Ohio State Football: Confidence level against Western Kentucky
By Eric Boggs
![COLUMBUS, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 9: Ohio State Buckeyes players sing the school song after the game against the Youngstown State Penguins at Ohio Stadium on September 9, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes beat the Penguins 35-7. (Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images) COLUMBUS, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 9: Ohio State Buckeyes players sing the school song after the game against the Youngstown State Penguins at Ohio Stadium on September 9, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes beat the Penguins 35-7. (Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/34b8d62e6f0255699925bdda707dc8ee613bb912b25f4c79d72a08fa49f3e089.jpg)
The Ohio State football team is a little over a week away from one of their biggest games of the year when they travel to South Bend, Indiana to take on the Fighting Irish. Before the Buckeyes clash with Notre Dame, they first have to take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.
Western Kentucky comes into this contest with the same 2-0 record as Ohio State. They opened their season with a 41-24 win at home over Southern Florida. They then defeated Houston Christian, an FCA school, by the score of 52-22. The Hilltoppers will bring their air raid high-flying offense into Columbus, Ohio on a four-game winning streak. Their last loss was late last season when they traveled to play Auburn.
Western Kentucky isn’t your typical Group of Five team. The Hilltoppers have scheduled either a Big Ten or SEC school almost every year, sometimes scheduling multiple Power Five schools in the same season. They haven’t come away with an upset win in those games yet, but they have been close, giving Indiana a scare two seasons in a row.
The Hilltoppers won’t be star-struck when they walk into Ohio Stadium on Saturday, and this isn’t just a trip to collect a paycheck, which I discovered during my interview with Steve Moffett from the Topper Talk Podcast, which you can watch below.
The Buckeyes have won their first two games of the season easily, despite the uncertainty on offense at the quarterback position, thanks in large part to how well the defense has played. That defense will get challenged this weekend as Western Kentucky brings in a high-flying offense with the reputation of scoring a lot of points.
With the introduction of this week’s opponent out of the way, let’s dive into the coaching staff and find out what this week’s confidence level for this game is.