COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — No. 4 Ohio State’s not perfect – except for its record.
”We don’t want to lose,” linebacker Ryan Shazier said after a closer-than-expected 34-24 win over Iowa on Saturday. ”We know someone might make a mistake but we’ve got his back.”
Mistakes were made, but the bottom line is no matter how they play or who they play the Buckeyes just keep winning under coach Urban Meyer.
They have all kinds of streaks going – three tight conference wins in a row, a perfect 7-0 mark this season and a nation’s best 19 consecutive victories.
At the same time, they haven’t been overpowering in Big Ten play – their three wins are by seven points, 10 (with a last-second touchdown) and 10 – and that’s not enough to convert poll-voting doubters or the computers that analyze teams in the Bowl Championship Series.
That’s the biggest reason why the Buckeyes remain No. 4 in The Associated Press media poll and the USA Today coaches poll. The latter factors into the BCS rankings which determine the two teams who will play in the national championship game.
For now, Meyer isn’t worrying about any of that extraneous stuff. He knows that even though few have much regard for the Big Ten or Ohio State’s non-conference schedule, it’ll be hard to turn away the Buckeyes at the end of the season if they have a zero in the loss column.
”I try to stay away from that,” Meyer said of all the peripheral talk. ”I want us to be one step closer to where we want to go. Where we want to go is to beat Penn State.”
The Buckeyes (7-0, 3-0) host the Nittany Lions (4-2, 1-1), who were idle last week, on Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Continue Reading: Buckeyes falter at times but keep streak going
