Ohio St. can enhance resume, knock Spartans out of East race

Along the same lines, what do you see as MSU’s biggest vulnerability against OSU?

On the field, MI State is tied for the third best turnover margin in the nation at +13.

AK:The secondary has got to show up bigger than they have yet for MSU to have a chance.

Cook will make an attempt at playing, but no one knows just how well he can perform especially against such a strong defense as Ohio State has. “I’m not rooting for Ohio State”. By the time it became clear Harris was going to Alabama, Scott, the nation’s seven-ranked rusher, had been committed to Spartan coach Mark Dantonio for more than six months.

The OddsShark Computer is projecting a 41.6-25.4 Ohio State victory, but the Buckeyes’ lack of offensive finish could make for a tighter game. Cook is an OH native who wasn’t recruited by the Buckeyes, and the Spartans can’t afford for him to be less than excellent on Saturday. Normally the plan works out, because most OH kids dream of playing for the Buckeyes. When it doesn’t, it’s usually because the MSU already has him locked up.

“With the guys that we have on our team from MI when we play the University of MI, so it’s just going to be that much more fun and just provide that much more motivation for me to go out there and leave it all on the line”.

“I think people are still unsure of what we got”, running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “Lot of respect for the way they play, and their personnel because they’re outstanding”. “They want to measure up to their family and friends, because that’s where they’re from”.

But if Oklahoma wins out and Notre Dame has an impressive finish AND Ohio State looks lackluster against Sparty and/or Little Brother, and then in the B1G title game, there is no guarantee OSU will be among the final four. The 6-foot, 185-pounder had been committed to Ohio State but reopened his recruitment.

On the other side of the ball, the Buckeyes improved much against the Illini. “I want to beat them at the end”, Hutchinson said. He remained at MSU until 2001 when he was reunited with his Youngstown boss Jim Tressel to serve as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator, helping lead the team to the National Championship in 2002, in case you didn’t know. Are you going to prove them wrong?’

Connor Cook was talking plenty about his shoulder Tuesday, a day after Ohio State’s players and coaches were talking about winning. Their rushing average for opponents over the last three weeks is by far the best in the FBS in that time period.

Urban Meyer says the deciding factor in today’s Ohio State-Michigan State game will be which team controls the line of scrimmage. Even if Cook plays, I’m not sure that he and the rest of the Spartans offence can play at a high enough level to overcome a very, very good OSU defence.

Of course, cheering for the Buckeyes against the Spartans would be choosing the lesser of two evils. Should both MI and Ohio State prevail, it will set up a winner-take-all matchup next weekend in Ann Arbor for the Big Ten East crown.

Two seasons ago in the Big Ten championship game, MI State held Ohio State’s Braxton Miller to eight completions, but with Barrett at quarterback last season, the Buckeyes unleashed all of their speed and power. “It also wasn’t always about football”. But most importantly for MI State, there’s the realization there is still a path to the conference title and a spot in the playoffs. It just all made sense to me.