There hasn't been many bright spots this year, but man Ohio is gonna have a plethora of good LBs for the 2015 squad. Jovon Johnson and Quentin Poling are all over the field and Chad Moore ain't bad. Add Ben Russell back into this mix and it may be the best LB corps in the MAC next year.

Did anyone else notice a lot of new numbers at CB and Safety along with the LBs? Looks like #13,22,24,25 are gonna play a lot the last two games. Also had a nice DL rotation going. L.C. just might be right, we appeared to have some players...at least vs the Buffs. Where have they been all year?

It was good to see the defense play well as a whole. I know the rub is "well, but it was Buffalo blah blah" which is certainly fair but I would like to think it helped to build their confidence a little bit. Hopefully the boys grew up mentally as a result of the game and can play inspired D in our final two games.

While it was not the train wreck that TTs safety was last year, there was a little poetic justice on the play when the Buffalo QB was scrambling for his life, heaved up the ball up and we got the pick. I only wish it could have been run in for 6.

I expected the refs to call a safety on that play prior to the Buffalo QB heaving that wounded duck!

I'll agree that our LBs have been better than expected this year, but I don't maybe its just me. But it seems like we only really notice them against the bad teams we have played. Against the teams that beat us its been hit or miss if we see any great plays from them.

I thought they were pretty good against Kentucky but regardless I really like the way this teams shaping up. We're going to be a major threat next year and should make a run for a MACC. Our defense is going to be one of the best in the nation next year and if our offence can just limit turnovers and be average, above average we will be very good.

I mean right now we're 60th with points agaist and that's with an offence who punts very frequently. Tell me again how many starters we return next year on D (and O)

Yes with returning all of those players on D we'll maybe not one of the best in the country but certainly top 25 and hopefully our offence will be top 50

If he was out it might have been in response to the Bulls needing pass more. I sure hope he is well and just cursing a coach who might take him out for more pass protection.

violation of unspecified team rules.

Isn't what we'll return at db and d-line next year kind of comparable to what we returned this year? This year, I see no particular stars. If injury kept guys out, well, that's part of the game so I don't buy laying it off to that.

No doubt a few new guys will come on and some of the returners could develop. But based on this year and the lack of stars at d-back and d-line for the last handful of years, I'm thinking that we won't be special at dback or d-line next year.

Too bad--because the linebackers are, and will be, good.

All in all, except for a few guys we haven't had any real studs at d-line or dback for many years.

Another way to say what you've said:

"Yeah we've had studs recently, but those don't count."

To overlook what a DB like Thad Turner, Julian Posey, or Omar Leftwich brought to the program in recent years is disrespect. To overlook what Mike Mitchell and TJ Carrie brought to the program is delusional.

Guys on the D-Line like Landon Cohen, Jameson Hartke, Neal Huynh, Ernie Hodge, Tremayne Scott, Marcellis Williamson, Carl Jones brought everything to the table you could ask of them in this conference..

I'm amazed at what you will go out of your way to say, in a thread about linebackers none the less.

I was wondering if that had happened in the last few games, but I wasn't sure.

For those that aren't sure what BCAT is saying, there are basically two different strategies that a defensive line can use. One is to try to penetrate and disrupt. The other is to rush in a controlled manner, trying to collapse the pocket slowly, and to tie up the offensive linemen, and to hold lanes.

Traditionally Ohio has used the contain strategy for the defensive line, but last year they asked the defensive line to penetrate and disrupt. The goal was for them to break up the offensive play before it started, and to get sacks. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes not. On the plus side, last year Ohio doubled the number of sacks over previous years. On the negative side, the penetration by the defensive line often left gaps unfilled, plus it allowed opposing offensive linemen to get to, and to block Ohio's linebackers. The result was that Ohio was gashed frequently for long rushing gains, and gave up huge rushing yardage last year.

This year Ohio adjusted the defense to a cover-4, and to press coverage, with the idea that the defensive line would continue to penetrate, but that the press coverage would bring the safeties up to help on runs, and the corners up to prevent quick passes. This worked better than using Cover-2 with having the defensive line disrupt, but it still wasn't entirely successful. Some teams still gashed the defense for lots of rushing yards, and long gainers, particularly Marshall and CMU.

Over the years Ohio has had some outstanding defensive tackles that excelled at doing exactly that, plugging up the middle, guys like Shane Yates, Marcellis Williamson, and Neal Huynh. Crutcher is very good at it, too. The thing is, when the defensive line is playing contain, and controlled rush, you don't notice them much. They don't make lots of big, flashy plays. Instead, though, they plug things up and keep the linebackers free to flow laterally to make plays, and the guys we, as fans notice, are the linebackers who are behind them. Thus, behind Yates, we saw Muncy and Russ making plays. Behind Williamson we saw Keller and Renfro making plays. Behind Huynh we saw Keller, Woseley, and Lewis making plays.

If they have indeed gone back to playing contain, that's probably part of the reason that this thread exists. With Crutcher and McLeod plugging up the middle, it lets the linebackers excel. I don't mean to detract from the linebackers, by the way; they are excellent. They are doing a great job, on both runs and passes.