Ohio State holds on to beat Northwestern 24-20

It has been a tough week for the Ohio State Buckeyes as they work to come back from a close loss on the road to Penn State.

And fans booed. Booed the Buckeyes and this offense. No. 2 MI (7-0, 4-0) is up next and the rival is favored to win by more than three touchdowns Saturday at Spartan Stadium. C’mon, couldn’t the Buckeyes have played their B-game this week? Alabama, last season’s College Football Playoff national champion, lost to Ole Miss before going on a 12-game winning streak ending in yet another title for Nick Saban. Barrett threw a 34-yard pass to K.J. Hill.

Even though the defense managed to play better in the second half, tackling was still a problem.

A talented, yet still young Buckeye team who was undoubtedly worn out both physically and mentally from the challenge of playing two good Big Ten teams on the road finally collapsed.

“I basically said, ‘This is why we came here”. I’ve been in a lot of places where that’s happened and there’s a lot of “woe is me” by the coach.

“We had two chances to get stops on long third downs, and we didn’t get it done”, he said. Northwestern finished the game eight for 16 on third-down conversions.

The players began to rally, this game was in no way out of reach, thoughts began to creep in of actually taking down the No. 1 team in the nation that was Ohio State. The offense got the ball on its own 6-yard line, and moved the ball easily down the field, spreading it out to four different players.

There’s still plenty to be frustrated about from last week’s loss to Penn State. That’s kind of nuts, because outside of Alabama, no team is more talented than the roster Meyer has managed to assemble. One of the team’s most dynamic offense weapons, he is among the Big Ten leaders in all-purpose yards.

Based on resume and talent, I think the Buckeyes are one of the five-best teams in America (it’s some combination of them, Michigan, Alabama, Washington, and Clemson). It didn’t matter. Three plays later, Thorson found Dickerson in the end zone to tie the game at 17.

That is the exact message we want to leave you with this weekend, when you walk into Spartan Stadium this weekend keep your head held high, it doesn’t matter that the Wolverines are a three score favorite to win the game.

Northwestern comes into this game with some momentum, as the Wildcats have won three straight following a 24-14 win over Indiana. Macan Wilson complimented for 32 yards and a touchdown. All of this is even more impressive considering the struggles in the passing game allow opposing defenses to load the box to slow down the rushing attack. With Barrett at the helm, Meyer often relies upon his quarterback, especially in short-yardage situations, to run the ball.

Northwestern has 18 sacks as a team on the year, which is actually 2 more than the Buckeyes. I talk to my wife and we talk about things. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight this whole week”. Mike Weber had 87 yards on 14 carries and Curtis Samuel caught 7 passes for 68 yards and rushed for 31 yards on 7 carries.

“We’ll reflect some other time”, Meyer told Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch, referencing the loss to PSU and moving on. We do the best we can to prevent it.

Starting Ohio State wide receiver Parris Campbell left the game after he was injured blocking for Samuel in the fourth quarter. Campbell got rolled up, and appeared to hurt his ankle on the play. A key holding call against the Wildcats and stout coverage limited the damage, as OSU only surrendered a field goal.

How will the young Ohio State team respond after their first loss of the season? The Wildcats are making their first visit to Ohio Stadium (3:30 p.m. kickoff) since 2007.