The Ohio State Buckeyes are getting ready to play a terrific Nittany Lions defense on Saturday. Here's the latest on Penn State's great defense this season.
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00:00 I mean, it's certainly when I have paid attention to them,
00:03 it certainly looks like, hey, this team is legit.
00:06 They don't seem to have a glaring weakness.
00:09 But I want to ask you about the defense
00:11 because you started to allude to it.
00:14 I mean, that's the number one thing
00:15 that Ohio State fans are pointing to here
00:19 going into the week.
00:20 That's, hey, Penn State's a paper tiger.
00:22 They've put up these great numbers defensively
00:24 against nobody.
00:25 They haven't been tested.
00:26 They're not going to be able to cover Marvin Harrison, so on
00:29 and so forth.
00:30 How do you go about evaluating what
00:33 you've seen while keeping in mind the level of competition
00:37 where you still feel like, no, this really
00:39 is one of the best defenses maybe in Penn State's history?
00:43 It's the level of consistency that they've played with.
00:46 Initially, there were a couple of singular drives
00:51 in certain games, especially at the beginning
00:54 against West Virginia.
00:54 And there was literally one play against Delaware
00:57 that went like 65 yards for a touchdown.
00:59 They've had minimal breakdowns in that sense.
01:02 But they've kept this level tone through the past six games.
01:06 And I think the element that matters most for me
01:11 is their pass rush.
01:13 They've been using these three defensive end sets.
01:16 And they have three NFL defensive ends, two of them
01:19 next year and one in the future, in Edisa Isaac, Chopper
01:22 Robinson, and Denny Dennis Sutton, who just provide--
01:25 they just provide consistent, relentless pressure.
01:31 Penn State leads the nation in pressures.
01:34 I think it's something like 47% of dropbacks
01:38 result in some sort of pressure.
01:39 They lead the nation in sacks as well, too.
01:42 So that is part of how they're going
01:46 to cover Marvin Harrison, in my opinion,
01:48 as I think get the pressure on him.
01:51 Their other strength is that back in that secondary
01:54 is phenomenal.
01:56 I think the potential to see either Kaylin King or Johnny
02:02 Dixon--
02:03 and I think they have two NFL cornerbacks in their starting
02:08 rotation, in Kaylin King and Johnny Dixon--
02:10 to see either of them covering Marvin Harrison, that to me
02:16 will be one of the subplot matchups to watch.
02:19 Or also how they decide to cover Marvin Harrison,
02:22 whether they shade a safety on him, something like that.
02:27 That will be maybe--
02:28 I think that probably is the one issue.
02:31 Their safeties have been very good,
02:32 but they haven't necessarily been super
02:35 tested in coverage in that way.
02:37 So I would like--
02:38 I'm going to see specifically Harrison, but also Kate Stover.
02:41 Sure.
02:43 I don't know.
02:44 They have some linebackers who have some speed,
02:47 who can maybe stay with them.
02:49 But that is going to be--
02:51 again, Kate Stover had a huge play against them last year
02:54 at Beaver Stadium in that fourth quarter meltdown.
02:58 And the pick your poison thing always comes
03:03 into play with Ohio State.
03:06 But I think this year, with the way they handle pass rush,
03:09 that is going to be their primary element.