Big Ten Power Rankings Week 4: Michigan State Claims Top Spot

Ohio State’s 20-13 victory in front of an uneasy Ohio Stadium crowd gave serious pause to anyone who assumed the 2015 Buckeyes would resemble the juggernaut that won last year’s College Football Playoff.

Meyer wasn’t prepared to say who would start this week but acknowledged that it needed to be addressed.

“I think the great defenses learn from their mistakes”, Folliard said.

Prediction: After struggling on the offensive side of the ball, Ohio State will get that bounce-back game, and I do mean it this time.

Jones went to the bench in the second quarter. J.T. Barrett came in and replaced Jones, but he wasn’t much better save for a big time throw to Michael Thomas for a touchdown.

Besides, these games won’t matter in December as long as Ohio State continues to win.

The Huskies cut the lead to 20-13 on a field goal with 7:46 left in the fourth quarter and had two possessions where they could have tied it with a touchdown.

Coach Urban Meyer said he might commit to one quarterback instead of playing both.

I’d love to sit here and write that the Buckeyes were almost upset by an overachieving NIU squad, but that just isn’t the case. You also see it in substandard offensive line play.

Northern Illinois (2-1) switched from its normal 4-3 defense to a 3-4, which had the desired effect. “Obviously everybody is going to play odd against us now, we’ve showed that we struggle against it….”

Nickel position: Co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash said he could not comment of the specifics regarding defensive back Damon Webb’s suspension, but said, “Damon was playing well for us”. It took an interception return for a touchdown by OSU linebacker Darron Lee to put the game away. Picking a starter and showing a bit more patience is probably the easiest way to solve a problem that is bogging down arguably one of the most talented offenses in the nation.

If an offense is a complex machine which needs all its parts working together and it’s not just the quarterbacks, what are some of the other possible reasons OSU’s offense has done so much less than expected lately? “Shawun is always around the ball and he made the plays”. Three plays later, NIU took a 7-0 lead on Turner’s 5-yard touchdown run to the corner. Tommy Armstrong threw four TD passes, three in the final 8:36 for Nebraska (1-2) – rallying his team from a 33-10 deficit after Miami had two safeties ejected for targeting. After Elliott had some success on the ground, the offense settled for a field goal on their first drive of the second half and then Barrett threw an interception on their second drive.

A team that thrived on home run-hitting plays past year had two plays of 20 yards or longer against Northern Illinois, the same number it had last week against Hawaii. That’s how it is for defending champions.

Game time: Ohio State announced the time of its game at Indiana on October 3.

“I didn’t even look”, he said.

Coming into the game, the Buckeyes were a 34.5 favorite over the Huskies, but the showdown proved to be the complete opposite. In week 2, Jones did not register a touchdown and was held to 111 yards passing on 18 attempts by Hawaii. The offense that looked unstoppable in the opener at Virginia Tech has been nowhere to be found.

And perhaps most important, Meyer has tabbed him to start all three games so far, suggesting that Jones has maintained his lead on the practice field and established himself as Ohio State’s best option when the public isn’t watching and evaluating.