Some folks, myself included to a degree, are complaining about our soft defense and lack of adjustments of Snyder's part. After a bit of contemplation, I figured I take a look at how our defense has done in the second halves of this year's games, as our second half adjustments were the key to our dominating defense and national title of two years ago. Here are the points given up in the second half so far this year:
Week 1 - Cincy: 3 points
Week 2 - Marshall: 7 points
Week 3 - NC State: 14 points
Week 4 - Northwestern: 14 points
Week 5 - Wisconsin: 10 points
Keep in mind that the TD Wisconsin scored in the second half was a result of their recovering a fumbled punt on our 17 yard line. We played decent second half defense, points wise, in three games. Even the 14 points given up in the second half at NC State were the result of their only two good rives of the game (we had otherwise shut them down). The Northwestern game was the only second half where I felt that we had no effective adjustments in the second half. Also realize that our defense has been spending a lot of time on the field as a result of our offense's habit of three-and-out, along with the QBs of both Northwestern and Wisconsin playing far above their norm (i.e., playing out their asses). Note the time-of-possession in our nail-biter win and in our two losses:
Marshall: 35:43 Ohio State: 24:17
Northwestern: 31:41 Ohio State: 28:19
Wisconsin: 36:29 Ohio State: 23:31
We dominated TOP in our two wins that were more convincing.
Despite these factors, the defense is giving up only 17 defensive ppg in regulation so far (remember that one of Marshall's TDs came via their defense). Take away the gift TD we gave to Wisconsin, and it's under 16 ppg...not bad for a defense that currently has but four full-time starters from last year (Salley, Fraser, Hawk, Reynolds) and no seniors playing. I think Fox's return will help stabilize the defense...his persona, captaincy, and field leadership are vital intangibles.
Snyder is new and is learning (he just hasn't learned to take his ass up to the booth). Our defense has a bunch of starters with limited experience and has played without it's captain for three weeks. It also has to rotate players more often than it should due to the offense's lack of ball control. All these lead me to believe that once these work themselves out, as they should, we should see defense performance reminiscent of the last two seasons.
