Film Study: What’s in Matt Patricia’s Ohio State Playbook?

Ohio State has officially passed the quarter-pole of the 2025 regular season, meaning it’s time to answer some questions. While much of the focus has been on personnel, tracking the progress of Julian Sayin and the emergence of Arvell Reese or Bo Jackson, there was a major off-field personnel concern that many wondered about in the offseason.

Given Matt Patricia’s ties to Bill Belichick, the constantly evolving face of their Patriots defense over the years, and his transition to the college level (which his mentor has proven isn’t as easy as it sounds), we here at Film Study were just one of many who wondered what, exactly, we’d see from the Buckeye defense with its new coordinator in charge. But after three games against varying levels of talent, we can now begin to answer that question.

Here’s what we go over in this week’s video breakdown:

• How Ohio State has evolved to an Odd front defense
• The different man, zone, and match coverage schemes we’ve seen so far this season

Click the header photo above to watch the video, or head straight to YouTube.