Ohio State Football: Could demons return vs. Michigan on Saturday?
By Willie Lutz
In consecutive weeks, the Ohio State football team put prior failures behind them, but Jim Harbaugh will look to reawaken those demons.
Two weeks ago, Ohio State defeated the No. 12 Michigan State Spartans by a final tally of 48-3. One week later, Illinois met a similar fate, as the Buckeyes mauled the Fighting Illini to a one-sided, 52-14 victory. The demons from their 55-24 loss to Iowa never manifested in the two games, but that could mean they’re due to return.
In a stadium north of Columbus, 186 miles to be exact, the Buckeyes face a new test on their voyage to the final four in the College Football Playoff. The team they will face has yet to defeat Urban Meyer; he’s 5-0 against TTUN.
The Buckeyes are favored by a full 12 points but that won’t matter. The Wolverines don’t have a clear-cut quarterback, but it might not matter. The Buckeyes have everything on the line and even that won’t matter.
After all, this is Ohio State-Michigan, which means standard practice and logic are out the window.
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After the first kickoff, it will be sixty minutes of ‘whatever happens’ football. That’s not something Ohio State fans should feel especially comfortable knowing.
JT Barrett knows Michigan’s danger all-too-well. While Barrett found an uneventful 42-13 victory in 2015’s rendition of the game, 2014 and 2016 left the quarterback scared. In 2014, Barrett suffered a season-ending ankle break in a 42-28 victory.
Flashback to 2016 when Barrett escaped defeat, surviving an atrocious 15-of-32 completion clip, passing for just 124 yards in Ohio State’s double-overtime, 30-27 escape-act victory.
Next: Ohio State vs. Michigan: A Rivalry Like No Other
Ohio State is as streaky as they come in their 2017 form; it’s impossible to tell exactly which team will show up in Ann Arbor on Sunday. It could very well be the Dr. Jekyll from the Michigan State triumph. Unfortunately, Mr. Hyde rides the same bus. Hopefully, for the Buckeyes, the correct monster is unleashed.