COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Bill Davis is Ohio State's first-year linebackers coach and his position group has been as responsible as any unit for Ohio State's two losses.

That's just a fact.

OSU linebackers were burned in the play-action pass game against Oklahoma on Sept. 9 and again vs. Iowa on Saturday. Iowa completed 21 passes in a 55-24 blowout, but just seven of them went to wide receivers for 59 yards and no touchdowns. That's against cornerbacks.

The Hawkeyes took apart the Buckeyes with their tight ends (nine catches, 125 yards, four touchdowns) and running backs (four catches, 42 yards, one touchdown). That was against linebackers and safeties. (Plus there was that one 18-yard pass to the long snapper on a trick play.)

With Jerome Baker, Chris Worley, Dante Booker, Tuf Borland and Malik Harrison, the Buckeyes have enough talent at the position. Not the most talent they've ever had there, but Baker will play in the NFL; Worley is a fifth-year senior and veteran captain; Harrison is an-up-and-comer as a sophomore; and Booker and Borland are legit Big Ten linebackers.

Davis as a legit Big Ten coach is up in the air.

* Old defensive problems returned vs. Iowa

I've held that opinion since Davis was hired to replace Luke Fickell and asked Meyer earlier in the year about it. I asked Meyer again Monday, and here's the entire question to give you a sense of what I was getting at and where Meyer stands.

After the Oklahoma game we talked about you guys noticed that the linebackers had gotten hurt in play action in coverage and Oklahoma hit you guys there. That happened again against Iowa. When you have something that happens, you think it's fixed and it happens again, is that a failing of that position group and then of that position coach to allow that to happen again?

Meyer: Sure, it is. And the week before I thought they played very well. They didn't play very well this week.

How do you evaluate that? Bill Davis is a first-year coach here. It's two losses and we're talking about issues at his position group. How do you evaluate that as the head coach?

Meyer: I evaluate it.

This may seem like a bit much to put on one coach, but it's to show how important assistant coach hires are. I'd argue the primary cause of Ohio State not reaching the playoff in 2015 and of getting shut out in the playoff in 2016 was the misfire in making Ed Warinner and Tim Beck the co-offensive coordinators, coupled with Beck's inefficient work in the quarterback room. Both were ushered out after last season.

You might argue against that now, given the offensive problems in the Oklahoma and Iowa losses, but the overall execution of the offense has improved this year.

And the linebackers are worse.

Fickell spent 15 years on Ohio State's staff, 14 as an assistant and one as interim head coach. A Buckeye player turned coach, he was the only assistant who could say that. He drew praise as a recruiter and at times criticism, both warranted and unwarranted, for his defensive coaching as a co-coordinator.

But the Buckeyes were almost always solid on defense. Fickell's linebackers produced at Ohio State and went on to the NFL, with 16 linebackers drafted in his 15 years, including six in the first two rounds.

But I don't think that's what Fickell did best. Talk to his linebackers, and you realized how he related to them and the relationships he built with them, from A.J. Hawk to Ryan Shazier, James Laurinaitis to Raekwon McMillan, Curtis Grant to Darron Lee. Relationships like that encourage discipline and accountabilty on Saturdays.

That's not to say Ohio State linebackers didn't make mistakes for the last 15 years. They did. The defense as a whole wasn't good enough in Meyer's first two seasons in 2012 and 2013.

And what happened after that? A major change was made. Everett Withers left as the safeties coach and co-coordinator on the back end of the defense, and the hiring of Chris Ash completely changed the defense.

Look at the defensive S&P ratings from Football Outsiders, a rating system that more effectively judges a defense than points per game or yards per game.

The Buckeyes rank 20th in the nation this season. Here's where they rank back to 2005, the first year of the rankings

2005: 7th

2006: 8th

2007: 1st

2008: 4th

2009: 8th

2010: 1st

2011: 23rd

2012: 33rd

2013: 44th

2014: 14th

2015: 9th

2016: 5th

2017: 20th

This is currently Ohio State's worst rating outside of 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The 2011 season was the chaos of Fickell's interim season.

The 2012 and 2013 seasons led a frustrated Meyer to say that was enough for that defense and to create the change that led to the Ash hiring.

So here we are in 2017 with three defensive coaches - coordinator and safeties coach Greg Schiano, cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs and defensive line coach Larry Johnson - back from last year. The Buckeyes did lose talent in McMillan at linebacker and Gareon Conley, Marshon Lattimore and Malik Hooker in the secondary.

But what's really different? The linebackers, who most crucially lost their coach.

Most Ohio State assistants sign two-year deals. Davis is on a one-year contract paying him $500,000, which is tied for the third-highest salary among the assistants, behind only primary coordinators Schiano on defense and Kevin Wilson on offense.

He's on a one-year contract and being evaluated, as Meyer said Monday.

The last time the defense didn't cut it, a change came, but it took two years.

The last time the offense didn't cut it, a change came, but it took two years.

Davis is a friend of the coach from their college days at Cincinnati, and he served as the best man in Meyer's wedding. He's also an NFL coach with 24 years experience in the pros while making 10 different stops. He has never lasted at one place for more than four years. That doesn't happen because you're so successful at your job.

After Week 5, when I asked about Davis's performance, Meyer said, "I thought very average early in the season. Just the unit was average, the energy was average.

"Started slow, but the last couple weeks were outstanding, and last week was outstanding."

It wasn't outstanding Saturday.

Davis, as an NFL veteran with little college experience outside of his volunteer season with the Buckeyes in 2016, seemed a strange fit from the start.

Meyer has seen what specific failures can do to a team as whole.

Secondary problems played a major role in the 2013 Big Ten Championship loss to Michigan State that kept the Buckeyes out of the national title game.

Offensive play-calling problems played a major role in the 2015 loss to Michigan State that kept the Buckeyes out of the College Football Playoff.

Undisciplined linebacker play has played a major role in both losses this season.

This time, there may not be reason to wait two seasons to fix it.