The Ohio State football team is angry. The last time they were on the field, they lost their first game of the season. Oregon took them down 32-31 in a game that the Buckeyes could have won on the final drive, they came up short because of poor coaching from Ryan Day.
Ohio State has spent the bye week stewing about their performance and trying to fix their issues. Day said he spent more time with the defense this week in order to make sure the same things that happened against Oregon don't happen again this week against Nebraska.
Speaking of Nebraska, they are coming off a loss of their own. They got shellacked 56-7 by Indiana last weekend. That's about as big of a loss as they can have coming into a hostile environment. Dylan Raiola threw three interceptions in that game. Because of that, they weren't able to get anything going on offense.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are hoping for a similar result this weekend in the Shoe. If they can force that kind of play from Raiola, this game will be a lot easier to win. Buckeye fans still want to see some sacks from the defense. They haven't been able to see a lot of those from the defense this year.
As we do every week, we give you some bold predictions for the game this weekend. We start with something for the Buckeyes on the offensive side of the ball.
1. TreVeyon Henderson will run for 125+ yards
TreVeyon Henderson was the most effective running back the Buckeyes had against Oregon. Quinshon Judkins fumbled the ball early and that led to an Oregon touchdown. Judkins had just 23 yards on 11 carries. Henderson, meanwhile, had 87 yards on 10 carries.
News came out that Judkins had surgery during the bye week to fix a broken hand. That wasn't the reason why he fumbled, but that's still not ideal. It wouldn't be surprising if they sat him this week to make sure he's fully healed by the Penn State game next weekend.
That leaves a big opportunity for Henderson. He will get the majority of the carries this weekend regardless of whether Judkins does play. Ohio State is a run-first team, so they will be using Henderson a lot. He'll probably get at least 15 carries in this game.
I think Henderson will be able to accumulate at least 125 yards on the ground. He should be the leading ball carrier for either team in this game. Ohio State always likes to get the ground game going. I think this is the game that Henderson breaks out this season.
The next bold prediction deals with the offensive line for the Buckeyes.