Ohio State Football: Confidence level against Michigan State
By Eric Boggs
After playing two away games on consecutive weeks, the Ohio State football team returns to the friendly confines of Ohio Stadium to take on 3-6 Michigan State this Saturday. The Spartans are coming off their first win since week two when they defeated the Richmond Spiders and their first conference victory of the season. It was also interim head coach Harlon Barnett’s first win as the head man since replacing Mel Tucker, who was suspended and then fired after being accused of sexual harassment.
The Buckeyes are hoping that this primetime game on NBC will be an easier win than the previous two contests against Wisconsin and Rutgers have been. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and his staff are working towards putting it all together on both sides of the ball as a big game against rival Michigan awaits them in only two weeks.
After being below 80 percent in my confidence level the past two weeks, this week promises to be much higher, not because of what the Buckeyes have done on the field the past two games, but more so because of the opponent who comes into Columbus.
The Spartans are one of the worst offenses in the country, and given how good the Buckeyes have played on the defensive side of the ball, it’s going to be hard for Barnett’s boys to find points on Saturday night.
Hopefully, the Ohio State players are focused solely on the Spartans and have avoided the trap of spending time and mental space on the scandal that has been playing out in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Plus, this is the kind of game where the Buckeye offense can start to put both the rushing and passing game together and look like the offensive juggernaut that everyone expected at the beginning of the season.
With all of this positivity surrounding the football team in Columbus, let’s take a look at my confidence level for each unit, the coaching staff, and an X-factor to see what kind of percentage we come up with against Michigan State for this weekend’s home game.