In the week leading up to Ohio State’s second game of the season against Oregon, Ryan Day and Kerry Coombs suggested that the Buckeyes could shorten their rotations on defense. Instead, they played even more defenders against the Ducks than they did in the season opener against Minnesota.
Even though the Buckeyes trailed for most of the game in a contest they ultimately lost 35-28, Ohio State utilized 26 different defensive players in Saturday’s home opener against Oregon. Tyleik Williams and Palaie Gaoteote made their Ohio State debuts, Cameron Brown played his first game of the season and K’Vaughan Pope saw his first snaps of the season at linebacker, while Jacolbe Cowan, Ryan Watts and Demario McCall were the only defenders who played against Minnesota that didn’t play any defensive snaps against Oregon.