ANALYSIS: What will the legacy of Ohio State’s loss at Oregon be?

The loser was never going to be in terrible shape for the rest of the season, so this one was mostly about pride from the start.

Pride means a lot, of course, but perhaps different things to each side in this case.

For Oregon, the game was a chance to prove it belongs in the Big Ten. That the Ducks’ home atmosphere is legit, and they have the players and coaching to compete with one of the conference’s all-time best brands.

The Ducks did all that.

Ohio State really could have used a win on that stage for a shot of confidence, proof their plan to return to the top of the heap in the Big Ten and beyond is working.

The Buckeyes did not get that.

So now what?

Ohio State entered the season with national championship or bust mentality, expectations that were both high and reasonable.

Or are they?

What if the defense just isn’t that good?

Multiple players on the unit have strong reputations based more on their recruiting ranking than anything they have ever done on a college field. Maybe they really don’t have it in them.

The same question can be asked of Jim Knowles. I don’t doubt what Ohio State’s defensive coordinator did at his previous stops was legitimate, but maybe he really doesn’t have the answers for stopping elite offenses when the stakes are highest.

Of course, if you can’t count on your cornerbacks or your ends to win one-on-one, that limits what you can do strategically, but that’s really the whole reason Knowles was hired: To avoid having to rely on talent alone.

Ohio State played great team defense throughout the Jim Tressel era. Those teams did have some big game breakdowns, but the Urban Meyer/Ryan Day era has been marked by many more, and a common theme seemed to be over-reliance on winning one-on-on matchups across the field.

Knowles seems to be caught in between needing to win each play with the perfect call or letting the players handle it on their own. Attempts at the former failed against Michigan and Georgia in 2022, and the latter let them down last season.

Saturday night at Oregon was a little bit of both. Ohio State had multiple man coverage breakdowns, could not pressure the passer, was not good at stopping the run on early downs, did not force any turnovers and did not prevent big plays. (But other than that…)

Unlike last season at Michigan, Ohio State did at least force a punt in the second half, but that ended up meaning the Buckeyes lost by one instead of six.

Maybe this will turn out to be a blip, but this not being the first time Ohio State has failed to answer the bell defensively during its three-year Big Ten title doubt means fans are right to be concerned about long-term viability for the unit.

Maybe their problems have never been fixed just because they don’t have the wherewithal to do it — whether that lies with the players or the coordinator or both.

On the flip side, the Ohio State offense arguably exceeded expectations at Oregon. Before the season, there was a thought the offense just needed to be average to score enough points to win in support of a great defense.

The opposite might end up being true.

He got stuck in no-man’s land on the final play Saturday night, but quarterback Will Howard showed a lot against the Ducks. He had one or two bad throws but overall played very well. He has leadership chops and knows how to get the ball to his playmakers.

Howard is a clear upgrade over what the Buckeyes had at quarterback last year, and not just because his legs can help the running game.

Howard’s 177.1 QB rating was higher than Kyle McCord posted at Notre Dame or Michigan and against Penn State last season (and higher than Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel had against the Buckeyes).

He looked capable of carrying the team with his arm — aided by how good Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith are after the catch, of course — though perhaps Ohio State could have run the ball more.

That might be nit-picking given they scored 31 points against a good defense, but it might be necessary… to protect a suspect defense?

That will be one of many things to watch the rest of the season.

So, too, will be whether or not Ohio State finally tries some different things with its defensive front given the near total lack of production from that senior-laden unit.

What’s next? We’ll take a closer look at the rest of the season’s challenges tomorrow.