It's possible that the Ohio State Buckeyes and Ohio Bobcats would've played a much closer game on Saturday night had quarterback Parker Navarro not gotten injured in the first half for OU. The Columbus Dispatch's Adam Jardy believes as much, anyway.
Jardy didn't fully commit to the idea that Ohio could've won, or even made the game closer than the final 37-9 score ended up being, had Navarro been available. But Jardy did insinuate the Buckeyes may have gotten lucky in their Week 3 win at the "Shoe."
"For the Bobcats to score the upset, they were going to need a big game from their dual-threat quarterback who threw for 247 yards and rushed for 87 more in a Sept. 6 win against West Virginia. Instead, Navarro absorbed a crushing blow from Beau Atkinson late in the first quarter that had him holding his left wrist and heading to the medical tent. He didn't return until the start of the second half, and by then the Bobcats had only 28 yards of total offense," Jardy wrote.
"Had he been available during the entire first half, it might have been closer than a 13-3 Ohio State lead. Or, maybe not, given that this was another stout outing from the Ohio State defense."
Ohio State being up by only one score, 16-9, in the second half, in and of itself, was a disappointment. Thinking about a full-strength Ohio team making it closer is distressing to a certain degree.
Then again, with the bye week and Big Ten play looming, not getting up for a one-sided rivalry game probably isn't the end of the world. The Buckeyes still ended up coming close to covering most spreads.
There are issues, mainly on the offensive side of the ball, but Ohio State has performed like the No. 1 team in the country for three consecutive weeks against a trio of vastly different talent levels and circumstances.
This season will come down to four big tests for the Buckeyes, and one has already been passed with the Texas Longhorns in Week 1.
For now, OSU takes a rest after a 3-0 start.