Ohio State Football vs. Youngstown State: Official prediction

The first home Ohio State football game of the season is always great. I love seeing all of the fans congregate at the Shoe for the first time in eight long months. It should be great weather for them to watch the Buckeyes take on the Penguins. It shouldn’t be a very close one either.

Ohio State shouldn’t have trouble with a team like Youngstown State at all. They are a lowly FCS team that is getting paid to lose. This is the perfect game for the Buckeyes to get their offense back on track. The offensive line and quarterback play should be better.

We should get to see both Kyle McCord and Devin Brown actually throw passes in this one. Brown didn’t throw a pass until the final series of the game. By that time, both teams had their backups in and the game was already decided. I’d like to see Brown play some meaningful snaps this week.

Youngstown State’s offense will test the Ohio State football team’s secondary more than IU did though. They will throw the ball more than Indiana will because they won’t run the triple-option. While they might not be great at it, the secondary will at least get more reps defending the pass.

Prediction: Ohio State football 56 Youngstown State 3

At first, I wasn’t sure if Ohio State was going to cover the 41.5-point spread that is out there right now. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is the game that the offense should explode the most in, if for no other reason than the talent disparity between the two teams.

If Ohio State’s offense doesn’t explode in this game, then we have some bigger problems to talk about heading into next week. But I think last week was more about knocking off some rust than anything else. Give me the Buckeyes big.