The Ohio State defensive coordinator says his veteran players don’t flinch when adversity strikes. And when his unit didn’t play well at Oregon, he didn’t flinch. He made changes.
Jim Knowles looks the part of the coach who appears old and set in his ways about how to play defense.
The gray beard. The hunched shoulders. The serious nature.
Like every human being, Knowles was born with a stubborn streak. But that streak isn’t as unbreakable as it used to be.
Knowles proved it after Ohio State’s 32-31 mid-season loss at Oregon by making changes.
Minster Bank proudly sponsors the best area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
“You have to take responsibility,” he said Friday during a break from Rose Bowl preparations in advance of a rematch against Oregon on New Year’s Day in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal.
Knowles, head coach Ryan Day and the rest of the defensive staff held a private skull session and made changes. Day called it a re-engineering of the defense. And Knowles – then and now – affirmed every change.
“Probably when I was younger that was hard because you take it personally,” he said. “I think now my job is to not be emotional about it. My job is to fix it. You can’t blame the players. You have to go back to your coaching and the process.”
Knowles said he could write down every change if he had to. But that he wouldn’t.
He paused.
Then he said he actually couldn’t enumerate every change. Some were big, some were small, and time runs the weeks together.
No one is more stoked for the rematch than defensive back Denzel Burke (above). “We’re going to see a big game out of him this week.” – Jordan Hancock
“It wasn’t hard at all,” he said of the idea that changes were needed. “If you’re going to survive in this profession and grow and get better, you always have to look at yourself, you have to see things that happen on the field and go back to how did I coach that, how did I prepare for that.”
It all sounds so complicated, so Xs and Os, so genius. But Knowles talks about it like anyone talks about a job they know well.
“It’s just a matter of seeing what’s wrong, what happened and fixing it,” he said. “That’s it.”
So Coach Fix-It went to work, simplifying in ways to allow his players to play faster, to react to what they saw without having to stop to think. And, as senior linebacker Cody Simon said, the Buckeyes’ “most prominent change is really just the attitude and the mindset.”
The results are 11.3 points allowed per game in the seven games that followed Oregon. Nebraska and Tennessee’s 17 were the most. Fellow playoff teams Penn State and Indiana scored 13 and 15 points, respectively.
“I would just say a renewed intensity to get lined up faster, do your job,” Knowles said.
Pretty simple stuff that the Buckeyes hope will keep Oregon well below the 32 they scored the first time and the 35.9 points they average. To do that the Buckeyes will have to control the effect Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel has on the game. In the first meeting, he threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for a 27-yard touchdown, wasn’t sacked, and is hard to catch whether he scrambles to pass or run.
“It’s going to be our job to really give him different looks and really give him a tough time in the pocket,” senior linebacker Cody Simon said. “We can’t allow him to sit back and just pick apart our defense.”
Chances are, the best lawn on your block is an Ever-Green lawn. Call us at 937-335-6418!
Gabriel’s 341 yards were the most against the Buckeyes by a wide margin. Northwestern at 201 was the only other team to surpass 200 passing yards. Three opponents, including Indiana, didn’t reach 100. And the Ducks’ total offense of 496 yards marked the only opponent to surpass 300 yards.
“You always hope for a second shot when you don’t do well,” Knowles said. “A lot of times you don’t get them. So we have a chance to do better, but when you have a team that’s together with veteran leadership, the week-to-week process stays the same.”
No one on the defense is happier for a second chance than senior cornerback Denzel Burke.
The Ducks picked on him like a freshman in the first half. Evan Stewart ran past Burke for a 69-yard catch to set up a 10-yard touchdown catch against Burke. Then Tez Johnson muscled through a bump by Burke and beat him deep for a 48-yard touchdown and a 22-21 halftime lead.
“He’s super stoked for this rematch,” fellow defensive back Jordan Hancock said. “Even though it didn’t go the way he wanted to go that game, he always had his confidence. We’re going to see a big game out of him this week.”
Safety Jordan Hankcok will have an important role in the Buckeyes’ secondary success against Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel.
Knowles said he trusts Burke to handle Stewart, Johnson or whoever the Ducks line up on his side.
“That job that he does, and he’ll be doing it for many years, you’re on an island, and there are times where you don’t make the play,” Knowles said. “But I feel like his resolve has been the same, and our trust in him has always been the same. We all learn to handle ourselves in times of adversity, and he’s a guy that’s always going to bounce back.”
A noticeable change since the Oregon game is Jordan Hancock’s role. He’s listed as a cornerback and lines up over the slot receiver much of the time. But he also drops into a deeper safety position so All-American safety Caleb Downs can move closer to the line of scrimmage and make more plays.
“You have a guy like Caleb Downs a lot of times you don’t want to get him removed from a position to make plays,” Knowles said. “Caleb is a guy who can track the run and play the pass.”
Huffer Chiropractic can help your athlete perform at their best – with offices in Osgood, Jackson Center, and Dublin, Ohio.
The adjustment is made possible because Hancock has proven to Knowles that he is a versatile enough athlete to play both positions. Since the Oregon game Hancock has excelled in his education to play safety.
“I put in the film study, and just me being a natural athlete, made the switch very smooth,” Hancock said. “We can do a lot more on defense, a lot of more adjustments.”
While both teams have evolved and present new challenges for each other, Gabriel will undoubtedly look deep for his receivers again. Limiting explosive plays – especially long touchdowns – will be necessary to flip the October script.
“We got to challenge these receivers,” Hancock said. “Every dog has their day … maybe some people didn’t have their day that game, but we hopefully change the narrative.”
Through the all the changes, the soul-searching on the flight home from Oregon, the Buckeyes knew one thing for sure about that game at raucous Autzen Stadium.
“We definitely did not play to our standard no matter what,” Simon said. “That’s number one, but they also played a good game. We’re both good teams. That’s why we’re in the Rose Bowl playing against each other.
“When we get to that moment, we got to do it right, and it didn’t get done last game. We’ll get those fixed, we’ll make the changes and go out there and get a win.”
The Arbogast family of dealerships is proud to sponsor the Buckeyes on Press Pros.