiple sacks, tackles for loss, and even more pressures and hurries.
It doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t continue through the next weeks, but it was nice to see some more explosiveness and disruption from that unit Saturday.
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