MATT BARNES SAYS OHIO STATE’S DEFENSIVE PLAY CALLING HAS BEEN “GROUP EFFORT” FOLLOWING STAFF SHAKEUP
For the second time in four years, Matt Barnes is calling a Big Ten team’s defensive plays even though he isn’t its defensive coordinator.
During his final year at Maryland in 2018, Barnes took over defensive play calling responsibilities from Andy Buh, who was the Terrapins’ defensive coordinator that year. And since Ohio State’s third game of the season, Barnes has been the lead defensive play caller for the Buckeyes, taking that responsibility from Kerry Coombs following the Buckeyes’ loss in their second game of the year against Oregon.
While he’s still never been a full-time defensive coordinator, he says the experience he gained at Maryland three years ago has helped him as he’s taken on increased responsibilities in Columbus this year.
“I think it’s like anything else. The best way to get better at playing football is to play football. The best way to improve calling defense is to call defense,” Barnes said Tuesday. “So hopefully, we’ll continue to see improvement as we go, but I learned some valuable lessons that year in 2018 and learning with every play right now.”
Ohio State’s defense has been better since Barnes took over play-calling responsibilities, allowing just 27 total points against Tulsa and Akron after allowing 31 points to Minnesota and 35 points to Oregon – though it’s uncertain whether the defense has actually gotten better, or whether it’s simply benefitted from playing weaker competition. The competition will start to get tougher as they resume Big Ten play with Rutgers this week followed next week by Maryland, which ranks second only to Ohio State in Big Ten total offense.
“I think we’ve made some strides, and I think this week will be another big test for us,” Ryan Day said Tuesday. “I think you just overall see us changing some things up, playing with great aggression. But again, we’ll know that more here in a couple weeks and figure out where we’re at. We got a big challenge this week, and as it continues to grow, I don’t think the answer’s here yet. We gotta see where we’re at in this thing. It’s week to week. We’ll be on the brink week to week. It’s not just you do a good job one week and then move on.”
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