2. Will Howard will play his best game as an Ohio State football player
Over the last couple of weeks, Will Howard has been outstanding. There's an argument to be made that he played his best game of the season in the loss to Oregon, save for that final drive. He's making great decisions and has started to use his legs a little bit more.
With all of the shuffling going on up front on the offensive line, Howard is going to have to play his best game as a Buckeye. He's not going to have a lot of time to throw, especially with pressure coming from his blind side. The left tackle spot is still a big issue.
Because of the poor offensive line play, Howard is going to have to make quick decisions. There are going to be a lot of short routes and probably a lot of chances for Ohio State's receivers to do damage after the catch. Howard has to do a lot of work pre-snap to identify the weaknesses in the defense quickly,
Howard has played a lot of college football over the years though. This is what he was brought to Columbus for. Ryan Day opted to have an experienced quarterback as opposed to playing one of the young guys he has because of games like this. Howard needs to prove him right.
Expect Howard to throw for north of 300 yards and run for at least 30 more. He is going to be the biggest reason why the Buckeyes have a good chance to win this game. He has increasingly become more comfortable in this offense as the weeks have gone on.
The final bold prediction has to do with what Penn State will be able to produce on offense.