Joel Klatt declares Ohio State will have the 'best defense in America'

Two teams stand out as preseason favorites to win the national championship — Georgia and Ohio State. Some similarities are there between the two programs, with their insanely stacked rosters being one. Specifically the Buckeyes, where Urban Meyer recently called it maybe the best roster in the history of college football.

Defense is where a lot of the talent lies. A lot of Ohio State players could have left Columbus in favor of getting their NFL careers started. Instead, they are back for the 2024 season and in Joel Klatt’s opinion, gives them the chance to dominate opposing offenses better than anybody else.

“That’s gonna be the best defense in America,” Klatt said Thursday on The Herd. “Their front four is loaded with NFL talent, their back seven (is) loaded with NFL talent. I don’t see many people scoring points on Ohio State.”

Some big names are set to play on the defensive line this year. Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimolaou are the most well-known of the bunch, entering their fourth season with the program. Denzel Burke projects as the team’s top cornerback, while the best player on the entire field might be Alabama transfer Caleb Downs.

No matter what position you at looking at defensively, Ohio State is going to have top guys — projecting to somehow be better than last year’s unit.

But where it all needs to come together is offensively for head coach Ryan Day. Kyle McCord guided them to an 11-0 record but came up short against Michigan and then did not have much success against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State moved on from McCord and recently announced Kansas State transfer Will Howard would be the starting quarterback.

New offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will not be afraid to hand the ball off to Quinshon Judkins or TreVeyon Henderson either. There likely is not a better one-two punch at running back in the country.

“That will allow them to bring Will Howard — their quarterback that they named last week — bring him along, Chip will get him comfortable running the football, they’ve got elite players on the outside,” Klatt said. “Ohio State’s gonna be a handful.”

Ohio State is going to be able to win a lot of games just on their defensive performances alone. We saw last season what somebody like Tuimolaou can single-handedly do, taking down Penn State. That type of dominance is once again expected from Klatt and likely those inside the program.