When the Ducks and Bucks take the field Monday night in Arlington, TX with a national championship on the line, much of the hype will focus on the two offenses and the prolific playmakers both teams have on that side of the ball. I don’t know what else you can say about Oregon quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota that hasn’t already been discussed and analyzed, and Ohio State has their own bevy of weapons both through the air and on the ground. Make no mistake about it, though, what takes place on the defensive side of the ball will go a long way in determining who walks out of AT&T Stadium with the inaugural College Football Playoff trophy.
Both of these teams have proven themselves immensely capable of being able to win that crucial battle in the trenches with opposing offensive lines this year. For Ohio State, it didn’t come as a surprise to see them dominate as they returned five of seven starters from a front seven that was fairly elite even in 2013 when the Buckeyes came oh so close to playing for the national title. Oregon themselves returned quite a bit of talent from last year’s side that finished second in the Pac-12 North behind Stanford.
During conference championship week as well as the semifinal round of the CFP, the defensive prowess of these sides were on full display. Against Florida State, the Ducks consistently had the Seminoles offensive line on their heels, disrupting the running game and getting a ton of pressure on quarterback Jameis Winston. By the end of the third quarter, the FSU front five seemed to clearly look worn down by the Oregon physicality up front.
The most surefire sign the rout was on came right before the beginning of the fourth quarter when the Noles completely fell apart trying to effectively pick up an Oregon blitz. Winston flailed around trying to escape the pressure and lost the ball in a play that could possibly rival Mark Sanchez’s “butt fumble” in terms of its bizarreness. Linebacker Tony Washington would pick up the ball and run it the other way for the touchdown, extending the Ducks lead to 45-20 and pretty much ending any hope of an FSU comeback.
Washington will be one of a few players lurking in the Oregon linebacking corps that the Buckeyes will need to pay attention to. The 6’3″ 245 pound linebacker from Rancho Cucamonga, CA has good size, scintillating speed and totaled six sacks, 11 tackles for loss as well as three forced fumbles, all of which he recovered including that big one in Pasadena. Two other athletes to pay attention to at that position for the Ducks are redshirt junior Christian French and sophomore Torrodney Prevot who’ve proven to be nuisances in the backfield on blitzes all season.
Similarly, the defensive line is a formidable unit that will challenge the vastly improved front five on offense for the Buckeyes. Two guys stand out, if anything on account of their freakish size. On the one hand you have junior DeForest Buckner, a 6’7″, 290 pound defensive end who finished the regular season taking home all-Pac 12 second team honors. On the interior of the line resides Arik Armstead, same weight as Buckner but an inch taller (you read that right, he’s 6’8″). He’ll most likely be lined up in front of all-Big Ten OSU right guard Pat Elflein on Monday and will look to get the good push at the snap that he had at times in the Rose Bowl.
Mariota and Buckeye quarterback Cardale Jones, making only his third career start after filling in for the injured J.T. Barrett, should expect to feel the heat in this game. Both teams know how to get at the quarterback. Oregon ranks 33rd nationally in sacks per game (2.57) while Ohio State is 20 places higher in 13th averaging slightly over three (3.07 per game).
As I hinted at above, it comes as no surprise that OSU’s defensive front seven exuded the dominance we saw from it this season. It was expected to be the anchor of the defense and when you combine the exploits up front with the phenomenal job the secondary has done forcing turnovers, it makes for a great recipe from a title run standpoint. With respect to the defensive line and linebacking corps, who have been the key ingredients for the Scarlet and Gray?
Perhaps no other player on this side of the ball for OSU has been talked about as much as Joey Bosa. The sophomore defensive end has begun to draw comparisons to a fairly well-known former Big Ten player who currently plies his trade in the NFL and is widely regarded as the league’s best defensive player, J.J. Watt. The Fort Lauderdale, FL native was a major recruiting victory for head coach Urban Meyer, and as Pat Forde from Yahoo Sports made note of in a recent column of his, that 2013 class is a big reason why they’re still alive and playing on Monday for the national title.
Bosa took home numerous awards for his play, including unanimous first team All-American and all-conference honors as well as Big Ten defensive player of the year. He’s a do-everything player that to date has registered 13.5 sacks (fifth nationally), 20 tackles for loss (T-eighth nationally), four forced fumbles and a defensive touchdown. As good as Bosa is, he can’t do it alone and he most definitely has help.
Senior defensive tackle Michael Bennett is the elder statesman on the front end of the OSU 4-3 scheme and joined Bosa on many All-American lists. Regardless of the result of the big game on Monday, his career isn’t over as he will definitely get his name called a few months from now at the NFL Draft. His fellow interior defensive lineman Adolphus Washington is another key cog on the front four, and defensive end Steve Miller may not have the notoriety of Bosa or Bennett but he’s the only D-lineman amongst these guys to register an interception.
The linebacking corps of the Buckeyes is loaded with versatile players that are highly effective tackling in the open field, getting out in coverage and harassing quarterbacks on blitzes. Redshirt freshman Darron Lee is as pure an embodiment of this versatility as you’re going to find in college football. His stat sheet of two fumble recoveries for touchdowns, two interceptions, 7.5 sacks and 16.5 tackles for loss speaks for itself.
Against Alabama during a key possession in the third quarter, Lee made a beautiful open field tackle on a bubble screen while being blocked. A few plays later, he sacked Crimson Tide quarterback Blake Sims on a wonderfully timed blitz on second and short that took advantage of a double team on Bosa, leaving him unchallenged as Sims tried to scramble. The favorable position on second down became a third and long situation that Bama was unable to convert, resulting in a key punt that continued to shift the momentum in favor of the Buckeyes.
As this historic clash grows ever nearer, it appears that the general consensus is for prolific offense to reign supreme. You have a Heisman recipient in Mariota who has accounted for an absurd 56 touchdowns and an unheard of three interceptions in 14 games. On the other side of the field, an inexperienced quarterback in Jones has made the most of his opportunity on increasingly large stages taking advantage of the ridiculous talent at skill positions for the Buckeyes. Well, the stage doesn’t get more gargantuan than the national championship game in a banner year heralding a new era in college football.
Points may or may not be scored in droves down in North Texas but you can rest assured that a game-changing play on defense has the potential to be the determining factor of who comes out on top, especially in the second half. As should be readily apparent by now if you’ve paid just rudimentary attention to what I’ve painstakingly gone through, the talent is there amongst both teams’ defensive front sevens to break this game open. Either way, it’s going to be a real blast and for this passionate college football nut (pardon the pun, Buckeye fans) Monday night can’t come soon enough.
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