Full Transcript for Scheme Insider: How Matt Patricia Has Improved Ohio State's Run Defense

off-ball 69 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:39.439 linebacker position either. And it's usually Christian Allegro or Riley 70 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:43.460 Patajan playing there. You've got your off-ball linebacker. And you've 71 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:48.430 got three high safeties. Earl Little is the safety who 72 00:03:48.469 --> 00:03:50.949 plays that pole runner spot in the middle of the field. 73 00:03:50.969 --> 00:03:54.990 And so he's kind of in a position to fill 74 00:03:55.030 --> 00:03:58.000 against the run as needed. And that's kind of one 75 00:03:58.009 --> 00:04:00.080 of the keys to this. I think, first of all, 76 00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:03.680 they're only using odd spacing now for the most part. 77 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:06.530 when they go to this three high package, which is 78 00:04:06.629 --> 00:04:08.770 a lot better, like earlier in the year, they were 79 00:04:08.830 --> 00:04:12.129 using both odd and even spacing, but I think using 80 00:04:12.210 --> 00:04:15.569 odd spacing is best if you're going to use this 81 00:04:15.610 --> 00:04:20.019 approach and they're just executing better. So like right here, Indiana, 82 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:22.379 you get a good look at the Tampa two coverage 83 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.100 they're running is Indiana's running an ISO draw play, but 84 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:29.199 this is a great rep from, you know, Riley Pettijohn 85 00:04:29.220 --> 00:04:31.120 really stands out in this rep to me and the 86 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:34.949 defensive tackles do well. So Indiana runs, because it's a draw, 87 00:04:34.990 --> 00:04:37.149 you get a good look at the initial pass drops, 88 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:43.129 but the defense reacts so quickly, and this play is 89 00:04:43.170 --> 00:04:45.980 essentially stopped for nothing. But I think just the wide 90 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:48.120 view of this play is a pretty good look at 91 00:04:48.149 --> 00:04:50.720 the overall kind of structure of this defense as it 92 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:51.459 currently stands. 93 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:55.339 All right, next up, we're going to watch them try 94 00:04:55.379 --> 00:04:58.240 and stop Indiana's inside zone, and this is one of 95 00:04:58.259 --> 00:05:02.000 these plays where We've talked a bunch about gaps and 96 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:04.779 do they have all the gaps covered earlier in this year? 97 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:08.980 And there was a lot of questions about, okay, are 98 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:12.839 they doing it correctly? What's the scheme here? Do you 99 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:16.000 have all the gaps covered? This is one where you 100 00:05:16.019 --> 00:05:17.540 watch from the end zone view and it's like, yep, 101 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:19.480 you can see exactly what they're trying to do. And 102 00:05:19.540 --> 00:05:21.660 it's like, oh, there's a gap. And then boom, there's 103 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.250 a little to wrap them up and make a stop 104 00:05:24.259 --> 00:05:24.810 for not much. 105 00:05:25.740 --> 00:05:28.500 Yeah, so Earl Little has just been a phenomenal player. 106 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:30.449 I mean, they like him in this middle safety, this 107 00:05:30.509 --> 00:05:34.990 pull spot, because, you know, again, against the pass, he'll 108 00:05:35.009 --> 00:05:38.370 be in coverage. But Earl Little is a very aggressive player. 109 00:05:38.410 --> 00:05:40.110 This puts him in a spot to come fill against 110 00:05:40.149 --> 00:05:42.660 the run. And really what his job is in this 111 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:48.040 defense is, like, to fill wherever's needed. And that's kind 112 00:05:48.060 --> 00:05:48.839 of what he does here. 113 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:49.000 So.... 114 00:05:50.740 --> 00:05:52.920 Here, you're going to see a gap open up. What 115 00:05:52.939 --> 00:05:55.379 they're having the defensive linemen do on some levels, they're 116 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:59.670 playing a gap and a half, which means it's almost 117 00:05:59.709 --> 00:06:02.290 like they're responsible for two gaps. They've got a primary 118 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:05.129 gap that