“Whatever it takes to win the game is what we got to do,” Ryan Day said.
The Buckeyes have more going for them than any team in the nation. If they handle the questions heading into Saturday’s conference title game against Indiana, they will get to 13-0.
Columbus, OH – Questions come and go during a football season. So far, against the Big Ten, No. 1 Ohio State has the right answers, acing every quiz in the prelude to the final exam.
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Only No. 2 Indiana, the upstart of upstarts, can stop the Buckeyes from a perfect score.
The closest anyone in the Big Ten came to the 12-0 Buckeyes was 18 points – Washington, Illinois and Michigan. Conversely, 12-0 Indiana held off Iowa by five, Oregon by 10 and Penn State by three.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Odds makers favor the Buckeyes by four points in Saturday night’s Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis. Why does it feel like the Buckeyes will easily cover that point spread?
Is it because, when the Hoosiers came to Columbus last year full of hype, they left with a 38-15 tails-between-their-legs loss? Because Curt Cignetti had nothing spunky to say?
That’s part of it for sure.
However, there are questions the Buckeyes must answer to create another win of two touchdowns or more. But, like they have all season, it’s difficult to doubt they won’t comfortably pass their final conference test.
How to handle the best offense they’ve faced?
The Buckeyes have more talent. And not to take anything away from the remarkable culture Cignetti has brought to create his own brand of Hoosier hysteria, but Ryan Day’s culture is more established, stable and feared.
And so is the Matt Patricia-led defense.
The best defense in the country … Arvelle Reese and Kenyatta Jackson (above).
Caleb Downs is the Big Ten’s defensive back and defensive player of the year. Arvell Reese is the linebacker of the year. Kayden McDonald is the defensive lineman of the year.
The Buckeyes have permitted only nine touchdowns this season. Five them came in the final minute of the third quarter or later. The only one that created stress was scored by Texas in the fourth quarter.
They lead the nation in scoring defense, total defense, pass defense and are fourth in rush defense.
But here comes Indiana as the second highest-scoring team in the nation, fifth in total offense and second in third-down conversions.
The Buckeyes are confident, but overconfidence skipped their DNA.
“We just stay humble,” defensive end Kenyatta Jackson said. “We come in each and every day, we put our heads down and we work. We’re nobodys. We haven’t done nothing yet. Forget the awards. We haven’t done nothing yet. The job’s still not finished.”
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That answer comes from the chip on the D line’s shoulder because the theory before the season was that they would struggle to measure up to last year’s dominating and departed front four.
“We the rushmen,” Jackson said. “We’ve been doing it since freshman year, we’ve been getting better each and every day. I don’t know why people thought it was going to be a huge fall off, but we didn’t think that. We knew what people were saying, the critics, the outsiders. But we didn’t care.”
And they still don’t.
The Hartline news?
Kudos to Brian Hartline for landing a head coaching job. But this team has proven all season that it won’t be distracted.
Brian Hartline’s departure may create some distraction at the most important juncture of the season.
The offense, the well-tested one Day entrusted to Hartline, will be just fine with him staying with the team through the playoffs. The skill talent is overwhelming. The line play, just like last year, has gotten better each week.
“People were excited for him,” quarterback Julian Sayin said. “We’re happy that he’s elevated in his career. And we’re excited to have him for the rest of the playoff.”
Indiana statistically is the second-best defense in the nation. But they’ve not seen Ohio State’s weapons. No one else has any remotely close.
What else is there to say?
The Heisman hype?
The quarterback who wins this game should win the Heisman Trophy. Hopefully voters wait until the game is decided before casting their votes.
Ohio State’s Sayin and Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza have put up stellar numbers and been good leaders. Sayin’s record completion percentage is staggering. But if Mendoza can beat Ohio State’s defense, he deserves the trophy.
Neither will be playing to win the Heisman, though. Winning the Big Ten is all that matters. Win that and the Heisman takes care of itself. That’s why Sayin is the best bet.
“Not really focused on outside noise,” Sayin said. “We have a job to do. We have a goal to go win the Big Ten. So we’re going to focus on that as a team.”
Does being the top seed matter?
Sure it does. Who wouldn’t want the perceived easiest path to the final?
The Buckeyes had the most difficult path last year. All the teams at this stage are good, but anything less rigorous than last year will be welcomed.
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The Buckeyes want that path. And that’s extra incentive.
“As soon as we came in on Sunday everyone had that look in their eye because we haven’t won the Big Ten since 2020,” Sayin said. “We know what’s at stake.”
Bo Jackson’s ceiling?
Questions about Bo Jackson? What’s your next best option? Jackson is the Buckeyes’ #1 running threat.
The thought crossed my mind to predict a Bo Jackson postseason run akin to the one Ezekiel Elliott made in Urban Meyer’s championship season.
But I won’t.
Still, with the way the offensive line is coming together, the way Jackson ran against Michigan, the way Day and Hartline managed games to minimize the number of plays, the new Bo Jackson – as healthy and fresh as they come this time of year – could be headed for a string of 100-yard games when it matters most against the season’s best competition. He already has six 100-yard games, including three in a row.
“It’s exciting to see a true freshman that just keeps getting better and keeps growing and keeps making plays for our offense,” Sayin said. “The sky’s the limit for him.”
Forty-eight yards to reach 1,000? That and then some.
Final Jeopardy
This team, one that is primed and motivated to win it all again, will play in its record seventh Big Ten championship game and will win its sixth straight appearance.
Who is Ohio State?
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