\n\tMiami wore down Ohio State\u2019s front in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals and salted away a win with its running game, but that\u2019s one of the very few blemishes on the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of an elite 2025 Buckeye defense. Spoiler: There are lots of As on this report card.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tRELATED Grading Ohio State\u2019s 2025 Offense Position-By-Position<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \tDefensive Line<\/p>\n \tGrade: A-<\/p>\n \t \n\tGreat defenses start with a great defensive line. Ohio State\u2019s four-man front set the tone for great performances.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMcDonald had one of the greatest seasons ever by a Buckeye defensive tackle. His stats are downright unbelievable for a nose guard. He racked up 65 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. A unanimous first-team All-American, McDonald was the only defensive player among the three finalists for the Outland Trophy, given annually to the nation\u2019s best interior lineman or linebacker.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAn immaculate season from a true space-devourer. However much stock one puts into Pro Football Focus grades, McDonald was the highest-graded run defender in the entire country, regardless of position, at 91.2.\n<\/p>\n \n\tNone of that should overshadow Caden Curry\u2019s season at defensive end. He finally got his shot to start as a senior after two years as a quality backup to Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau \u2013 Curry and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. both, though Jackson still has a year remaining \u2013 and made the most of it. Curry collected 11 sacks,\u00a04.5 more than any other defender on Ohio State\u2019s roster, to go with 66 total tackles and a team-high 16.5 TFL. His best outing came at Washington, where he recorded 11 tackles, five TFL and three sacks.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tJackson played sound football opposite Curry at defensive end, improving as the year progressed. He produced the second-most quarterback pressures on the team, per PFF, trailing Curry\u2019s 46 by one at 45. Jackson totaled 28 tackles with 11 TFL and 6.5 sacks.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe three-technique defensive tackle position next to McDonald featured an interesting saga. Eddrick Houston entered his sophomore season as a five-star prospect with designs of breaking out at the spot, but an injury that cost him development time in preseason camp, and he struggled to start the year. There was a three-game stretch between the Grambling State, Ohio and Washington contests where he had more penalties (three) than tackles (two). Redshirt senior Tywone Malone Jr. overtook Houston for the starting job in the second of those games.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMalone proved dependable, finishing the year with 26 tackles. Houston continued rotating and regained his footing, particularly in a three-tackle, one-sack day against Penn State. He started at three-tech for the first time since Week 2 in the CFP quarterfinals. He got to Hurricane quarterback Carson Beck for 1.5 sacks.\n<\/p>\n \n\tUnfortunately, PFF also gave Houston his worst run-defense grade of the season at 46.2 against Miami, and the eye test of film review agreed \u2013 at least the set of eyes staring at a smudged ASUS laptop screen writing this article. Couple another dominant outing from McDonald (eight tackles and a TFL) with the fact that Miami still rushed for 153 yards and had a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that included 52 rushing yards to ice its win in the fourth quarter, and clearly, the three-technique DT position was a pain point for the Buckeyes against a game Hurricane offensive line.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThat semifinal-clinching series and Miami\u2019s 5.1 yards per carry in the second half also exposed a general lack of depth for Ohio State\u2019s defensive line, a debt that didn\u2019t come due until the Cotton Bowl. Freshman Zion Grady ended up as the Buckeyes\u2019 next-best defensive end option behind Curry and Jackson. Will Smith Jr. had a solid season (20 tackles) as McDonald\u2019s backup, but the staff only entrusted him with eight snaps vs. the Hurricanes.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOverall, an incredible season for Larry Johnson\u2019s Rushmen. But they got gassed at the very end.\n<\/p>\n \tLinebackers<\/p>\n \tGrade: A<\/p>\n \t \n\tIt\u2019s hard to do much better than two first-team All-Americans as your two starters at the linebacker position. That\u2019s what Ohio State had in Styles and\u00a0Reese in 2025.\n<\/p>\n \n\tStyles completed a wonderful four-year journey from high school reclassification to start his college career a year early through an up-and-down 2023 campaign at safety, to a position change and a slow start to 2024 at linebacker that saw rapid improvement before emerging as one of the nation\u2019s best defenders in 2025. He collected a team-high 82 tackles with 6.5 TFL, one sack, an interception and three pass breakups in his senior season.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe most impressive stat associated with Styles is that he didn\u2019t miss a single tackle during the regular season or in the Big Ten Championship Game, per PFF. He didn\u2019t finish the season perfect on his takedowns, however, after missing two tackle attempts of powerful Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. in the CFP quarterfinals. But the team captain and Block \u201cO\u201d jersey recipient<\/a> held the gunpowder within the Silver Bullets together.