if the ball declares to a different gap, 119 00:06:05.170 --> 00:06:08.610 they're also supposed to fill that too. I know it 120 00:06:08.629 --> 00:06:15.019 sounds unsound, but it is pretty common. Little is just 121 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:17.540 filling as needed. You're going to see him do that here, 122 00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:22.290 get downhill pretty quickly. stop the ball carrier on this. 123 00:06:22.329 --> 00:06:24.889 And this is just a good example of Little being 124 00:06:26.410 --> 00:06:27.600 just really good in this role. 125 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:31.339 All right, next up, we're going to start that. We're 126 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:33.399 going to watch them defend a couple of counter plays. 127 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:37.779 First one is GT counter, which is guard first, then tackle. 128 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:41.040 That's how they designate it. You get the guard pulling 129 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:43.189 first and then the tackle. That's the G and the T. 130 00:06:43.790 --> 00:06:46.589 This is one where this is a little bit of 131 00:06:46.629 --> 00:06:50.290 an Edric Houston appreciation clip, but You watch the end 132 00:06:50.310 --> 00:06:52.040 zone on this one and it's like, man, there is, 133 00:06:52.620 --> 00:06:54.759 you want to look at what nothing there looks like? 134 00:06:54.839 --> 00:06:57.240 This is what nothing there looks like in the run game. 135 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:01.259 Yeah, exactly. And I think a big reason for that 136 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:03.790 is what I believe to be a schematic tweak and 137 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.189 not just a player making a play. I think it's both. 138 00:07:06.430 --> 00:07:09.209 We'll give them both credit. They both deserve it. But 139 00:07:09.750 --> 00:07:12.870 so usually when a guard pulls, the defensive tackle over 140

00:07:12.910 --> 00:07:15.110 the guard, which is like Edric Houston in this case, 141 00:07:16.069 --> 00:07:18.360 depending on the defensive call, they're either going to hold 142 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:21.230 that gap or they're going to fight over the top 143 00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:24.129 of like the center's block, just one gap. But Edward 144 00:07:24.149 --> 00:07:27.069 Houston here tracks the guard all the way across the 145 00:07:27.110 --> 00:07:30.069 formation to where the ball is supposed to hit. And 146 00:07:30.089 --> 00:07:34.269 that's not something very many defensive lines are coached to do. Ironically, 147 00:07:34.290 --> 00:07:37.250 one of the only defensive lines I've seen who's coached 148 00:07:37.269 --> 00:07:40.790 to do that on a regular basis is Indiana, um, 149 00:07:40.990 --> 00:07:42.829 which makes sense. It kind of goes along with their 150 00:07:42.850 --> 00:07:46.689 whole stunting and twisting mentality, but yeah, you'll watch this. 151 00:07:46.810 --> 00:07:52.110 Edward Houston, um, You know, once the guard pulls, he's 152 00:07:52.149 --> 00:07:55.600 not just moving over one gap. He's tracking and following 153 00:07:55.620 --> 00:07:59.000 that guard all the way across the formation. And he's 154 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.959 the one who meets the ball carrier, which I would 155 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.759 say in the hole. But as you kind of pointed out, 156 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:07.439 there's really no hole here. It's completely shut down. But yeah, 157 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:09.639 this was an interesting tweak in my opinion. And just, 158 00:08:10.779 --> 00:08:13.139 you know, a great way to, you know, show Edgar 159 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:16.459 Houston some love and appreciation because he's been playing so well. 160 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:20.480 All right, so that was GT counter. Now we're going 161 00:08:20.500 --> 00:08:23.389 to go to GY counter. So instead of guard and tackle, 162 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:25.389 you've got a guard and a tight end pulling on 163 00:08:25.410 --> 00:08:29.149 this one. And instead of Edric Houston, this is going 164 00:08:29.170 --> 00:08:32.309 to be a Will Smith play. And man, that felt 165 00:08:32.370 --> 00:08:35.730 like the best game of Will Smith's career by a 166 00:08:35.929 --> 00:08:38.029 not insignificant margin on Saturday. 167 00:08:38.950 --> 00:08:41.169 It was absolutely the best game of Will Smith's career. 