Ohio State ranks No. 2 on Greg McElroy's Top 10 defenses in college football list

Defense wins championships, and Ohio State‘s defense did just that last season. ESPN’s Greg McElroy doesn’t expect the Buckeyes to take a step back this season. On Tuesday, he explained why he believes OSU will have the second-best defense in the country in the 2025 campaign.

“It’s hard for me to think about this group as No. 1 or No. 2 defense, given some of the personnel that was lost off last year. But, I look at the culture that’s been created, and it’s hard for me not to look at Ohio State and have them in the top two this year,” McElroy said.

“There’s been a lot of changes. You lose your coordinator, Jim Knowles. He’s now at Penn State, but you bring in Matt Patricia to replace Jim Knowles. I mean, long time NFL assistant, former head coach, defensive coordinator, coming in, bringing that NFL experience, bringing that understanding of how to play complimentary because he served as the head coach in the past.”

Matt Patricia accepted the offer to be Ohio State’s next defensive coordinator this offseason after Jim Knowles stunned the college football world by joining Penn State. Patricia isn’t your typical replacement hire.

He worked under Bill Belichick as the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots from 2012-17 and was the Detroit Lions’ head coach from 2018-20. Most recently, Patricia was the Philadelphia Eagles’ senior defensive assistant in 2023.

Now, Patricia will return to the college landscape for the first time since he was a GA at Syracuse in 2003. Patricia will have no shortage of talent to work with at Ohio State.

“He might have the most talented player, pound for pound in the country that returns to his secondary. That’s Caleb Downs,” McElroy said. “He’s the most versatile and he’s the best defensive player. I think he can cover the entire field. I think he can be impactful in the run game.

“If you want to play him at linebacker level, he could do that. I think the guy could literally play almost all 11 snaps, all 11 positions on defense. I really believe he’s just that rare from a talent standpoint, but he’s not the only one.”

He certainly isn’t. Linebacker Sonny Styles is returning after finishing last season with 100 tackles and six sacks. Additionally, cornerbacks Jermaine Matthews and Davison Igbinosun are running it back in Columbus. McElroy doesn’t expect Ohio State to simply rely on its talent either.

“I could see them kind of mixing things up and creating significant problems for the opposing offenses,” McElroy said. “Look, there is a lot of turnover, there is a lot of change, there is a bunch of new faces, but the way they’ve recruited, the way they developed, I’m just not concerned about having to replace those pieces. They’re going to be one of the top groups in the country yet again this year.”