Nick Saban calls Ohio State football defense vs Oregon 'antiquated'

( This story has been updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy. A previous version mentioned Ohio State played Nebraska this week. Ohio State plays Nebraska next week as the Buckeyes are on bye in Week 8) .

Nick Saban knows a thing or two about putting together a defensive scheme and plan together to win a big game in college football.

The former Alabama football coach was asked his thoughts about last Saturday's Ohio State football vs. Oregon game during an appearance on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" on Friday at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

In his response, the now "College GameDay" analyst focused much of his time on the performance of the Buckeyes' defense and called last Saturday's approach from the unit "antiquated."

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"I was really impressed with Oregon (and) the way they played on defense against a great Ohio State offensive team with a lot of weapons. And then the way that Oregon just sort of picked Ohio State apart (defensively). They didn't affect the quarterback in any way and he had time. They didn't ever pressure. It was just four guys rush, which is kind of an antiquated way to play defense," Saban said on Friday.

"And I'm not being critical of somebody's philosophy at Ohio State. But there's so much four-man rush, simulated pressure, still able to play the coverages that you play, drop different people, rush somebody that is supposed to be dropping and drop somebody that's supposed to be rushing. And these things are ways to get pressure without giving up anything. And I think in this day and age of football, you got to go down that road a little bit, or you're going to be behind the eight ball."

Saban credited the Buckeyes' success on defense prior to last weekend's game against Oregon, as Ohio State ranked top five in all four major categories — scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense and passing defense — entering Week 7. But the seven-time national championship coach said a game like last week exposed the Buckeyes a bit, as Ryan Day's squad had not played a team of Oregon's caliber before last Saturday. Ohio State did not play a Power Four opponent in its non-conference schedule.

"The thing you have to be careful of is, we talk about these teams that have the number one defense in the country or they're the number one scoring defense, but who did they play to come up with those stats? And then they play somebody really good and they sort of get exposed a little bit," Saban said.

"And you start to wonder exactly, how good are they? Especially when they play somebody good when it counts. In college football, I think that the rules favor the offense. ... It's tough to play as good a defense now as you used to and be able to win the game on defense."

The Buckeyes gave up a season-high 496 total yards of offense last week to Oregon. Ohio State dropped from No. 1 to No. 5 in both scoring defense (11.0 points per game) and total defense (254.3 yards per game). Day's squad also saw a drop from No. 3 to No. 8 in rushing defense (86.3 rushing yards per game).

Ohio State will look to get back in the win column next Saturday against No. 25 Nebraska (5-1, 2-1 in Big Ten) at noon ET at Ohio Stadium.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Nick Saban calls Ohio State football defense vs Oregon 'antiquated'