Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Ohio State's Defense is TOUGH


I try to limit my Ohio State rants on this blog, but this is something I just can't deal with anymore.

Here's a gem from an ESPN "expert" chat THIS week, after Ohio State gave up 2 field goals to Penn State.

Seattle, WA: What's your prediction on the Ohio State - Iowa game?

SportsNation Mark Schlabach: I'll tell you what, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Iowa won the football game. Drew Tate is very good. It's his third year in the system and he is very smart. Ohio State's run defense is still suspect, so Albert Young could run for some heavy yardage. Ohio State has more speed on offense, but the game is in Iowa City. Kirk Ferentz could really shake things up this weekend.


Hmm. If ZERO rushing touchdowns given up in 4 games and an average of 115 yards allowed on the ground is suspect, then I'd like to have a suspect defense all season.

I hate to get statistical on you on a Tuesday, but let's take a look at what the Ohio State defense has done in 4 games:

*Allowed an average of 8 points
*16 sacks
*38 tackles for loss
*8 interceptions, 2 for touchdowns



And James Laurinaitis, the SOPHOMORE linebacker who had the potentially thankless job of following AJ Hawk as linebacker, has the following statistics:

36 tackles, 3 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles

This is not the defense of 2005, but this defense has the intensity, the speed, and the desire to carry this team when need be. Oh, and Mark Schlabach, you're an idiot.


Digg!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Who needs defense?

"We have a saying: 'Who says we can't score every time we get the ball?"' said Smith, who had a string of 152 consecutive passes without an interception end on his second throw of the day against Penn State.