Denzel Burke, ‘redesigned’ Ohio State defense ready for redemption against Oregon

LOS ANGELES – A throng of reporters descended on Ohio State cornerback Denzel Burke from the moment his team’s designated interview period began in a packed meeting room, two floors below ground at the Sheraton Grand, a downtown hotel outfitted from top to bottom with stickers, signs and bouquets in anticipation of the Rose Bowl. The floral arrangements around the property are so prominent and ubiquitous that any visitor unfamiliar with this year’s College Football Playoff, which pits the Buckeyes against Oregon in a highly anticipated quarterfinal, could certainly be forgiven for thinking that Valentine’s Day came early.

For all the wrong reasons, Burke had become a central figure heading into Wednesday’s rematch between two of the Big Ten’s best programs. He endured the worst game of his career when these teams met for the first time at Autzen Stadium on Oct. 12, a heartbreaking night that changed the trajectory of Ohio State’s defense. The Ducks exploited Burke, who was named first-team All-Big Ten by the league’s coaches in 2023, with deep pass after deep pass in a ruthless drive that produced 162 yards, two touchdowns and a perfect passer rating of the NFL 158.3 for quarterback Dillon. Gabriel on passes thrown in Burke’s direction. That Burke had been the player who coined the team’s “fake or bust” motto in early March only exacerbated the unease. He took a week-long break from social media to distance himself from online slander.

“I was left in the dark,” Burke said Monday morning.

The painful introspection radiated from Burke to every corner of the Ohio State defense, a unit that had only allowed 34 points in its first five games combined, before the Ducks racked up 32 points and 496 yards of total offense on their own in an impressive message to the rest of the league. Gabriel, who finished the season as a Heisman Trophy finalist, completed more than 67% of his passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns, all without being sacked. Oregon’s top two receivers, Tez Johnson and Evan Stewart, victimized Burke and the rest of the Buckeyes’ secondary for 14 catches and 224 yards.

Such a disappointing performance sparked wide-ranging schematic changes at Ohio State that would eventually lead head coach Ryan Day to describe his team’s defense as “redesigned,” the consequence of a humble bye week spent analyzing everything the Buckeyes They had filmed to start the game. season. What followed from mid-October to the present was a renaissance of sorts as defensive coordinator Jim Knowles found ways to catalyze his team’s pass rush while also solidifying coverage in the secondary, all of which encouraged to a unit that now leads the country in both total defense (242.2 yards per game) and scoring defense (11.4 points per game) after stifling Tennessee in the first round of the playoff. Suddenly, Ohio State’s morale is so high that Burke has taken his “fake or bust” proclamation to a new level, more or less guaranteeing that his team will win the national championship.

“Now I know how to handle everything,” Burke said, “and especially as we go through these playoffs and I face the next chapter of my life after winning the natty… I have confidence in this team.” “I have confidence in my coach, I have confidence in the scheme we have and I have confidence in my brothers.”

So what exactly changed? While coaches and players have been reticent to reveal the details of their defensive alterations since that loss to Oregon, some of the adjustments can be discerned by analyzing the pressure ratings and lineups of Ohio State’s personnel at Pro Football Focus, which suggest an increase in general aggression. of Knowles, who remembers his time as defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State (2018-21). The Cowboys ranked in the top 12 nationally in sacks three times in four years during that span, including an impressive 56 sack tally during Knowles’ final season to set a new program record. His group also finished second in the country in tackles for loss that year with 117, a number that would have led college football in each of the last two seasons.

But the Buckeyes were much more cautious entering the 2024 campaign, maintaining a blitz rate of just 39% in their first three Big Ten games against Michigan State, Iowa and Oregon, which averaged 10.7 blitzes per game. The low point came when Gabriel was only blitzed on 36.1% of his passes during the Ducks’ 32-31 win over Ohio State (Knowles’ lowest point in the conference to that point) and completed 12 of 13 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown. in those snapshots. Gabriel’s sky-high completion percentage of 92.3% on plays when the Buckeyes blitzed far exceeded his eventual season-long percentage of 69.8%, although that remains his career-high mark for an uninjured-shortened campaign. Burke had never given up more than 74 yards in a game against power conference opponents until the Ducks ripped him apart for 23.1 yards per completion on seven receptions.

“Denzel has been a determined individual,” fellow cornerback Davison Igbinosun told FOX Sports. “But I feel like that Oregon game definitely could have broken him down and put him in a shell, and he could have started acting different. But I didn’t see him act different at all. The next day on film, there was this guy over the whole situation. “I respect that a lot about him.”

From that point on, Knowles discovered more of the attacking mentality that led Day to make him one of the highest-paid coordinators in the country heading into the 2022 season. His blitz rate jumped to 62.5% in the win over Purdue and reached at least 50% in later games against Northwestern and Michigan. A narrow victory against then-No. 3 Penn State (37.5%) was the only time Knowles’ blitz calls fell below the lowest mark he had set at Oregon when facing Big Ten opponents. He averaged 45.2% of quarterback dropbacks in the six conference games following Ohio State’s loss to the Ducks, an increase of more than 9% from that fateful night in Eugene.

The uptick coincided with some pretty notable role changes for several individuals within Knowles’ defense. For safety Caleb Downs, a consensus All-American in his first season since transferring from Alabama, the number of snaps when he lined up in the box increased from 14 per game before the loss at Oregon to nearly 26 per game in a six week period. from late October to late November, which helped the Buckeyes’ run defense. For nickelback Jordan Hancock, who played almost exclusively at cornerback for the first half of the season, his revised job description included more than 13 snaps per game at free safety during that same six-week window and then 39 snaps at free safety, the maximum of the season. security against Tennessee. For inside linebacker Cody Simon, pass rush opportunities increased from 4.4 per game during the loss to Oregon to 7.8 per game in the second half of conference play.

“I think we’re lining up quicker,” Knowles told FOX Sports. “We’re reacting to different formations or things that come up during the game. There are always what I call ‘unanalyzed plays’ because [the other teams] They’re also practicing all week and you don’t know what they’re doing. So I just see us reacting to those types of things that happen during a game. “We’re doing it at a faster and more efficient pace.”

All of which has come together to produce some eye-catching team statistics entering the Rose Bowl: zero touchdown passes given up after losing to Oregon, at least four sacks per game in five of Ohio State’s last six outings; at least one takeaway in six consecutive games before the postseason; only one opponent surpassed a 37% third-down conversion rate during the second half of the year; giving up just 3.5 yards per play over the last five games; 22 receiving yards charged to Burke against last three opponents combined.

But what the Buckeyes haven’t faced since their trip to Autzen Stadium is a receiving corps like the one that tormented them 10 weeks ago, when Stewart’s blistering pace, Johnson’s route precision and Gabriel’s pinpoint accuracy sent Ohio State. into a spiral of self-reflection that may or may not have saved the season. We’ll find out when Burke and his rejuvenated defense take the field this week.

“I think he has a real vision for himself and a deep-rooted confidence in himself that he discovered that he is stronger than he thought. [by bouncing back from that game]”Knowles said of Burke. “But I also realize that if you play that position at this level, or the next level he goes to, you’re going to have some bad days. “If I’m one of the best cornerbacks in the country and I’m going to go to the NFL and be a great cornerback, you better figure it out and not take it personally.”

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. follow him on @Michael_Cohen13.

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