Either MI or Ohio State will become Big Ten East

On a rainy and windy day at Ohio Stadium, the Spartans (10-1, 6-1 Big Ten) took control of the Big Ten East, put themselves into the thick of the playoff hunt and very likely ended the Buckeyes’ chances to repeat as national champs.

Terry is the rushing specialist, but it was O’Connor who ran for 11 yards on a fourth-and-3 on the game-tying touchdown drive. Ironically, MI State can not win an outright Big Ten East Division title, even if they go 6-0 in the East (which is what would happen if the Spartans beat Penn State on Saturday), thanks to their loss to Nebraska (who is in the West).

It’s a valid question, and one echoed by anybody who has watched Ohio State for oh, about 90 seconds over the last two seasons. Their two scores came on turnovers, but after that, the Buckeyes offense didn’t do much. For the first time in a long time, Ohio State did not have a response.

Center Jacoby Boren said playing the Wolverines is more important than Elliott’s comments and that the loss to MI State doesn’t change anything.

NOTES: Ohio State RB Ezekiel Elliott was held to 33 yards and had his consecutive streak of 100-yard games stopped at 15…. They had only one running play that gained as many as 10 yards and a 16-yard Barrett to Jalin Marshall throw in the first quarter was the only pass completion of more than five yards.

“We can not lose sight”, Dantonio said. “They weren’t. But we didn’t execute”.

Following Ohio State’s demoralizing loss against MI State, head coach Urban Meyer was understandably disappointed.

“Seemed like we were backed up a lot”, Meyer said. “When you have that, you have a little chip on your shoulder and play a little bit better“.

The Buckeyes had only 45 offensive plays, 24 fewer than their average this season. They are certainly looking better in the eyes of the Playoff Committee’.

“We’ll have some momentum, we’ll call some plays that work, and then we kind of try to get away from it, try to get cute and run some other stuff”, Elliott said after the game. Those things are more appropriately deal with in-house, but he’s got his rights like everybody else.

The Spartans marched 75 yards on 13 plays, no completed passes but a helpful offside on Ohio State, and Gerald Holmes reached the ball over the goal line for a 2-yard touchdown to tie at 14 with 12:03 left.

Quarterback Cardale Jones also suggested on Twitter that he would be leaving, posting a photo of himself on Twitter with the caption, “Last time walking down them steps and into The Shoe, wish the results were different tho”. I agree that it was the wrong time and place to say that I was going to leave after this year. “Our seven guys up front were dominating, pushing people around the whole game”. Next week Oklahoma has a chance to win the Big 12 with a win over Oklahoma State, Stanford has a chance to be a 2-loss team in contention if it beats Notre Dame, and then the conference title games will have a major impact the following Saturday.