Ohio State Football: Win or go home
The Ohio State football team is going into East Lansing this weekend sitting on an 8-1 record with the Big Ten Championship still in its grasp.
In college football nearly every win or loss has a notable impact on teams’ chances of making it to their respective conference championship, receiving a bowl birth or earning a spot in the playoff.
The Buckeyes’ in-conference game this week has implications of all three.
Ohio State has made the College Football Playoff twice in its four years of existence, both being with one loss on their resume.
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If the Buckeyes lose this week in East Lansing they will have two losses on the season, both to conference opponents, so they will have a steep hill to climb in order to even make it to the B1G Championship, and forget about making the playoff.
A loss would drop Ohio State two spots behind Michigan in the Big Ten East standings, assuming Michigan handles Rutgers which they should.
On paper, this matchup looks as if it will go in Ohio State’s favor. However, Saturday’s are wild and sometimes unpredictable.
Starting tomorrow, the Buckeyes’ mentality will be that they are 0-0 with a clean record and a clean slate. Keep winning and they are in, lose and most likely they are out.
Ohio State proved last week they are capable of grinding out aggravating, unpredictable games. On offense, the rushing attack found a huge pulse and Dwayne Haskins fought through adversity caused by himself as well as his pass protection.
Also, the defense as a whole showed there is still a ton of room for improvement, but there were glimpses of how dominant they can be and they will continue to show it as the lights get brighter.
dark. Next. Did Tua Tagovailoa run away with the Heisman?
For now, as fans all we can do is sit back (or stand up and yell at the TV) and watch how the rest of the season unfolds.