The Ohio State Buckeyes await the Miami Hurricanes in the Cotton Bowl Classic on New Year's Eve, live from Dallas, Texas. As InsideTheU's Gaby Urrutia notes, when they do, OSU will be facing the second-best defense of the season statistically, behind the Indiana Hoosiers, who held the Buckeyes to just 10 points in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Even if OSU has faced a superior overall defense in Indiana, Miami has a mental advantage in one key regard when the two take the field: the Buckeyes haven't been prepared for the caliber of athletes "The U" has on the edge.
The numbers show the Canes' pass-rush has the two most prolific specimens, Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain, that Ohio State will have faced all season. The Hoosiers' top duo doesn't come close in sacks, even if the unit is better as a whole. Meanwhile, the Texas Longhorns' top trio is comparable statistically.
"When it comes to pure pass rushers, neither Indiana nor Texas has a duo on the same level as Mesidor and Bain, who have combined for 121 quarterback pressures, 25 tackles for loss, and 16 sacks this season," Urrutia wrote.
"Indiana's top two pass rushers, Daley and Mikail Kamara, have totaled 89 quarterback pressures, 24 tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks. Texas's trio of top pass rushers, Colin Simmons, Tre Moore, and Ethan Burke, has totaled 108 quarterback pressures, 25.5 tackles for loss, and 17 sacks."
Bo Jackson set up to be Ohio State's hero against Miami
By every stretch of the imagination, Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman and Zac Etheridge are going to do everything possible to neutralize quarterback Julian Sayin and receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, if not at least try to slow them down.
That sets up running back Bo Jackson, who had a strong game against IU but lacked big runs out of the backfield and any scores, to step up and have the defining postseason moment of his true freshman season. For now, of course.
While the RB room was once a concern earlier this year, Ryan Day is no stranger to pounding the ball on the ground. Jackson has given Day every reason to feel confident to do so, going for over 100 yards in four of his last six games.
If Day fears Mesidor and Bain like most in Coral Gables, Florida, feel he should, perhaps we'll see a steady diet of Jackson up the gut on Wednesday.