Each week of university football creates its global scenarios. In one Saturday, the defensive coordinator of Ohio State, Matt Patricia, completely rewritten his own script.
“The story of the match was defense,” said Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day, perhaps offering the euphemism of the year at his press conference after the 14-7 victory of his team against Texas N ° 1.
Inthematically, this also means that the story of the game was Patricia. But effort n ° 3 of Ohio State has delivered twists and turns to a variety of sub -intrigues that have been built for months.
Among them: the eager anticipation of the Arch Manning era in Texas starting with a deaf noise. The heir to football royalty only managed 170 yards out of 17 out of 30 and only led one training – more than 56 minutes after the start of the competition.
In a sport with such short seasons, each week becomes its own story. Many words will be dedicated to questioning the buzz around Manning until it proves to be as important and against an opponent as strong as Ohio State.
Manning has an unlikely company in this regard with Buckeyes defensive coordinator Patricia.
Although a double winner of the Super Bowl in the same post with New England, Patricia as a chief coach of Detroit Lions and her disastrous beginning with the staff of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023 shaped his story.
Patricia’s Day rental to replace Jim Knowles – who coordinated a defense that led university football in several categories on the way to the university football championship of last year – met skepticism.
In fact, skepticism could say it lightly. It is just to wonder if the day of the cachet won with the Ohio State Faithful – which was ready to get him out of Columbus the last weekend of Thanksgiving after a defeat for Michigan – was wasted with the rental of Patricia.
To this end, we asked one day if the victory on Saturday offered a justification for him and Patricia.
“We have to do ourselves whenever we are in this arena,” said Day. “When you feel like you have to stop proving, you stop improving.”
This is perhaps the most promising development for Ohio State and its Defense under Patricia out of the week 1. While the new coordinator barely inherited from an empty closet – with returners like Davison Igbinosun, Caden Curry, Caleb Downs and Sonny Styles – 2024 Standouts Jack Sawyer, Cody Simon, Denzel Burke and Lathan Ransom are all on the activities of NFL.
The return stars did their part, then some. Igbinosun, who told journalists that he had returned for 2025 to become a choice of NFL recovery in the first round, made a declaration with 10 career plated.
Its Parker Livingstone coverage on a corner road to the goal area denied Texas in the red zone. Meanwhile, staying on the theme of Buckeyes which proves themselves, Igbinosun formerly subject to the penalty went all the game without flag.
Performance like this through the defense, especially players who present themselves in roles released by last year’s stars, were the place where Patricia moved attention.
“They were the ones who went there and played very quickly and really aggressive,” said Patricia. “I am proud of our guys to take up this challenge, through the board.”
As tempting as it is to apply a wider story to the victory of Ohio State, it is only a chapter of the pursuit of Buckeyes of a rehearsal. But in just 60 minutes, Patricia delivered a remarkable rewriting from the first journey of her own story on which to rely.
