The Ohio State defense is sharper now because of the fretting, planning, tinkering and honing of coordinator Jim Knowles after the Buckeyes were repeatedly ripped by big plays in the demoralizing loss to Michigan last year. One of the measures of a defense is how many “explosive” plays it allows, those that go for 20 yards or more. The Buckeyes gave up six in the 45-23 drubbing against the Wolverines — five of them for touchdowns. Knowles, who was hired away from Oklahoma State to transform the defense, spent much of his time in the past year on that particular problem. “[We’re] gearing towards the matchup games, where we were not successful last year and mainly because of explosive plays,” Knowles said. “So you have a lot of study, a lot of planning. I think you’re seeing the benefits of that now.” The nation’s No. 4 defense, allowing about 262…
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