How the Big Ten will be won

This is one of those rare weeks. He mentioned how the team came back after last year’s loss to Virginia Tech. The solution, of course, is football (and college basketball). After underachieving seasons, MI saved its best for Ohio State the past three years.

When Ohio State plays MI for the 112th time, Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh will begin a chapter in perhaps college football’s greatest rivalry.

“We can’t dwell on that, because if we dwell on that we’ll go up there and lay an egg”, he said. “I think the public is going to be on MI”.

Growing up in Western New York I didn’t really have an idea on just how big the rivalry was until around 2002 when I was looking at college options. The Nittany Lions linebackers, however, have not been a strength overall – factoring into Ohio State’s ability to rush for 315 yards on Penn State earlier this season. It was only a last-second miscue on special teams that prevented the Wolverines topping their in-state rivals and remaining unbeaten in the Big Ten.

Where We’re Leaning: Putting the huge rivalry aspect aside, this is a textbook example of a team that’s under-achieved for an entire season versus a team that’s over-achieved all year.

Las Vegas says: Michigan State is an 11-point favorite.

OSU running back Ezekiel Elliott didn’t get many touches last week, but that should not be the case against the Wolverines. But it’s not often that the Buckeyes are trying to bounce back against MI.

Most of the so-called experts predicted Harbaugh would be lucky to win eight games in his first season on the sideline in Ann Arbor.

Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions have skid down a two-game losing streak, losing to Northwestern 23-21 and then to MI 28-16 on their home turf last weekend.

On the other end of the spectrum, Jim Tressel has entered “hero” level status in Buckeye fans’ hearts.

For those of you who don’t know what a Buckeye is – not in the Ohio State context – it’s a tough nut to crack.

Meyer said, “Got to move forward”. “The Buckeyes have not played great all season, so it raises some question marks”.

“It’s been really good”. The Spartans are also a veteran team that knows full-well just what is at stake when they host the Lions on Saturday. Ohio State gives up 1.5 sacks per game. However, previous year against the Spartans Hackenberg completed just 46 percent of his 45 pass attempts for 195 yards while firing an interception and absorbing three sacks.

What they got instead was a human being.

Bruce Marshall, a handicapper for The Gold Sheet, said the departure of Tom Herman, the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, was a major loss.

And I plan on finishing the season even stronger, so as you prepare yourselves for your Thanksgiving feast, treat yourself to this bounty of picks I offer you first.

It combines that run game with a better quarterback than Baylor has in Mayfield, and Oklahoma has a better defense than anybody else in the Big 12. When he finds a star quarterback, and he will find one, watch out. “Rudock has turned into a very serviceable QB”. Ohio State’s quarterback “controversy” and the loss of receiver Devin Smith probably hindered it from being the team it was a year ago.

The rivalry has been lopsided in recent years – Meyer is 3-0 and the Buckeyes have won 10 of the past 11 – and lost its luster because of that. Beanie Wells going for 222 yards on 39 carries in 2007. the 35-point victory in 2008, which was the biggest win for Ohio State since 1968.

The game this week at Oklahoma State could mean the difference in playing in the playoffs or receiving a bid to another bowl and causing more confusion to the selection process altogether. “It’s a great thing, brings a lot of people together and makes great memories, but it’s a very stressful thing, especially at a place like this where eyes are on you 24-7”. But I also had four losers.