The stakes: No. 1 Ohio State travels to No. 4/5 Texas for a rematch of last year’s 14-7 Buckeyes win in Columbus. Both defenses were on cruise control in Week 1 blowouts (OSU beat Ball State 56-3, Texas beat Texas State 59-7), so this is the first test for each unit.

Ohio State Defense: Matt Patricia’s Year Two, Reloaded

Patricia is replacing eight starters, including three first-round-caliber NFL departures and Ryan Day has been consistent that the defensive identity won’t change much scheme-wise even with new faces.

Front: Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Beau Atkinson start at the two edge spots, with Eddrick Houston and James Smith/John Walker rotating inside. Freshman Epi Sitanilei got the lone sack in Week 1.

Linebackers: Payton Pierce and Christian Alliegro (or Riley Pettijohn) are new starters at Mike/Will — Pettijohn led the team with 6 tackles in the opener, and TJ Alford added an interception.

Secondary: This is the most retooled group — Devin Sanchez and Jermaine Mathews Jr. at corner, Jaylen McClain and Earl Little Jr. at safety, and true freshman Jay Timmons impressively started at nickel, breaking up two passes in his debut.

Season stats through Week 1: 3.0 PPG allowed (10th nationally), 165 total YPG (20th), 45 rush YPG (18th), 120 pass YPG (37th).

Texas Defense — Will Muschamp’s Aggressive Unit

Texas made a coordinator change from Pete Kwiatkowski to Will Muschamp, who’s built what Sarkisian calls an “in-your-face” scheme. This unit returns more star power than Ohio State’s.

Edge rusher Colin Simmons is the headliner. He was the SEC sack leader in 2025 (12 sacks, 21 for his career), a projected 2027 first-rounder, and already talking trash about “business to be taken care of” against OSU. He’ll work against Ohio State’s rebuilt tackle duo of Phillip Daniels and Austin Siereveld/Ian Moore.

Linebacker Rasheem Biles, a Pittsburgh transfer (and Columbus, Ohio native who spurned OSU in recruiting), steps in as the unit’s “alpha” at Mike — he had a forced fumble in Week 1 that set up a scoop and score.

Safety Jelani McDonald anchors the back end — he led the team in tackles and interceptions in 2025 and is an All-SEC-caliber piece, alongside emerging nickel Graceson Littleton (59-yard fumble-return TD in Week 1).

Interior line: Hero Kanu (a key player who chose to return for his senior year) and transfer nose tackle Ian Geffrard give Texas beef up front, with Alex January flashing a batted pass in Week 1.

Season stats through Week 1: 7.0 PPG allowed (25th nationally), but a surprisingly modest 349 total YPG allowed (79th), 161 rush YPG allowed (101st), 188 pass YPG allowed (70th) — numbers skewed a bit by Texas State’s garbage-time production in the blowout.

Head-To-Head

Last year in this same series, Texas’s defense outplayed Ohio State’s offense — holding Heisman-caliber WR Jeremiah Smith to just 6 catches/43 yards — while Ohio State’s defense (Downs, Sawyer, Igbinosun and company) shut down Arch Manning (170 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) in the 14-7 win. Both defenses were the story, not the offenses.

This year, Ohio State has to replace nearly all of that elite defensive talent, while Texas returns the most dangerous player from that game (Simmons) and adds proven transfers (Biles) around a strong safety in McDonald. On paper, Texas enters with the more battle-tested, higher-ceiling defense; Ohio State’s is a bit of an unknown quantity that flashed talent (Timmons, Sitanilei, Alford).

Defensive line: Texas advantage, mainly because of Colin Simmons, but Hero Kanu and Ian Geffrard make them elite in the trenches.

Linebackers: Texas slight advantage, mainly due to experience. Biles, Cryer and Spence are a great trio and while OSU is plenty talented, they will look to get up to speed quickly.

Defensive Secondary: Ohio State advantage. This one is close, but Devin Sanchez is just that good, and when you add in Jermaine Matthews Jr., the talent of Timmons, and McClain/Little at safety, OSU slightly edges out the Texas secondary led by Jelani McDonald and Kobe Black.

Overall, these two defenses are very close overall, and both have the talent to be elite. I’ll give a very slight edge to Texas’s defensive unit, mainly because of Simmons nad the overall experience.

We’ll be back Friday with an offensive preview, and then back again on Saturday with a full game preview!