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] might be the very best workforce he has ever coached.
“It is a actually good soccer workforce. We’re gonna must play our greatest soccer sport of the yr. We all know that.”
Not many would argue with that evaluation of Day or his 2025 workforce, particularly given how the Buckeyes are transferring in another way on protection, leveling up from final yr’s top-ranked scoring unit into one thing nastier and largely unseen within the Faculty Soccer Playoff period.
In truth, the Buckeyes are flirting with turning into the very best protection since Alabama in 2011. That Crimson Tide workforce allowed a salty 8.2 factors per sport en path to a nationwide title — and Ohio State has been even higher. The Buckeyes are permitting simply 5.5 factors per sport, 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 instances.
“They’re holding opponents to 5 factors, so Washington did a great job scoring another level than what they’re averaging,” Fleck stated. “That’s an above-average efficiency.”
Ohio State defensive position coach Larry Johnson Sr. deserves probably 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 way 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 stage, there’s at the very least one participant who might be a first-round NFL draft choose — and that’s with out even mentioning Buckeyes security Caleb Downs, who continues to be the very best defensive participant within the nation.
“You may see how the entrance seven perceive how the again finish works,” Fleck stated at his press convention 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, and so they’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 sort out the run. … They’re relentless of their pursuit. They’re actually good tacklers. They’re sensible.”
Caden Curry #92 of the Ohio State Buckeyes seems to be on in the course of the sport in opposition to the Washington Huskies. (Photograph by Steph Chambers/Getty Photos)
And the scariest half? This protection won’t have hit its ceiling but in 2025.
Ohio State is No. 1 in each the AP Prime 25 ballot and my newest high 25 rankings — proper forward of Oregon, a workforce it beat in final season’s Rose Bowl and gained’t face once more this yr. However matchups with Penn State, Indiana and Michigan nonetheless loom.
Heading into Saturday’s sport, Minnesota seems to be like meals for a Buckeyes workforce 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 Younger is a nationwide faculty soccer author and analyst for FOX Sports activities. Observe him @RJ_Young.
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