Three bold predictions for Ohio State football vs. Marshall

The Ohio State football team will be back in action this weekend against the Marshall Thundering Herd. Coming off a bye week this early will be interesting for the Buckeyes. They were playing so well in their first two games that it's actually a bummer they were interrupted with this early bye.

In comes Marshall trying to pull off a massive upset. They pulled a big one off a couple of years ago against Notre Dame in South Bend, so the Buckeyes will be wary. Ohio State is ready to keep the momentum going that they built from the first two weeks of the season.

Ohio State's new-look offense has shown flashes of complete domination. That's what they did against Western Michigan in Week 2 after a slow start against Akron. Showing that sort of offensive effort again would be a really good thing in the final non-conference game.

There are some bold predictions that we have for this game. This isn't a game that the Buckeyes should worry about losing, but there are some markers that they'd love to hit. These predictions will have to deal with some of those markers.

The first bold prediction will deal with the defensive side of the ball for the Buckeyes.

1. The Ohio State football team will pitch another shut out

Against Western Michigan, the Buckeyes did not allow a single point. That was coming on the heels of Ohio State allowing just six points against Akron. The Buckeyes got even better in Week 2. They didn't even allow the Broncos to gain 100 total yards in the game, even when the backups were in.

This defense is straight-up nasty. It's a ridiculous combination of guys. What's worse for opponents is that this team is actively trying to get more turnovers than they did a year ago. They already have scored two touchdowns themselves, both against the Zips.

Marshall's offense can run the ball well, but not good enough to really move the ball against a defense like Ohio State's. I'd be surprised if the Thundering Herd ran for over 75 yards as a team. I do expect them to gain more than 100 yards in this game, but I don't expect them to score a point.

I think the Ohio State Buckeyes are able to pitch another shutout in this game and get consecutive shutouts. That's how good I think this defense is. They could be the best defense in the country. We'll start finding out about that in a couple of weeks when they visit Michigan State and then Oregon.

The next bold prediction has to do with Ohio State's ground game.