MI State’s Cook does not start vs. No. 2 Ohio State

Ohio State finished the game with 132 yards of total offense. The conservative attack bogged down from the beginning and became so predictable as to take any guesswork out of ascertaining what OSU was trying to do.

Texas-Arlington’s Kevin Hervey, left, drives against Ohio State’s… Had they not forced two turnovers and committed none, Sparty would have beaten them by double digits.

UT-Arlington: The Mavericks shot only 61 percent from the charity stripe in their first two games, but they made 19 of 22 (86 percent) against the Buckeyes. With no good wins, and without a conference championship game win, it is very unlikely the Buckeyes will make the Playoff for the second straight year.

The Spartans could look back with regret on a huge penalty in the second quarter that negated a MI State touchdown.

The Ohio State Buckeyes haven’t proven anything, but this game against MI State will show how they are built to be the best.

After hurting his shoulder and leaving the game last week, Connor Cook will be under center for the Spartans.

“I think we maybe had a couple of opportunities, but it just was obviously tough conditions to throw the ball”, OSU coach Urban Meyer said.

Former President of the United States Bill Clinton was in Columbus earlier this week to give a speech at Ohio State, and while he was in town Clinton visited with the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes at practice. The Spartans are now getting 71 percent of the wagers with the 14-point spread at Ohio State today.

The Buckeyes don’t have much time remaining to shore up such issues, and against the MI State front seven, they could be exposed.

On third-and-eight from MI State’s 44-yard line, Spartans quarterback Damion Terry was sacked by freshman defensive lineman Sam Hubbard.

MI State isn’t taking the game lightly.

Injuries have hurt MI State in the secondary this season – another factor that’s surely contributing to the sizable pointspread in Ohio State’s favor – but the Buckeyes haven’t looked quite as sharp as they did during their title run a year ago.

O’Connor then hit fullback Trevon Pendleton on a wheel route for 12 yards to tie the score at 7 with 7:57 left until halftime.

Now the Spartans have only a home game against an average Penn State between it and a berth in the Big Ten title game against unbeaten Iowa. Unbelievably, just three of those carries came in a second half in which the Buckeyes either led or were tied for all 30 minutes.

“It hurts, just because of how we lost”, Elliott said. However, the Spartans have covered in the lone game they were an underdog this season, at MI.