MI State stuns Ohio State

Saturday wasn’t a total loss for the state of OH, despite MI State’s last-second 17-14 victory over No. 2 Ohio State. If the season were over right now, it would be safe to say Ohio State wouldn’t be in after the Buckeyes were exposed in a 17-14 loss to MI State.

It was easy to think Ohio State was on its way to a relatively easy victory. The Spartans just knocked off the defending national champions with two backup quarterbacks, and they still have a potential big-ticket game against Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game assuming they take care of business against the Nittany Lions.

The 6-0, 225-pound Elliott ran for 1,878 yards en route to winning the MVP in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game previous year and entered the MI State game with 15 straight 100 yard games, which was snapped vs. MI State, and 1,425 yards, trailing only Leonard Fournette and Derrick Henry.

9 Spartans kicked off to the No. 2 Buckeyes in front of an Ohio Stadium record crowd of 108,975 Saturday, the only question in most minds was of margin, not result – how ugly would this get? And Ohio State never did much to challenge the Spartans.

Ohio State’s only touchdowns came after MI State turnovers gave it a short field. MI State responded after each one with a 75-yard touchdown drive.

MI State’s lone loss on the year is by a point to Nebraska and has already beat in-state rival MI on a unusual muffed punt play as time expired. And he certainly didn’t sound like a player with anything to lose with Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer. When you start playing field position like that – been in a couple of situations in my career where you’re in a blizzard. “And if they do key in on one of us, it gives somebody else the opportunity to have a big game”.

“You turn the ball over five times… and even have a chance to win the game, that’s a credit to that group”, Badgers coach Paul Chryst said. Both previously undefeated teams will no longer have playoff chances.

Their play was lackluster at best. “I don’t think MI State was better than us”.

“Our offensive line dominated the whole game”, said Tyler O’Connor. They led Ohio State in time of possession 38 minutes to 22 and the Spartans had 17 first downs to 5 for the Buckeyes. “So we could chase this game, so we could play with emotion”.

Connor Cook out at quarterback for MI State at the ‘Shoe?

“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”. Three plays later, he faked two handoffs and threw a flawless ball to fullback Trevon Pendleton, who stretched to hit the pylon and score a tying 12-yard touchdown. In the second half, he had two carries for three yards.

“I really do. I can’t speak for the play calling”.

Cook, 32-4 as a starter, hopes to rebound from his sprained shoulder in time for the Penn State game. “And obviously the next two games we have are big, big-time games, and that’s human nature to say we see what’s coming”. 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. I just want to thank Buckeye nation for making this place so special, “Elliott said”.