Ohio State's Matt Patricia hints at new defensive recipe against Miami

The Ohio State Buckeyes are just days away from the official start of their national championship defense as their playoff matchup against the Miami Hurricanes is the first of four bowl games to be played in the quarterfinals.

After the Buckeyes 13-10 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship game, Ohio State’s attention quickly shifted from the postgame blues to a bye-week reset as they looked to refine their game plan going forward. The conversation out of Columbus are that Ohio State’s defense is looking to extinguish the Hurricane’s red-hot offense in what should be an exciting game from start to finish.

The discussion stems from comments that Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia made at the Cotton Bowl media day, as he reiterated taking care of business up front while also adding in potential ‘new looks’ on defense.

Sounds like Matt Patricia cooking up something new for Miami’s Offense. pic.twitter.com/SD5PTOIBpN
— Grant Speaks (@GrantSpeaks1) December 29, 2025

“We’re going to have to do a great job up front and make sure we handle those guys,” Patricia said. “We might have a few new things that we haven’t seen, we’ll just have to wait till the game to see those,” he shared in response to a question regarding if Patricia will include those new looks fans haven’t seen yet against Miami.

While Patricia may not have directly commented on Miami’s offense, his words shed light into what the Buckeyes have been preparing for over their multiple weeks break they have had after earning the second seed in the College Football Playoffs.

During the 2025 season, Ohio State’s defense has been as good as it gets, ranking first in the nation by only surrendering an impressive 8.2 points against per game. Relative to those nation leading statistics, opponents have only recorded an average of 129 passing yards in addition to the 84.5 rushing yards per game, which also ranks amongst the best in the nation.

The Miami Hurricanes offense is no easy task by any means, as they’ve proven to be one of the more electrifying groups in college football in 2025. They made it clear they wanted to contend this season, led by their stout defense that features a plentiful amount of future NFL talent according to recent 2026 mock drafts.

However, on offense they are as efficient as it comes, averaging 262.5 passing yards to go along with the 151.9 rushing yards per game, totaling 3,413 passing and 1,975 rushing yards. Their per game averages nearly double what the Buckeyes have given up in each of their 13 games played.

If Ohio State hopes to advance to the semifinals, they’ll likely need to use some of those ‘new looks’ on defense to create some confusion on Miami’s side of the ball and showcase their own arsenal of future NFL talent they possess on their defense.

The Goodyear Cotton Bowl takes place this Wednesday on New Year’s Eve at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Kickoff is currently set for 7:30 p.m. EST.