The Ohio State Buckeyes have finished the cupcake part of their schedule and will now get into the serious stuff. After handling Miami of Ohio, Central Florida and UAB rather easily, and surviving California, they’ll now face their stiffest test to date: a trip to East Lansing to face the 20th-ranked Michigan State Spartans.
Nobody is quite sure just what to expect from Ohio State just yet. On one hand, the offense has looked explosive at times and quarterback Braxton Miller appears to be a perfect fit for Urban Meyer’s new offense. At the same time, they’ve struggled at times on both sides of the ball and couldn’t quite shake California or UAB until late in the game.
The Buckeyes will surely need more out of their offense – namely the parts not-named Braxton Miller. He’s been great in the system so far but the Buckeyes will need to lead on their running backs a little more to provide some balance on offense. They probably won’t accomplish much against a stout Spartans defense but the Buckeyes still need to try to keep them honest.
As for the Ohio State defense, they’ll have to tightened the belt a little bit. They gave up big plays against Central Florida and Cal, and they’ve been surprisingly porous overall. Priority No. 1 is stopping Spartans running back Le’veon Bell. He’s the key to the Spartans offense as they continue to break in first-year starter Andrew Maxwell. If the Buckeyes can’t slow down Bell, they’ll have a tough time leaving the Spartans campus with their perfect record still intact.
The trip to Michigan State is the first of eight conference games for the Buckeyes over the next two months. They are a 2.5-point underdog on the college football odds for Saturday’s contest.
