ANN ARBOR – Michigan senior tight end Marlin Klein grew up in Germany and attended high school in Georgia, but even he knows how Matt Patricia is widely viewed in Michigan.
Patricia had a rocky three-year stint as the Detroit Lions’ head coach, posting a 13-29-1 record before getting fired after Week 12 of the 2020 season. But despite his shortcomings as a head coach, the 51-year-old three-time Super Bowl champion has a lengthy track record of overseeing elite defenses.
He returned to the college level this offseason for the first time since 2003 and has Ohio State’s defense producing at levels rarely seen in the NCAA. The top-ranked Buckeyes (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) haven’t experienced any type of national championship hangover, winning 10 straight games by at least 18 points since their 14-7 season-opening victory over then-No. 1 Texas.
The defense, despite losing eight NFL draft picks from last year’s team, has allowed just 84 points through 11 games under Patricia – the second-fewest allowed by any team since 1998.
“He doesn’t really have the best reputation in the state of Michigan, but he’s done such a great job at Ohio State,” Klein said Monday. “They’re the No. 1 defense in the country for a reason. That’s really just all to his credit and his players buying into what he’s trying to do down there. We’re just excited to step on that field on Saturday and really measure ourselves with him and his team.”
The Buckeyes rank at or near the top of nearly every statistical category in 2025. The combination of elite talent and Patricia’s defensive scheme has proven to be a mismatch for opposing offenses. OSU ranks first in total offense by nearly 40 yards per game, yielding an average of just 206.6. It has been equally stout against the run (80 yards per game) as the pass (126.6).
If the 18th-ranked Wolverines (9-2, 7-1) are going to win their fifth straight in the rivalry, they will need to find a formula to solve OSU’s defense.
“I think one, those guys play together,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said of OSU’s defense Monday during his weekly news conference. “They play really good together. There’s so many different coverages, front variations, blitz variation, and it’s game by game. There’s a story in each game of how he calls the game. It’s not just this game is doing this. It’s not just by formation. It’s just not just by personnel. It’s by game, so we’ve got to do a good job of identifying that early in the game and figuring out how to play that through all four quarters.”
The Wolverines will be cognizant of where a handful of Buckeyes are lined up on every snap. In the latest 2026 NFL draft rankings from ESPN’s Jordan Reid, OSU edge Arvell Reese and safety Caleb Downs are No. 1 and 2 on the list.
Reese has been a game-wrecker with 59 tackles and 6 ½ sacks, while Caleb Downs has two of the team’s six interceptions this season.
“Reese and Downs are excellent players,” Moore said. “Arvell is as elite an edge rusher as we’ve seen all year. Caleb Downs is probably one of the smartest football players in college football. Both those players are elite players that we’ve got to deal with.”
Two other OSU defenders – linebacker Sonny Styles and defensive tackle Kayden McDonald, are in Reid’s top-50 rankings. That doesn’t include team sacks leader Caden Curry, who is third in the Big Ten with nine.
Fortunately for the Wolverines, they are coming off one of their best offensive performances of the season, totaling 443 yards in Saturday’s 45-20 win over Maryland. Left guard Giovanni El-Hadi is excited for the challenge and hopes to carry that success into The Game.
“We’ve faced a lot of great defensive lines throughout the season,” El-Hadi said. “They’re a great d line. (We) should be ready for whatever they throw at us. They’re going to bring some new stuff, like they always do. No matter what they bring, just fall back on our training and our preparation.
“The offense moves how far we (offensive line) goes. So if we’re not moving, they’re not going to move pretty far. We have to strain until the whistle blows. We have to out-physical them. We have to give everything that we got.”
