After a heartbreaking loss to Michigan on Saturday, the Buckeyes ended the regular season 11-1. All hope for the season isn’t lost just yet as with some luck on conference championship Saturday the Buckeyes could still get a spot in the College Football Playoff, but the loss is certainly demoralizing for Buckeye nation.
With the regular season in the rearview mirror now is a good time to take a step back and evaluate the team.
This Ohio State team was built differently than recent Ohio State teams as they were led by an elite defense and good, but not great offense, as opposed to the other way around.
In just two seasons Jim Knowles has impressively led a defensive turnaround for the Buckeyes. In 2021, the season prior to Knowles’ arrive as coordinator, Ohio State had the No. 31 ranked scoring defense in the FBS allowing 22.8 points. This season, the Buckeyes have the second ranked scoring defense as they’ve allowed just 11.4 points per game.
This Ohio State defense is built a bit differently than past stellar Buckeye defenses as although this unit doesn’t have a blue-chip superstar like a Chase Young it does have very good depth.
In this article we dig deeper into that as we break down each defensive position group’s performance this season using Pro Football Focus grades for each player. Though not the ultimate measuring stick, PFF is a good tool because it grades every player on every play.