Ohio State Football: Don’t sleep on IU

The Ohio State football team starts out their season against IU once again. They played the Hoosiers to start out the 2017 season as well. It’s always a little strange when the Buckeyes start out their year against another Big Ten team, but it’s happening.

Everyone thinks that the Buckeyes will blow IU out. If you look at the rosters of the two teams, there’s no comparison. The Ohio State football team has so much more talent than the Hoosiers. On paper, this game shouldn’t be close at really any point.

Yet, there are reasons why you shouldn’t be sleeping on IU giving Ohio State a tough game. Perhaps the most obvious reason is that we don’t know who the starting quarterback is for the Buckeyes yet. That is enough to make anyone nervous about playing a Big Ten game.

We also don’t know how the new offensive line is going to play. Will they be able to open up holes better for the running backs this year? Will the pass protection still hold up even though they have two new tackles? There’s a lot to be figured out up front.

The defense is a perpetual question mark. The secondary has been a work in progress for three years now. If IU hits on some big plays in the passing game, that could spell trouble. I’m not saying Ohio State is in danger of losing or anything, but the game might be closer than the experts think.

IU deserves respect. They almost upset Ohio State in 2015. They came back to make things closer than they should have in 2013. Heck, even in 2019 they came back from a 28-0 deficit to make Ohio State sweat. This team deserves respect as an opening-game opponent.

I hope the Buckeyes have that respect and are able to come out and do what they are supposed to do.