Each week of college football creates its overarching storylines. In a single Saturday, Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia completely rewrote his own script.
“The story of the game was the defense,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said, offering up maybe the understatement of the year in his press conference following his team’s 14-7 win over No. 1 Texas.
Inherently, that also means the story of the game was Patricia. But No. 3 Ohio State’s defensively dominant effort delivered twists to a variety of subplots that had been building for months.
Among them: the eager anticipation for the Arch Manning era at Texas beginning with a thud. The heir of football royalty managed just 170 yards on 17-of-30 passing and led only one scoring drive — more than 56 minutes into the contest.
In a sport with such short seasons, every week becomes its own sweeping narrative. Plenty of words will be dedicated to questioning the buzz around Manning until he proves himself on a stage as prominent and against an opponent as strong as Ohio State.
Manning has unlikely company in that regard with Buckeyes defensive coordinator Patricia.
Although a two-time Super Bowl winner in the same post with New England, Patricia’s struggles as Detroit Lions head coach and his disastrous start with the Philadelphia Eagles staff in 2023 shaped his narrative.
Day’s hire of Patricia to replace Jim Knowles — who coordinated a defense that led college football in multiple categories on the way to last year’s College Football Playoff championship — was met with skepticism.
Actually, skepticism might be putting it lightly. It’s fair to ask if the cachet Day earned with Ohio State faithful — who were ready to run him out of Columbus last Thanksgiving weekend after a loss to Michigan — was squandered with Patricia’s hire.
To that end, Day was asked if Saturday’s win offered vindication for both him and Patricia.
“We have to prove ourselves every time we’re in that arena,” Day said. “When you feel like you have to stop proving yourself, you stop improving.”
That may be the most promising development for Ohio State and its defense under Patricia coming out of Week 1. While the new coordinator hardly inherited an empty cupboard — 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 NFL rosters.
The returning stars did their part and then some. Igbinosun, who told reporters he came back for 2025 to develop into a first-round NFL draft pick, made a statement with a career-high 10 tackles.
His coverage of Parker Livingstone on a corner route to the end zone denied Texas in the red zone. Meanwhile, staying on the theme of Buckeyes proving themselves, the once-penalty-prone Igbinosun went the entire game without a flag.
Performances like that across the defense, including from players stepping into roles vacated by last year’s stars, were where Patricia shifted the focus.
“They’re the ones who went out there and played really fast and really aggressive,” Patricia said. “I’m proud of our guys for stepping up to that challenge, all the way across the board.”
As tempting as it is to apply a larger narrative to Ohio State’s win, it’s only one chapter in the Buckeyes’ pursuit of a repeat. But in just 60 minutes, Patricia delivered a remarkable first-draft rewrite of his own story to build on.
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