168 00:08:41.500 --> 00:08:43.980 And on a similar note, we're going to get to 169 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:47.279 this other guy later, but the other Smith, James Smith, 170 00:08:47.909 --> 00:08:50.029 had his best game of the season as well. I mean, 171 00:08:50.049 --> 00:08:54.929 the whole defensive line room was very, very good. So 172 00:08:54.950 --> 00:08:57.409 this is another example. I've got the safeties circled here 173 00:08:57.450 --> 00:08:59.029 just to, again, just kind of for a look at 174 00:08:59.049 --> 00:09:02.210 the three-high structure. Earl Little does come down and help 175 00:09:02.250 --> 00:09:05.509 and run support on this play. Once again, you're going 176 00:09:05.529 --> 00:09:08.879 to see Edrick Houston track this guard all the way 177 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:13.039 across the formation. It's kind of amazing, though, because the 178 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.200 center is able to just straight-up tackle Edrick Houston, and 179 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.299 of course there's no flag, but when Carson Hinsman cleanly 180 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:22.820 pancakes an Indiana defensive tackle. There's apparently a flag. So 181 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.120 I just wanted to show that. But again, you see 182 00:09:26.139 --> 00:09:30.129 this little tweak here. But yeah, you've got Will Smith 183 00:09:30.169 --> 00:09:32.889 here making a play. And this isn't the first play 184 00:09:32.909 --> 00:09:35.230 we're going to cover of Will Smith today either. But 185 00:09:35.870 --> 00:09:38.769 just again, just a really good look. This run defense, 186 00:09:38.789 --> 00:09:41.799 this defensive front is really starting to control things at 187 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.580 the line of scrimmage throughout the course of games. 188 00:09:45.179 --> 00:09:47.899 All right, the next one is full. You just have 189 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:50.159 it labeled as full line reduction, which sounds like you 190 00:09:50.179 --> 00:09:52.340 need to put the defensive line at a low simmer 191 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:55.409 for several hours on the stove. I'm guessing that's not 192 00:09:55.409 --> 00:09:58.100 what it actually means. But this is one, once again, 193 00:09:58.139 --> 00:09:59.620 this is another Will Smith play. 194 00:10:00.860 --> 00:10:02.899 Yeah. So a line reduction, that's just kind of a 195 00:10:02.940 --> 00:10:06.080 fancy way to say that you're slanting your defensive line 196 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:09.220 one way completely. Like everyone's just going to slant over 197 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:11.600 one gap. So here, you know, they start in an 198 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:17.889 odd front, odd spacing, um, and, uh, everyone is just 199 00:10:17.909 --> 00:10:21.590 going to slant over one gap to their right, our 200 00:10:21.669 --> 00:10:25.730 left from where we're looking at on the screen. And 201 00:10:25.809 --> 00:10:29.000 it's just a good example of like how stunting and 202 00:10:29.049 --> 00:10:32.620 moving can put guys in positions to make plays. Like 203 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.000 I often kind of refer to this type of stuff 204 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:37.240 as like a cheap tackle for loss. And I'm not 205 00:10:37.860 --> 00:10:39.919 trying to like diminish it, but I refer to it 206 00:10:39.980 --> 00:10:43.250 as being cheap because like the player didn't do anything. 207 00:10:43.299 --> 00:10:45.450 Like the stunt that was called for the players, what 208 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:48.450 got him in the backfield

was, Like, which, again, I 209 00:10:48.450 --> 00:10:50.320 don't even want to diminish the player's effort from there. 210 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:52.379 But the point is, it's like we see Ohio State's 211 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:55.460 offensive line struggle with these. And it's like, you know, 212 00:10:55.899 --> 00:10:58.759 I think when I think when offensive linemen get beat 213 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:01.080 this way, I think they're the ones they probably view 214 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:03.470 it as cheap. Like they don't like this. They would 215 00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:07.110 rather block people straight up. But, you know, Patricia mixed 216 00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:10.090 in these line reductions a couple of times. And here, 217 00:11:10.129 --> 00:11:12.090 you know, you get to see Will Smith make another 218 00:11:12.129 --> 00:11:12.610 good play. 219 