Joel Klatt claims Ohio State's defense is currently better than unit that won national championship

Ohio State won the national title last year behind the top defense in the country, which saw eight players then taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. A season later, though, Joel Klatt thinks that this Buckeyes’ defense might actually be even a bit better, which would be quite a problem for everyone else in college football.

Klatt gave that take during his show on Monday. He, to start, deemed them as the best unit in the nation right now based on how they’ve played, at all three levels of that defense, through five games this fall.

“By the way, that whole dissertation, about answers and the way that their offense is playing, and how elite they are, and how suffocatingly good they are – guess what I haven’t talked about yet? The single best unit in college football. The Ohio State defense is the elite unit in the sport – period,” said Klatt. “They are great at the line of scrimmage. Caden Curry has become a real factor at defensive end. They have the best tandem of linebackers in the country in Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese. And they have the single best defender behind all that in Caleb Downs. It is the best defense and single best unit in the country.”

Over the start of the season for No. 1 Ohio State, the Buckeyes’ defense is number one in points allowed at just 5.0 per game and third in total at 215.8 yards allowed per game. They have yet to allow double-digit points to anyone as they’ve posted one shutout and held everyone else to nine or less, including just seven in the opener to No. 1 Texas and then six and three respectively in their first two conference games at Washington and against Minnesota. For reference, their opponents have, in all of their other games not against them, are combining to average 36.1 points per game.

The Buckeyes have been stifling teams under DC Matt Patricia, who’s in his first year at a big-time collegiate job after two decades spent coaching in the NFL. Not only has he made them the best unit in the sport to Klatt, but Klatt also thinks they’re playing even better now than they did last year when their defense was the nation’s best, both in scoring (12.9 points) and total defense (254.6 yards), that helped Ohio State to win the College Football Playoff, and saw one first-round pick, a second-round pick, and six selections in rounds five and six taken in the draft back in April.

“Here’s what’s scary about that, is that a lot of these guys are really smart players and Matt Patricia has taken them to another level,” said Klatt. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this because they were number one in the country, they won the national championship, and they were the best defense in the country a year ago. Ohio State’s defense is better this year. They’re faster and they’re more intricate, and then they can execute those intricate systems and schematics. The scary part is that Matt Patricia has elevated this defense. They are prepared. They execute. They’re fundamentally even a little better than they were early last year. That’s a scary proposition.”

That was only half of the justification for Klatt as to why, on his show yesterday, Ohio State was the No. 1 team in his latest ranking of the Top-10. That defense, paired with a loaded offense in its own right, is why the Buckeyes come in as the top-rated team in the country, with nothing but answers in their game plans up in Columbus.

“My number one team is going to be Ohio State… They just dismantled Minnesota. It’s not very close,” said Klatt. “Here’s the bottom line for me. They are the team that has not shown a real weakness in any game, and that’s why they’re number one. They are suffocatingly good because they have answers.

“Why is Ohio State at number one over the other teams? Not that they’re bad, not that they’re, you know, like, wildly better – no, no, no. It’s just like, they haven’t shown a weakness, they’ve got the most elite unit in the sport, they’ve got the best offensive player in the sport, they’ve got the best defensive player right now. Like, that’s a tough out, and so that’s why they’re the number one team in the country.”