Ohio State secondary clears first hurdle in Notre Dame tune-up

COLUMBUS — The warmup games are done for Ohio State, especially for its defense, which faced a crescendo of tests the first three weeks of the season. The Buckeyes’ revitalized secondary, in particular, was up for evaluation — it’s a group that, to date, seems a rising staircase away from the beleaguered way it finished 2022.

Now comes the highly-anticipated main event, Ohio State at Notre Dame, a top-10 battle of unbeatens on Saturday night. And it’s a Fighting Irish offense that also has been revitalized with the addition of veteran transfer quarterback Sam Hartman.

That’s why the Ohio State defense, especially the secondary, wanted to have a strong sense of itself after taking on last year’s nation-leading passer Austin Reed and the wide-open Western Kentucky offense. Cornerback Denzel Burke believes it accomplished that mission following the 63-10 victory.

The Ohio State defense, after giving up a touchdown drive midway through the first half, tightened the loose bolts, grabbing four turnovers along the way and, in fact, outscoring WKU with two takeaways that went for six.

“I feel like we played good, played solid,” said Burke, whose forced fumble was recovered in the end zone by defensive tackle Tyleik Williams for one of the two defensive touchdowns. “But we’ve still got a lot of stuff to clean up.

“We’re trying to play at a high level, and, with these [lesser challenging] games, we wanted to play at a high level so when these matchup games come we’re ready. Next week we go to South Bend, it’s a real one.”

Yes, even moments after the win over WKU he was well aware of where Ohio State was headed next.

“It’s been circled on my list since the beginning of the season,” Burke said. “Got a couple of other games circled up, but this … is going to be a big one. It’s going to test us. And we’re ready.”

That’s because, for the secondary at least, there was a sense it passed its first major challenge of the year from Reed and a talented set of receivers.

“We weren’t really tested as a whole back end the first two games (wins over Indiana and Youngstown State) and I feel like we got tested this game … and I feel like we got an A on the test,” Burke said. “That’s kind of what we needed going into Week 4, going into Notre Dame.

“We’re trying to bring ‘BIA’ (‘Best in America’) back and Silver Bullets back, and I feel like we’re on the road to doing that.”

Burke definitely appears to be back, rebounding from a 2022 season in which he played despite several physical maladies throughout. He’s made highlight-reel plays look routine, like in the way he forced that fumble.

“That’s probably one of best [plays] I’ve had ever, causing a forced fumble,” he said. “I kind of just threw my body in there and see what happens, and the ball came out. Wow.”

It was exemplary of the overall play of the Ohio State secondary.

“We call ourselves ‘Skunyuns’, man,” Burke said. “We’re gonna put our face in the fan every time. We’re gonna be physical, we’re gonna get in your face. We’re going to show our presence.”

He opted not to give the background for the nickname “Skunyuns”, but as he said earlier, he knows their first major test against a balanced offense, like by Wake Forest transfer Hartman, is right up the road.

“Oh, good quarterback,” Burke said of Hartman. “It’s going to be a great game. We’re going to have to be on our P’s and Q’s.

“I just can’t wait to go up there and have fun, play with my brothers and put on a show for Buckeye Nation.”

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