Ohio State’s Defense Is Dominating, Buckeyes Look Poised to Repeat as National Champs

If defense wins championships, an axiom that is tested every day in a world where low-scoring is boring, Ohio State already has one big paw on lifting the CFP championship trophy in January.

What was a question mark at the beginning of the season has become an exclamation point for the defending national champions under first-year defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, a reclamation project if there ever was one after his ill-fated run as the Detroit Lions head coach from 2018-20.

He was hired after defensive guru Jim Knowles bolted for Penn State not soon after his top-ranked defense helped the Buckeyes to an improbable four-game playoff run to the title after the inexplicable loss to Michigan (can’t fault the defense for that one).

This season’s D is even better and it has allowed redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin to blossom into a Heisman Trophy contender without the pressure of having to win a game with his arm – so far. We’ll see what happens when the playoff pressure mounts.

Yes, the No. 1 Buckeyes (7-0, 5-0 Big Ten) path there is almost assured but not without some trepidation despite having the best scoring defense in the nation – a stingy 5.9 points per game (with two shutouts) compared to runner-up Oklahoma’s 9.4 – and Sayin’s crisp 80.0 completion rate to lead all FBS quarterbacks and outdistances that of Heisman contenders Fernando Mendoza of Indiana (73.5%) and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia (71.4%).

Coach Ryan Day must fix the running game that one would expect to be needed at some point (re: at Michigan on Nov. 29). The Buckeyes averaged just 3.5 yards per carry vs. Wisconsin on Saturday but to be fair, it was an improvement over the 2.9 average the previous game against Illinois.

Special teams are also not to the caliber of the defense nor the passing game. The Buckeyes have not found a reliable returner; the return coverage got embarrassed by a 20-yard fake punt by Wisconsin and kicking a field goal from 50 yards is out of the question.

All of these “problems” can be addressed in what should be a favorable schedule with only Michigan (5-2) holding a winning record among the five opponents beginning with once-mighty Penn State (3-4).

This one has intrigue written all over it. Like the Buckeyes, Penn State is off this weekend so the Nittany Lions can take a breath and regroup after the stunning collapse that led to the firing of James Franklin on Oct. 19.

Interim head coach Terry Smith will try to rally his squad knowing that redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, in place of injured Drew Allar, will make his second career start Nov. 1 in Ohio Stadium.

Then it’s away at Purdue (2-5) where Boilermakers fans still regale in the 2018 upset of the top-ranked Buckeyes.

A resurgent UCLA (3-4) will be led by revenge-seeking Nico Iamaleava. The last time he stepped foot in Ohio Stadium was in December when he quarterbacked Tennessee in a 42-17 shellacking by the Buckeyes in a CFP first-round matchup.

If anyone is going to test the Buckeyes’ stellar secondary led by All-American Caleb Downs and the dynamic linebacker duo of Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, it will be Iamaleava.

After a home game vs. Rutgers (3-4), they’ll head to Ann Arbor where a four-game losing streak to the Wolverines awaits. Survive November and the potential is there for a showdown with No. 2 Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 6.

It’s doable to be undefeated going into the playoffs and a heavy favorite to repeat as national champs with the lockdown defense and the amount of firepower that Sayin (1,872 yards, 19 touchdowns, three interceptions) has at his disposal.

The offensive line has been solid and he really hasn’t been pressured, but with talented receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, the best-catching tight end group that Day has ever had, and Sayin’s willingness to check down to his backs — who do you cover?

When the offense goes against the best defense in the country every practice, sometimes the game is the easy part.