Scarlet and Game
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Ohio State Football: Three keys to beating Michigan State

By Ryan Stano

Nov 4, 2023; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) looks for room to run after making a catch during the second half of the NCAA football game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium. Ohio State won 35-16.
Nov 4, 2023; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) looks for room to run after making a catch during the second half of the NCAA football game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium. Ohio State won 35-16. /
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The Ohio State Football team needs to play better run defense than they did against Rutgers.
The Ohio State Football team needs to play better run defense than they did against Rutgers. /

2. The Ohio State football team has to stop the run

The Ohio State Buckeyes have an elite defense. We’ve gone over the stats a bunch of times. Yet, they weren’t so elite at stopping the run last week against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights ran for a whopping 232 yards on the Buckeyes. That simply can’t happen.

Michigan is a great running team. If Ohio State plays run defense like that in Ann Arbor, they will lose the game. Stopping the run will be a big emphasis for Jim Knowles and the defense on Saturday night. They will force the Spartans to throw the ball.

If Michigan State has to throw the ball, they are in trouble. Ohio State has a top-five pass defense, not to mention the Spartans love turning the ball over through the air. They have 10 interceptions and just 11 touchdowns on the season. That’s not a good TD/INT ratio.

Ohio State imposing their will at the line of scrimmage is something they need to work on. I think they can do it. Doing it against a bad team should raise their level of confidence for next week and the week after. That’s all this game is for anyway.

Any chance MSU has of moving the ball goes through their running backs. Shut them down and the Spartans are out of options. The final key for the Buckeyes to win this game is not having mental errors.

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