Ohio is looking to build off of it's fourth ranked defense from last season.
There's an old adage in football: "defense wins championships".
Next season for Ohio, that adage just might end up being true.
“Overall the effort is great,” senior defensive end Tarell Basham said. “I feel like it’s going to be a bunch of guys playing at a fast pace getting the job done this year.”
The Bobcats ranked fourth in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense last season allowing 25 points per game, and fifth in total defense allowing 378 yards per game.
If Ohio can build upon what its defense established last year, it’s not hard to imagine a MAC title coming back to Athens.
Especially after a 62-18 dominance over the Bobcats' offense during their spring game two weeks ago.
“It’s nice to know that as a defense, just that ‘we got this,’ it’s good confidence,” redshirt senior Kurt Laseak said.
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Laseak and Basham are the bookends on the defensive line’s 4-3 scheme, combining for 10 total sacks at the position last season.
“We definitely expect more out of ourselves this year as compared to last year,” Basham said. “We’ve got some improvements to make in the offseason, we’re just focused on making those improvements.”
The pressure isn’t all on the front-four for the Bobcats, however.
They boast possibly the best linebacking unit in the MAC, with Blair Brown, Chad Moore and Quentin Poling backing up the talented defensive line.
To show just how important Poling is to the defense, during the Bobcats three-game losing streak last season to Western Michigan, Bowling Green and Buffalo, Poling was absent from the lineup.
The Bobcats were outscored 152-55 over that stretch, accounting for 40 percent of the points allowed throughout 13 games.
With Poling in the lineup starting and playing the full game, Ohio went 8-2, with the only losses coming to Appalachian State in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl and to Minnesota.
“It makes it a lot easier, just knowing that they’re gonna make us right,” Laseak said. “If we’re not gonna make a play, they are.”
With two new safeties starting on the back-end for Ohio, it could make for some nervous moments with the possibility of freshman mistakes coming to the forefront.
But even with the fresh faces on defense, Basham still thinks this unit can improve to one of the best in the conference.
“I feel like we’re focusing a lot on getting everyone on the same page,” he said. “We were ranked last in the MAC in third-down and red zone defense. It’s things like that that we’re focusing on getting better.”
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