![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27368322.jpg\" "\\"Mark")
<\/p>\n\n Seven games into the season, Matt Patricia\u2019s Ohio State defense has still allowed fewer total points all season (41) than Jim Knowles\u2019 Penn State defense allowed to UCLA (42). <\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Jim Knowles left Ohio State after last year\u2019s national championship run to become the defensive coordinator at Penn State, the expectation was that the Nittany Lions would have one of the best defenses in the country. After all, Knowles had the best defense in the country in his final season at Ohio State, and was inheriting a Penn State roster full of talented veteran defenders like defensive linemen Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant, linebacker Tony Rojas, cornerback A.J. Harris and safety Zakee Wheatley.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State, on the other hand, entered its first season with Patricia as defensive coordinator with a more uncertain outlook. Patricia hadn\u2019t coached at the collegiate level in more than two decades, and the Buckeyes had to replace eight starters on defense who were all selected in the 2025 NFL draft.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tYet Patricia\u2019s first Ohio State defense has been even better than last season\u2019s championship-winning unit, while Knowles\u2019 first Penn State defense \u2013 which will quite possibly be his only\u00a0Penn State defense after James Franklin was fired \u2013 has fallen well short of expectations.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAs Ohio State prepares to welcome Knowles back to Ohio Stadium next weekend\u00a0for the 7-0 Buckeyes\u2019 clash with the 3-4 Nittany Lions, we look at how the performance of their respective defenses has compared to each other so far this season across\u00a0key statistical categories.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSpoiler alert: Patricia\u2019s defense has been better than Knowles\u2019\u00a0defense in nearly every category, and by a wide margin in most of them.\n<\/p>\n
\tPoints Allowed Per Game<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State: 5.9 (1st in FBS)
Penn State: 19.4 (29th in FBS)\n<\/p>\n
\n\tTo put this in more perspective: Ohio State has allowed fewer points in every one of its seven games as\u00a0Penn State has allowed on average for the year. The Buckeyes have allowed double digits in a game just once, giving up 16 points to Illinois. Penn State has allowed at least 22 points in all four of its games against Big Ten opponents.\n<\/p>\n
\tYards Allowed Per Game<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State: 216.9 (1st in FBS)
Penn State: 303.7 (20th in FBS)\n<\/p>\n
\n\tIn Big Ten play, Ohio State has allowed just 208.75 yards per game while Penn State has allowed 363.5 yards per game \u2013 a difference of nearly 155 yards per contest. Penn State allowed more than 400 yards against both Oregon and UCLA, while Ohio State has allowed more than 300 yards just once this season (336 yards in the season opener vs. Texas, a game in which the Buckeyes still yielded only seven points).\n<\/p>\n
\tYards Allowed Per Play<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State: 3.81 (1st in FBS)
Penn State: 4.63 (18th in FBS)\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter allowing just 3.63 yards per play in the non-conference portion of the season, Penn State has allowed 5.35 yards per play against Big Ten opponents. Ohio State\u2019s defense, on the other hand, has been even better in this category than it was in non-conference play, allowing just 3.78 yards per play in its first four Big Ten games of the year.\n<\/p>\n
\tRushing Defense<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State: 85.6 yards allowed per game (8th), 2.76 yards allowed per attempt (10th)
Penn State: 158.7 yards allowed per game (91st), 4.07 yards allowed per attempt (71st)\n<\/p>\n
\n\tHow each team has stopped the run has been the starkest difference between Ohio State and Penn State\u2019s defenses this year. While the Buckeyes\u2019 run defense has been one of the best in the country, allowing just one opponent (Texas) to rush for 100-plus yards all season, Penn State\u2019s run defense has been one of the Big Ten\u2019s worst. The Nittany Lions have allowed more than 200 rushing yards per game in Big Ten play, including 269 yards and three touchdowns on the ground at UCLA and 245 rushing yards and three rushing scores at Iowa.\n<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\tPenn State allowed a 67-yard run to Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski on the Hawkeyes\u2019 game-winning touchdown drive in Iowa\u2019s 25-24 win over the Nittany Lions in Week 8. (Photo:\u00a0Julia Hansen\/Iowa City Press-Citizen\/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)\n\t<\/p>\n
\tPassing Defense<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State: 131.3 yards allowed per game (3rd), 5.08 yards allowed per attempt (4th)
Penn State: 145.0 yards allowed per game (5th), 5.46 yards allowed per attempt (8th)\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPenn State\u2019s defense has been one of the nation\u2019s best at defending the pass, limiting all but one of its first seven opponents (Oregon) to less than 200 passing yards per game. But the Ducks\u2019 passing offense (which had 248 yards and three touchdowns in Happy Valley) is by far the best Penn State has faced so far this season. And Ohio State\u2019s pass defense has been even more dominant, also allowing just one opponent (Illinois, which also threw for exactly 248 yards against the Buckeyes, though with only one passing touchdown) to throw for more than 200 yards so far this season.\n<\/p>\n
\tStop Rate<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State: 84.2% (1st)
Penn State: 62.5% (60th)\n<\/p>\n