Mike Burcham

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

COLUMBUS — There’s no need to panic.

Everyone seems to be worried about the Ohio State Buckeyes’ defense. Their defense isn’t bad. They’re line is pretty good and they have good athletes in the secondary like always.

When Iowa hung with the Buckeyes last Saturday, a lot of people were ready to push the panic button. And that goes with the Buckeyes giving up a bunch of points to Northwestern and Wisconsin.

That’s the nature of college football. Heck, that’s the nature of football today at the high school and pro level. The rules have been made to make it easy for the offense and harder for the defense. It’s gym class with better athletes.

Any team with a good quarterback can win. Iowa had a good quarterback. They used the Peyton Manning-style offense. Dink and dunk. Just throw 5- and 10-yard short routes. No one likes to line up and run the ball at you, except Alabama and it has worked out pretty good for them. How many national championships have they had the past few years? They just line up and smack you in the mouth and all they do is win.

Linebackers today never have to worry about being blocked. Everyone uses a one-back set or empty backfield. The game is quarterback driven and all the rules protect the quarterback. If you have a good quarterback, you’ll win. It’s that simple.

The Buckeyes aren’t any different than any other defense. In fact, they have better personnel on defense than most of the teams they play against, but a real good quarterback can negate some of the things they can do. If the quarterback is average, they’ll have a lot more success.

I sat and watched the Ohio State-Iowa game and it was no different than any of the other college games played last Saturday. Everyone does the same thing, Ohio State included.

This week the Buckeyes face Penn State and they have a good quarterback in freshman Christian Hackenberg. How well the Buckeyes do depends on how good Hackenberg is as a quarterback. He’s had a lot of success. He beat Michigan, but I’m not sure how good Michigan really is. They’re another team that has some athletes but their defense gives up a lot of points and that’s all come back to how well the opposing quarterback has played against them.

Ohio State will probably have more talent on both sides of the ball than Penn State, but the quarterback will be the great equalizer. If Hackenberg is any good, it’ll be another touch football game in gym class. If he has a bad game or the Buckeyes’ defense puts a lot of pressure on him, then we won’t be having doubts about the defense Sunday morning. We’ll be singing their praises.

So no need to panic. It’s just today’s rules and style of play.