I think we could know Ohio State's signs and still not win.
The bottom line is that if we don't blitz, we get no pressure on the QB and he has all day to eventually find a receiver slipping open. If he is any level of quality (as most of our opponents are this year), then he can laser it in there. However, if we do blitz, then the QB has less time to find the open receiver... but it is more likely that there IS a very open receiver. And, as we blitz more, other teams can watch and see what that does to our coverage... and a good OC/QB can take advantage of it without even "knowing our signs."
IMHO, the issue is lack of talent on the DL. Our OL is likely good enough to stop OUR defensive line in practice... but most defensive lines they face in games will be much more challenging. Angeli was getting rid of the ball quick and usually correctly, masking the issue somewhat. During the Clemson game they were showing him getting rid of the ball in ~2 seconds. Our OL rose to the occasion in that game. They did not do so against UConn and Duke (and some of the Colgate game, frankly). Conversely, how many timses did Cade Klubnik have much longer than that AND scramble to give himself more time. If we did get to him, he eluded the sack almost always.
Next to retaining the talent we have at QB/WR/OL/DB/Antoine, the priority in the offseason for NIL has to be defensive line.
