Ohio State had the best defense in college football in 2025. Today, they kept that trend going. Like last year, they lost eight starters from an elite defense. Also, like last year, they had a strong performance without having huge defensive statistics. Except for the two most important stats in a football game. Dominating those two stats has led Ohio State to a lot of wins, including their 27th straight season opener against Ball State. Ryan Day’s defenses have been nothing short of elite lately, and it’s looking like a trend for Ohio State.
In 2024, Ohio State allowed 90.2 rushing yards per game, which was sixth-best in college football. Last season, they allowed 89.4 yards per game, which was seventh-best in the nation. Against Ball State, allowed only 45 rushing yards. In 2024, the Buckeyes allowed 160.1 yards per game through the air, fourth-best in college football. The 2025 defense allowed 129.7 yards per game, the best in the nation. Against the Cardinals, Ohio State allowed only 120 passing yards.
The Buckeyes shut down Ball State without the outright star power they had in the previous two seasons. Last year, in Week 1, you know players like Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Davison Igbinosun, and Kayden McDonald were proven stars. Arvell Reese was thought to be great, and very early in 2025 proved why.
This season, there are fewer sure-fire stars on the defense, but they played with the same style and defended every inch against Ball State. Sure, there are some known guys who played well, like Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Jaylen McClain, but there aren’t as many right off the bat. The fact that they didn’t have a lot of guys making interceptions, getting sacks, tackles for a loss, and forcing turnovers didn’t slow the defense down a bit.
I don’t doubt that by the end of the season we’ll have a much better bead on who the stars of this defense are. We’ll also know how much stock to put into this lockdown of Ball State. But you can’t help but be happy with what Ohio State’s defense did against the Cardinals.
Remember those two most important stats I mentioned? Here they are. In 2024, Ohio State allowed 250.3 total yards per game, which was third-best in college football. Last year, they allowed 219.1, which led all FBS teams. They allowed only 165 yards of total offense against Ball State. In their 2024 National Championship-winning season, Ohio State allowed 12.9 points per game, the best in the nation. Last year’s team allowed 9.3 points per game, which was again the best in the game. Against Ball State, they allowed only three points.
So, while yes, this is against a MAC program that has struggled a lot over the years, it’s much better to come out and dominate them than to scratch your head wondering how that team did even slightly well against you. The team stats of points and total yards per game mean so much more than individual stats like sacks and interceptions.
Ohio State's defense needs to carry the way for the Buckeyes
It’s great for these young defenders going forward to believe that they can do what those two historical defenses in 2024 and 2025 did. To believe that they have in them what those teams had in them, with all of their NFL draft picks, who went 26-4 and won a national title.
They’ll need it on the road against an SEC team that also scored 50-plus to open their season. Head coach Ryan Day often gets tons of love for Buckeye offenses and rightly so, being that’s the side of the ball he came from, but he deserves credit for the defenses, too.
He had a big part in building these units. Much bigger than you’d expect for an offense-minded coach. Welcome back, college football, and welcome back to the dominant Silver Bullet defense of the Ohio State Buckeyes!
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