Ohio State Football: Buckeyes owe themselves a clean victory vs. Illinois
By Willie Lutz
Playoff contention returned to the realm of possibility in Columbus last weekend, so Ohio State shouldn’t give committee voters things to worry about against Illinois.
Last weekend was an incredibly good one for Ohio State football. Not only did they redeem their ugly loss to Iowa two weeks ago, they crushed a solid team. Beating then No. 12 Michigan State 48-3 was huge for the program, but a clean win over 2-8 Illinois should be a standard operating procedure.
The Iowa loss, the Iowa loss, the Iowa loss.
Despite the fact that the Buckeyes are No. 9 in the country and in solid position for a playoff run, the Iowa loss lingers heavily. While this game should be the easiest left on the slate, there’s a certain amount of trust issues with this team. However, a lot of that starts with the quarterback.
JT Barrett needs to control this game much like he did against the Spartans. Granted, Barrett threw two picks in the game but never lost his poise in the victory.
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This offense starts and ends with JT Barrett; he commands the entire aerial assault, plus his option runs open-up JK Dobbins and Mike Weber on the ground. Barrett cannot struggle against a team allowing 403 yards of offense per game.
Furthermore, this defense needs to play under control. This is something they’ve been able to do in big moments, but until last Saturday they had yet to prove they could do it against a good team. Illinois is not a good team but this defense needs reps of perfection.
The Fighting Illini are 0-7 in conference and all but one of those games were double-digit losses. This is an opportunity to get starters off the field early and get younger guys reps.
If nothing else, the Buckeyes need to play good, clean football against a team below their talent level. With Michigan and potentially No. 5 Wisconsin still ahead, the Buckeyes need to stay healthy.
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No one needs to get ejected so players had better not lead with their heads, and no one needs to leave on a cart. This needs to be a walk-thru for Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes since they are on the playoff bubble.