Luke Fickell often doesn't get the credit he deserves.

After sharing defensive coordinator responsibilities with Everett Withers during the first two years of the Urban Meyer era at Ohio State, Fickell's units had failed to live up to expectations. After Withers left to take the head coaching job at James Madison before the 2014 season, Chris Ash was hired to take his place and right the ship on that side of the ball.

Ash did just that in his two years in Columbus, installing a 'Quarters' coverage that steadied the back end of the Silver Bullet defense. In that time, the Buckeyes won a National Championship, won 26 games while only losing two, and sent four players from the Buckeye secondary to the NFL.

Once again this winter, Fickell's counterpart left to run his own program, this time at Rutgers. And, once again, Fickell will share the lead job of the OSU defense with someone new, former NFL head coach Greg Schiano.

This history of sharing titles with relatively successful coaches may lead one to believe that the longtime member of the program as both player and coach is a secondary character in the ranks of Buckeye coaches. When it comes to teaching and calling plays for his defense's front seven, at least, that couldn't be any farther from the truth.

In this past January's Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame, Fickell's unit showcased a game plan that was fairly unique for them, stymying a talented Irish offense and allowing the Scarlet and Gray to build up a large lead that would never be tested. This new strategy was a very aggressive one, as the very first snap of the game shows:

Though quarterback DeShone Kizer is able to avoid the sack and slip away for a short gain, the message was clear: the Buckeye Linebackers were coming. Fickell had called for a six-man zone blitz on first down, sending inside linebackers Joshua Perry and Raekwon McMillan into the backfield while leaving only five defenders in coverage.

Like all zone blitzes, there was a conservative element to this call, with three deep defenders ensuring nothing would get too far downfield. But this was a serious risk to take against a spread team like Notre Dame, who are more than happy to throw screens to attack the now uncovered flat areas on the outside.