The intelligence of Matt Patricia's defense; is this the best Ohio State defense this century? And Bo Jackson, tackle breaker: Mailbag

Bill and Doug answer questions from Substack subscribers about the Ohio State defense, Caden Curry, Eddrick Houston and Bo Jackson.

The Ohio State defense led by coordinator Matt Patricia is allowing the fewest points per game in the nation. (Photo courtesy of Ohio State)

COLUMBUS — There were so many good questions for the Sunday Soundoff after Ohio State’s 24-6 win over Washington that we couldn’t get to them all. We focused that conversation on the Buckeyes’ offense, so this mailbag covers mostly the OSU defense, fueled once again by your questions and comments.

Both Bill and Doug provide answers here.

I think there should be a real conversation in how much Matt Patricia’s experience in the NFL helps with game planning for great QBs. It feels like this defense is playing with a lot of intelligence and doesn’t allow QBs to make heroic plays. No shade to Jim Knowles, but I have never seen a defense play this almost professionally for OSU. — Hazard

Bill: There just aren’t many college quarterbacks who are going to discern Patricia’s disguises well. We’ll see if it’s any different when Ohio State faces more experienced college quarterbacks — Luke Altmyer at Illinois in two weeks, Drew Allar at Penn State in November.

So far, Patricia has faced two guys on the more inexperienced side in OSU’s two biggest games, Texas’ Arch Manning and Washington’s Demond Williams Jr., and given them fits. I’m thinking the success will continue. The ability to run as much and disguise as much as Patricia does only goes as far as the ability of Ohio State’s defensive players to handle the game plan.