Greg McElroy reveals how Ohio State can contend for national championship

Ohio State has the offense to compete with any team in the country. Although they lost wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson to the NFL, they return plenty of quality pieces from an offense that led the nation in scoring in 2021 at 45.7 points per game. That high powered offense didn’t compete for titles last season, though, because of their defense. Although they scored 30 plus points 10 times, the Buckeyes gave up 30 plus five times as well. That led to their two losses of the season that kept them out of the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff. For the Buckeyes to compete in 2022, ESPN’s Greg McElroy it’s all going to hinge on the improvement of the defense.

McElroy broke down the Ohio State defense in a segment on ‘Always College Football‘. He says that regardless of the cause, the Buckeye defense hadn’t played to standard in some time.

“This defense, for the most part the last couple years, has left me scratching my head. If you watched Ohio State, you look at the personnel. They got dudes at all three levels defensively but, for whatever reason, the sum was not equal to the addition of each individual part. I just couldn’t quite figure it out,” said McElroy. “Part of it was scheme based, especially in 2020. They never got out of regular personnel…Last year you see the sack production and interception production which were both top or near the top in the Big Ten. Then you look at the points per game allowed and they’re ninth in the Big Ten. That should never happen. Not with that personnel.”

The Buckeyes did not keep last season’s DC Kerry Coombs who’s now at Cincinnati. Ryan Day nailed a home run hire with his replacement in former Oklahoma State DC Jim Knowles. Knowles commanded the Cowboy’s Top 10 defense in 2021 that led the nation in sacks as well as tackles for loss. The Pokes also gave up just 18.1 points per game last season. McElroy says Knowles’ willingness to get creative is the biggest impact that he’ll have on Ohio State’s defense.

“Jim Knowles comes up from Oklahoma State (and) he did an amazing job for the Pokes last year. I think Jim Knowles certainly had the inside track (for the Broyles Award),” McElroy said. “He’s going to add, I think, a few new pieces, going to add a few new wrinkles, some pressures. He’s going to be more aggressive, be more willing to substitute, and probably be a bit more willing to change up the look. Ohio State got a little bit predictable during the previous regime.”

Ohio State has the fire power between CJ Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, and Jaxson Smith-Njigba to compete for a national championship. That won’t determine whether or not they’re competing for it, though. McElroy says the production of Knowles’ new defense will decide whether or not the Buckeyes make it to Los Angeles.

“I think changing up the looks will only increase the amount of effectiveness that group will have at all three levels and, hopefully, will lead to better productivity against the run, against the pass, and when it comes to the most important stat in points per game allowed.”