Joel Klatt believes so highly of the Ohio State Buckeyes' defense that he feels only two teams, though both from the Big Ten, can definitively put up 20 points on Matt Patricia's group -- and a third team from the SEC can "maybe" do it.
To take the point a step further, Klatt compared the current Buckeyes defense to Dan Lanning's legendary 2021 Georgia Bulldogs defense that had five first-round picks in the 2022 NFL draft.
"I'm sure they're beatable. There's no doubt. But I do think that it's going to take a really special team. There's only two, maybe three offenses in the country that I could see scoring 20 or more on Ohio State. And that would be Indiana because of their balance and USC because of their balance. No one else has the balance. Maybe A&M. Maybe A&M. Just because of the speed of the quarterback. Even though Ohio State did a great job against DeMond Williams. But... That's the best defense that I've seen in a while since '21, the Georgia team." Klatt said to the Next Round Live crew on Monday.
So far, no team has been able to put up 20 on OSU. One team has been able to put up a double-digit point total, the Illinois Fighting Illini, during a 34-16 win for the Buckeyes in Champaign.
They've been that good. And they'll presumably continue to be that good, since TTUN in Ann Arbor is the only difficult game left on their schedule.
Matchups against the Wisconsin Badgers, Purdue Boilermakers, and Rutgers Scarlet Knights were never going to be much of a scare. The UCLA Bruins are a more interesting matchup with Tim Skipper as head coach and Jerry Neuheisel calling plays, but it's a slim chance they'll be able to handle the physicality of Ohio State's trenches.
The Penn State Nittany Lions are a question mark amidst James Franklin's departure. They could be like UCLA, or they could continue their month-long malaise into the final seven weeks of the season.
The Indiana Hoosiers won't come around until the Big Ten Championship Game at the earliest. The USC Trojans and Texas A&M Aggies may not get a shot at the Buckeyes at all.
Ryan Day may be coaching what could end up as the most dominant team in the 12-team College Football Playoff era.
And Patricia's defense may not give up 20 points to an opponent all season.