COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson has mentored seven first-round NFL draft picks and 14 players who have won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year or Defensive Lineman of the Year.
But Johnson has never seen a single-game performance as dominant as the one his latest great pupil, Ohio State junior defensive end Chase Young, delivered Saturday in the third-ranked Buckeyes' 38-7 win over No. 13 Wisconsin on Saturday. As he left the field Saturday, Johnson told ESPN that Young's day -- four sacks, five tackles for loss, two forced fumbles -- tops his list. Several other Buckeyes coaches echoed Johnson, saying they've never seen anything like what Young did against the Badgers.
"His get-off, his speed, it's unbelievable," co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. "It's like nothing I've seen before. It's ridiculous."
Young didn't downplay what he did against Wisconsin.
"The best game I've played in my whole career," Young told ESPN. "That's the best one. I could say last year, the Penn State [game], but I played way better in this one."
Young tied Ohio State's single-game records for both sacks and tackles for loss. He also forced two fumbles for the second time this season. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound junior has 13.5 sacks in Ohio State's first eight games, just a half-sack behind Vernon Gholston's single-season team record set in 2007.
"The best I've been around," Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said. "I had a chance to see Nick Bosa last year and I coached in the NFL and saw some really good players at different times. But he is as good as I've been around, again, because he's so versatile."
Ohio State started off by moving Young to different line positions, even using him as a stand-up linebacker, in order to throw off Wisconsin's protections. Wisconsin rarely double-teamed Young, and occasionally put a tight end on him.
"I said, 'All right, let me go then, that's cool,'" Young said. "They slid [protections] to me every time."
Badgers coach Paul Chryst called Young "a heck of a football player" but said the offensive line couldn't completely ignore Ohio State's other defensive linemen in its protection schemes.
"You're trying to have protections that give whoever's with him, on him, responsible for him, some form of help," Chryst said. "A couple times we had it, we weren't successful in taking care of that. And then there's sometimes they can force it to where it still ends up being a one-on-one."
Young ended four Wisconsin drives with sacks or tackles for loss. With Ohio State up 24-7 late in the third quarter, he ended consecutive Badgers possessions with strip-sacks of quarterback Jack Coan.
The Buckeyes converted both takeaways into touchdowns, putting the game out of reach.
"You start to feel ghosts and see ghosts, especially when he's on your backside," Day said. "Are you getting the ball out fast enough? The other part is a lot of times they have to put an extra guy in protection. If they are going to go to seven men in protection, only three guys [go out for passes]. So his impact is felt throughout the game schematically."
Day had challenged Ohio State's top players to perform at their best against Wisconsin, which posed the Buckeyes' toughest test to date. Junior running back J.K. Dobbins (163 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries) and Young answered Day's charge.
"Guy played unbelievable," Hafley said of Young, "in a really big stage, in a really big game against a really good football team."
Young is widely projected to be the first non-quarterback selected -- and perhaps the first player overall -- in the 2020 NFL draft. Pro Football Focus grades him higher than any pass-rusher in years.
But Young's priority is Ohio State and making the College Football Playoff for the first time in his career.
"Every day, I'm staying focused," he said. "We want to try to get what we want, and that's to be in the playoffs."