Ohio State Football: Confidence level against Minnesota
By Eric Boggs
X-Factor Confidence Level – 9.5
The game before THE GAME is always a concern for Buckeye fans. There will always be a concern that a team might be looking ahead to the rivalry game and get surprised by a lesser opponent. That’s not a concern for this team. The coaching staff won’t allow these kids to look past the Gophers. Day has been preaching all season that it’s important that this team has competitive excellence. In other words, making sure they stay up for every single game and not play down to the level of their competition.
That would be typically the x-factor for game 11 no matter who the opponent is. But not this season.
Marvin Harrison Jr. has had an excellent season thus far and is in the midst of a Heisman Trophy campaign that could see him being invited to New York for an opportunity to be voted as the seventh Buckeye to win the Heisman trophy. This award is usually won by the player on one of the better teams who perform great in big moments in the last month of the season.
MHJ is going to have that opportunity next week in Ann Arbor. But before then, he will have an opportunity to pad some stats against a Minnesota defense that is struggling. If Harrison Jr. goes for over 100 yards, he will become the all-time leader at Ohio State with more 100-yard receiving games than any other receiver in school history.
Maserati Marv became the first Buckeye receiver in school history to have two 1,000-yard seasons in school history after last week’s performance sent him over the mark. Three more good games will also put Marv in the top five in all three major career categories: Touchdowns, yards, and receptions. There are only two other former plays who can boast that they are in this club: Cris Carter and David Boston, neither of which won the Heisman.
If MHJ has a great game on Saturday, he will be one step closer to doing just that, which is why my X-factor confidence level score is 9.5 this week. I’m sure Day isn’t going to jeopardize the entire season on making sure Harrison Jr. gets his numbers, but at the same time, I also don’t believe he ignores that fact either.