Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck knows what his Golden Gophers are up against Saturday: a No. 1-ranked Ohio Stateteam that, in his words, might be the best team the Buckeyes have had under head coach Ryan Day.
Fleck isn’t one to hand out compliments lightly. Like his own team, the Buckeyes reflect the attitude, demeanor and habits of their head coach. Day’s group is confident, disciplined, and explosive — traits Fleck both respects and recognizes.
So when Fleck singles out a fellow coach for praise, especially the one standing across the field this weekend, it’s worth listening.
“He’s an incredible man, first of all, and then just a fabulous coach,” Fleck said. “But I know he has a lot of confidence in this football team he’s coaching, and I think statistically when you look at them under Ryan Day … in the first four games, [this] may very well be the very best staff he has ever coached.
“It is a actually good soccer staff. We’re gonna need to play our greatest soccer recreation of the yr. We all know that.”
Not many would argue with that evaluation of Day or his 2025 staff, particularly given how the Buckeyes are transferring in a different way on protection, leveling up from final yr’s top-ranked scoring unit into one thing nastier and largely unseen within the College Football Playoff period.
In reality, the Buckeyes are flirting with changing into the very best protection since Alabama in 2011. That Crimson Tide staff allowed a salty 8.2 factors per recreation en path to a nationwide title — and Ohio State has been even higher. The Buckeyes are permitting simply 5.5 factors per recreation, haven’t surrendered a landing within the purple zone all season, and have held each opponent to 9 factors or fewer.
One week after Washington dropped 59 factors and 471 whole yards on in-state foe Washington State, together with 298 passing yards and 88 dashing yards from QB Demond Williams Jr., the Buckeyes held the Huskies to simply six factors and sacked Williams six occasions.
“They’re holding opponents to 5 factors, so Washington did a superb job scoring yet one more level than what they’re averaging,” Fleck stated. “That’s an above-average efficiency.”
Ohio State line of defense coach Larry Johnson Sr. deserves essentially the most credit score for that. As soon as once more, he has recognized and developed a pair of game-wreckers off the sting in senior Caden Curry and junior Kayden McDonald, who’ve mixed for 8.0 sacks and 13 tackles for loss by means of the primary third of the season.
But it surely’s defensive coordinator Matt Patricia’s total unit that has been stingy from the beginning. At each degree, there’s a minimum of one participant who may very well be a first-round NFL draft decide — and that’s with out even mentioning Buckeyes security Caleb Downs, who remains to be the very best defensive participant within the nation.
“You’ll be able to see how the entrance seven perceive how the again finish works,” Fleck said at his press conference this week. “The again finish understands how the entrance seven works. They work cohesively collectively. They’re relentless.
“These 4 guys up entrance, they get into Double Eagle packages, they usually’re straight up the sector. Coach Johnson teaching that D-line — they’re coming after the quarterback, and if the run occurs to get in the way in which, they’ll deal with the run. … They’re relentless of their pursuit. They’re actually good tacklers. They’re good.”
Caden Curry #92 of the Ohio State Buckeyes appears on through the recreation towards the Washington Huskies. (Photograph by Steph Chambers/Getty Photographs)
And the scariest half? This protection won’t have hit its ceiling but in 2025.
Ohio State is No. 1 in each the AP Top 25 poll and my latest top 25 rankings — proper forward of Oregon, a staff it beat in final season’s Rose Bowl and received’t face once more this yr. However matchups with Penn State, Indiana and Michigan nonetheless loom.
Heading into Saturday’s recreation, Minnesota appears like meals for a Buckeyes staff that’s not solely hungry — however wholesome, rested, and searching to change into the second program since Georgia to win back-to-back nationwide titles since Georgia in 2021 and 2022.
RJ Young is a nationwide school soccer author and analyst for FOX Sports activities. Observe him @RJ_Young.
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