\n<\/p>\n \n\tReese emerged as a game-wrecking chess piece for Patricia to deploy in myriad spots throughout the season. He played traditional off-ball linebacker, lined up on the end of the line of scrimmage and in B-gap or A-gap to confuse offensive fronts. Forklifting 300-pound offensive tackles from the start of the season, he racked up 69 tackles with 10 TFL and 6.5 sacks. His production trailed off in the second half of the season, with just eight combined tackles in games nine\u00a0through 13 for Ohio State, but he had seven tackles vs. Miami.\n<\/p>\n \n\tPayton Pierce provided great production as the team\u2019s No. 3 linebacker, recording 43 tackles, 1.5 TFL, an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble that came on a perfect Peanut Punch against the Hurricanes. Freshman Riley Pettijohn, a five-star prospect, flashed in his brief opportunities off the bench.\n<\/p>\n \n\tJames Laurinaitis has emerged as one of the best linebacker coaches in the country. All-in-all, a banner year at the position.\n<\/p>\n \tSafeties<\/p>\n \tGrade: A+<\/p>\n \t \n\tDowns is one of the best safeties ever to lace his cleats for the Scarlet and Gray. He joins the company of greats like Mike Doss, Jack Tatum, Donte Whitner, Malik Hooker and Mike Sensibaugh. But for a moment, we need to ponder on the season sophomore first-year starter Jaylen McClain had at Downs\u2019 right hand.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMcClain might have been listed as Ohio State\u2019s strong safety, but he filled all the roles of an elite back-end sweeper when needed. He commanded fear in the passing game. He cleaned up any runs that leaked through. Per PFF, he allowed a mere 15 receptions for 84 yards and no touchdowns on 27 targets in pass coverage. That\u2019s 3.1 yards per target. The nation\u2019s worst passing offense, UMass, blew that figure out of the water in yards per pass attempt at 4.8. Staggering coverage numbers, the best among the Buckeyes\u2019 entire secondary, in fact.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn the traditional counting stats, McClain posted 53 tackles and three PBUs. He only missed four tackles all year, and only one across Ohio State\u2019s final eight games. And he can lay the lumber.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tDowns landed his second unanimous first-team All-American selection and took home the Jim Thorpe Award<\/a> as the nation\u2019s best defensive back. The past two seasons, his deployment and impact across Ohio State\u2019s defense have fueled its success. He stayed versatile in Patricia\u2019s scheme, with 240 snaps at deep safety, 241 in the box and 146 as a slot defender in 2025. He piled up 68 tackles, five TFL, a sack, two interceptions, two PBUs and two forced fumbles. He allowed just 26 receptions for 171 yards in 39 pass coverage targets (4.4 yards per target). And he probably wins Defensive MVP of the Cotton Bowl if Ohio State triumphs over Miami;\u00a0he flew around the field for eight tackles and two forced fumbles against the Hurricanes in his curtain call.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe quality of Ohio State\u2019s depth at safety, headlined by Leroy Roker III and Faheem Delane (now of LSU),<\/a> largely remained a mystery despite some use in dime packages by Roker whenever starting nickel Lorenzo Styles Jr. was hurt. But it\u2019s a mystery that didn\u2019t need solving. No notes on the play of the Buckeyes\u2019 two deep safeties.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tCornerbacks<\/p>\n \tGrade: B+<\/p>\n \t \n\tThe only thing costing Ohio State\u2019s cornerbacks an A-grade, which would complete a sweep for the defense\u2019s report card, is a few costly coverage losses against Indiana and Miami. Outside that, it was an excellent season from the Buckeyes\u2019 cornerbacks, including slot corner Lorenzo Styles Jr.\n<\/p>\n \n\tDavison Igbinosun cut back on his penalties after being college football\u2019s most-flagged defender in 2024, penalized just five times on the year with none against Indiana or Miami. As in 2024, he was one of the nation\u2019s best corners when he kept his coverage clean, and he did it far more often in his senior season. Opposing quarterbacks had an anemic 47.8% completion rate when targeting Igbinosun. He allowed just 4.5 yards per target, making a third Ohio State defender that turned passing offenses less efficient than the nation\u2019s worst, UMass, when targeted.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s no wonder the Buckeyes finished the season as the No. 1 pass defense in passing yards allowed per game (129.7) and No. 2 in yards per pass attempt allowed (5.3).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe former Ole Miss Rebel finished his final collegiate campaign with 53 tackles, two interceptions and a team-high eight PBUs. With 157 tackles combined in his three seasons with the Buckeyes, he also goes down as one of the best run-defending corners in recent Ohio State memory.\n<\/p>\n \n\tJermaine Mathews Jr. started opposite Igbinosun and finished the year with 26 tackles, a sack, two interceptions and three PBUs. His season got off to a roaring start with an interception against Texas, and he created two turnovers starting at nickel for the first time when Styles was out with injury vs. Illinois. But two subpar performances against Indiana and Miami will leave a sour flavor lingering in Mathews\u2019 mouth for his senior year in 2026.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAll eight combined targets of Mathews by the Hoosiers and Hurricanes were completed for a total of 108 yards. That included Elijah Sarratt\u2019s go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter of the Big Ten title game, Indiana\u2019s eventual game-winner.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tTOUCHDOWN INDIANA<\/p>\n WHAT A THROW BY FERNANDO MENDOZA @IndianaFootball<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7TsAQvWRbv<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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