00:11:13.710 --> 00:11:15.269 Next up, we're going to be looking at a play 220 00:11:15.289 --> 00:11:17.529 where Indiana's running wine back, and that's a play we've 221 00:11:17.549 --> 00:11:20.129 talked about a bunch on the offensive shows. Now you're 222 00:11:20.149 --> 00:11:21.590 going to kind of get the flip side of it, 223 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:24.450 where how does the defense defend it? This is a 224 00:11:24.809 --> 00:11:27.929 James Smith play, but this is also a TJ Alford play. 225 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:31.269 Those are two more guys who have been really solid and, 226 00:11:31.389 --> 00:11:34.529 I mean, feels like taking some significant steps over the 227 00:11:34.570 --> 00:11:35.330 last month or so. 228 00:11:36.029 --> 00:11:39.970 Yeah, I mean, TJ Alford, man, he's really impressed me recently. 229 00:11:40.110 --> 00:11:42.159 You know, early in the year, there was a lot 230 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:45.220 of calls for TJ Alford to play more. And I 231 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:48.279 was kind of watching and like, you know, I don't 232 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:52.700 quite get the, get the reasoning behind that yet. Like 233 00:11:52.779 --> 00:11:55.519 all the, I don't quite get the hype behind it yet, 234 00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:58.909 but in recent weeks, he's, he's really improved. I mean, 235 00:11:58.929 --> 00:12:01.509 you can just tell his, his instincts, the way he 236 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:04.529 reads plays have gotten so much better. And so that's 237 00:12:04.549 --> 00:12:07.730 really great to see him coming on. Um, another interesting 238 00:12:07.769 --> 00:12:10.570 thing about this play is, uh, this just shows you 239 00:12:10.610 --> 00:12:13.370 how highly they think of Earl Little and, you know, um, 240 00:12:14.690 --> 00:12:17.769 how versatile of a player Earl Little is because they're 241 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:20.220 in cover one here, which is why Earl Little is 242 00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:24.360 walked down over that tight end. Um, the tight end 243 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:28.419 who's right outside of Indiana's right tackle. And, but

essentially 244 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:31.019 by being walked down there on a play like this, 245 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:33.759 Earl Little really is just, you know, a second off 246 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.779 ball linebacker, but they like him in that position. They 247 00:12:36.830 --> 00:12:39.409 like him when he's, you know, near the ball. Uh, 248 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:43.789 But yeah, the offense is running a windback insert. So 249 00:12:44.450 --> 00:12:48.470 this is like a typical windback, but instead of that 250 00:12:48.509 --> 00:12:52.250 tight end blocking down and the windback player coming all 251 00:12:52.269 --> 00:12:54.789 the way around, they're kind of just going to create 252 00:12:54.909 --> 00:12:57.720 a hole for that windback player to come through. So 253 00:12:57.750 --> 00:13:01.740 it's like an insert or an iso play. But yeah, 254 00:13:01.899 --> 00:13:04.259 the star of the show in this play was definitely 255 00:13:04.299 --> 00:13:06.980 James Smith and He had some other plays, too. I 256 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:09.759 know he's been a guy who most Buckeye fans have 257 00:13:09.779 --> 00:13:12.639 been kind of underwhelmed by. I think they expected a 258 00:13:12.659 --> 00:13:16.299 little more from the transfer. But I'll tell you, man, 259 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:19.500 on Saturday, he had some really, really good reps. I 260 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.730 think he's definitely trending in the right direction. 261 00:13:22.750 --> 00:13:26.049 All right, and the last one we're going to look at, 262 00:13:26.110 --> 00:13:28.330 this is a cat blitz. I'm pretty sure this is 263 00:13:28.370 --> 00:13:31.220 the first time we've talked about this particular blitz. uh, 264 00:13:31.250 --> 00:13:34.019 this particular blitz concept on one of these shows. So 265 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:35.460 explain a cat blitz. 