It seems hard to argue taking a job at Ohio State less than two years ago turned out to be a great move for Chris Ash. The recently introduced head coach at Rutgers had held major-college jobs before — including defensive coordinator at Wisconsin and Arkansas — but the project in Columbus was unique. The Buckeyes recruit at a different level than the Badgers or the Razorbacks, so the players on hand were expected to succeed. Except the year before Ash hit Columbus, Ohio State gave up more total passing yards than any team in school history. So Ash became secondary coach and co-defensive coordinator (with long-time OSU assistant Luke Fickell) at a place where recruiting is good, success is expected and yet there was nowhere to go but up in his particular area of expertise. And up is exactly where the Buckeyes went in 2014, winning the national championship with a defense that was at its best in the last three games of the year. It was a stark contrast from the year before, when Ohio State ended the season by allowing 41 points to a previously hapless Michigan offense, gave up a 34-point explosion from a so-so Michigan State scoring unit in the Big Ten championship game and then was embarrassed again in an 40-35 Orange Bowl loss to Clemson. In all, Ohio State allowed 1,617 yards in those games. While a shift to a cover 4 scheme generated headlines, Ash himself ascribed the Buckeyes’ improvement to something else. “If you ask me the No. 1 thing we did well last year, that was tackling,” Ash said in spring 2015. “That really made a difference in the defense. You can say what you want about 4-3, 3-4, coverages and all that stuff, if a team is going to be any good, you’re gonna be good at getting off blocks and you’re going to be good at tackling. We did that exceptionally well, and that’s not by accident. That was by design. We spent an insane amount of time trying to work on our blow delivery, not just with the defense or DBs but the whole football team. When you can watch guys get good hand position and get off blocks like we did late in the year you’re going to be a better defense.” What specifically changed? An emphasis on controlling an opponent’s center of gravity whether making or defeating a block and a move to rugby-style tackling. The latter Ash spearheaded after being intrigued by the success Pete Carroll had with it in the NFL with the Seahawks. “It was a fairly big change, it really was,” Ash said. …
Continue Reading: What was new Rutgers coach Chris Ash’s biggest impact at Ohio State?
