ND Opponent Updates | Ohio State's Spring Game
Only one Notre Dame opponent had their spring game this weekend, but it’s the opponent that matters most.
The Ohio State matchup isn’t just important because of any possible College Football Playoff implications that might come from it. It’s the most important matchup because it’s the next one. The Irish will kick off their season on the road against the Buckeyes in September.
Like most spring games, Ohio State didn’t reveal much. New defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, known for his attacking scheme at Oklahoma State, didn’t bring the heat. I wouldn’t expect the same approach against a first time starting quarterback playing on the road.
We did learn a little bit about some personnel for the Buckeyes, though.
Melton goes down with an injury
Edge defender Mitchell Melton left the spring game with an injury and his status wasn’t updated after the game. He’s had a strong spring after moving from linebacker and at the very least looked like quality depth as a pass rusher. He was pushing to be a starter.
We’ll see if he is expected to miss a significant amount of time or not, but Ohio State does have some very good players at defensive end that could step up if he’s unavailable for the start of the season.
The backfield is going to be a problem
Most of the attention this off-season for Notre Dame was how the defense was going to slow down probable Heisman candidate CJ Stroud and the stud receivers he will throw to. There hasn’t been enough mentioned about the talent in the backfield.
Star runner TreyVeon Henderson didn’t see much action. The bulk of the work went to Miyan Williams (101 yards on 15 carries) and Evan Pryor (nine carries for 62 yards). Pryor looks like the real deal and adding him to Henderson (6.8 yards per carry and 15 touchdowns in 2021) and Williams (7.1 YPC) might make this the best set of backs Notre Dame has faced since the 2017 Georgia game.
That team featured Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, and D’Andre Swift at running back so it’s a high bar to meet.
Some help in the secondary?
This is going to be something that is worth monitoring for Ohio State in fall camp leading up to the opener. They bring back two starting corners from last season, Cameron Brown and Denzel Burke, but they were 64th in EPA (expected points added) per pass and the scheme is changing from what it was.
Ohio State fans might be talking about the switch to a 4-2-5 and the three safety look, but they shouldn’t overlook that they are going to be playing a whole lot more man to man with their corners. Oklahoma State was over 40% with their corners last year. Both of Ohio State’s starters were in man under 30% of the time.
PFF graded Burke as the 157th best in the country when playing man to man.
Former top-100 recruit Jordan Hancock had a nice spring game and a strong spring overall based on reports. They will likely need him to step up and play a lot this season. He might even make a move into the starting lineup depending on who succeeds the most playing in Knowles’ scheme.