266 00:13:36.379 --> 00:13:38.179 Yeah. I mean, a cat blitz is just a fancy 267 00:13:38.220 --> 00:13:41.720 way to say a cornerback blitz. Um, and, uh, this 268 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:43.379 is against the run here, but you know, you can 269 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:46.409 kind of tell the coverage is fire zone. Uh, so 270 00:13:46.450 --> 00:13:50.389 that's three deep, three underneath coverage. And you'll see that 271 00:13:50.509 --> 00:13:53.570 I have the, uh, the safety kind of marked as 272 00:13:53.610 --> 00:13:56.570 being in man coverage on that wide receiver to the boundary, 273 00:13:57.370 --> 00:14:00.690 but that's pretty common. Usually on these cornerback fire zones, uh, 274 00:14:01.299 --> 00:14:03.450 you're going to have the safety kind of take that 275 00:14:03.850 --> 00:14:06.549 receiver and man coverage instead of just dropping back as 276 00:14:06.610 --> 00:14:10.509 a zone defender. Just, you know, because you're leaving the corner. 277 00:14:11.269 --> 00:14:14.889 The corner's leaving the play. He's blitzing. So, but yeah, 278 00:14:14.909 --> 00:14:17.100 this is against the run. So I just wanted everyone 279 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:18.419 to be able to get a wide view of this 280 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:21.480 play first, and then we'll look at it from the 281 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:26.190 end zone view as well. But, The end zone view, again, 282 00:14:26.789 --> 00:14:29.320 because they're running that cap blitz, everyone has to get 283 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:32.279 over a gap, so you've got that full line reduction 284 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:36.379 built into this already. The star of the show in 285 00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:40.139 this play is Jason Moore. My, what a surprise is 286 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:44.000 Jason Moore, Ben. This was a guy who did virtually 287 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:47.379 nothing through his first three years at Ohio State, and 288 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:49.059 a lot of that wasn't his fault. He had a 289 00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:52.100 lot of bad injury luck, and at one point, like 290 00:14:52.139 --> 00:14:57.679 in 2024, you had Tyleek Williams, Ty Hamilton, Kaden McDonald, 291 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:02.509 Hero Canoe, Edrick Houston. You have all of those guys 292 00:15:02.649 --> 00:15:06.409 in one defensive tackle room as it was. So tough 293 00:15:06.429 --> 00:15:07.970 to get on the field with that much in front 294 00:15:07.990 --> 00:15:10.870 of you. And he's had some bad luck. But man, 295 00:15:10.929 --> 00:15:14.029 Jason Moore has been really good this year. He's the 296 00:15:14.330 --> 00:15:18.519 starting nose tackle. And here you see him make a 297 00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:21.779 good play. He had multiple good plays on Saturday. 298 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:25.830 All right, so there you go. A run through seven 299 00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:29.009 plays against the Indiana run game and how the Buckeyes 300 00:15:29.049 --> 00:15:31.110 defended them. On the next show, we're going to take 301 00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:33.610 a look at the pass defense. There's mostly good news 302 00:15:33.649 --> 00:15:36.870 there as well. The vibes on the Ohio State offense 303 00:15:36.909 --> 00:15:38.870 this week, a little mix. The vibes on the Ohio 304 00:15:38.909 --> 00:15:42.610 State defense, pretty darn good. Of course, they head to 305 00:15:42.769 --> 00:15:46.470 USC next week, and that is generally the Lincoln-Riley teams. 306 00:15:46.490 --> 00:15:48.509 You're generally more worried about your pass defense and how 307 00:15:48.570 --> 00:15:51.090 it will hold up than your run defense. So we'll 308 00:15:51.110 --> 00:15:54.090 be looking at that on tomorrow's show. And if you 309 00:15:54.110 --> 00:15:55.870 want to talk about all of this with us, you 310 00:15:55.889 --> 00:15:57.830 want to go a little deeper on this stuff with us, 311 00:15:58.210 --> 00:16:01.269 the best place to do that is at BuckeyeInsiders.com. That's 312 00:16:01.289 --> 00:16:03.809 where we got our whole team of scheme insiders. They're 313 00:16:03.830 --> 00:16:06.070 to make you a smarter football fan. They're on our 314 00:16:06.090 --> 00:16:10.629 board constantly answering questions, responding to, you know, hey, what 315 00:16:10.750 --> 00:16:12.570 did you see on this one? What do you think 316 00:16:12.610 --> 00:16:14.789 about how this guy's playing? We've had a whole lot 317 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:17.649 of questions about, so the change at the quarterback position, 318 00:16:17.710 --> 00:16:19.409 what's that going to mean? You want to talk to 319 00:16:19.450 --> 00:16:21.200 us about all that? 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Have a great day. 330 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:52.740 We'll talk to you tomorrow.