It is no secret that Wisconsin had a bye week before playing Ohio State this past weekend.  Most of what has been written claims that Wisconsin used this time to prepare new "wrinkles" in their game plan both offensively and defensively.  In fact, Coach Meyer has said that Wisconsin showed "three or four" offensive concepts during the game it hadn't shown on film in its first five games. 

This is the second straight week the Buckeyes are playing an opponent coming off a bye week. Penn State has not played a game since defeating Maryland on October 8th. Should we expect Penn State to do something during the game for which the Buckeyes are not prepared?  It turns out this kind of thing has happened before.

Since 2008 through the end of this season, Ohio State will have played a conference opponent 12 times where the opposing team was coming off a bye week.  How do I know this? I counted.  (Yes, yes...I know. It seems I have lots of time to do silly things.)

The worst year, by far, was 2013 when Ohio State played four consecutive conference games against opponents (Northwestern, Iowa, Penn State & Purdue) where each was coming off a bye week.  And it seems opposing coaches have been trying to put "wrinkles" in their game plan for quite some time.   According to Rob Ogden of TheOZone.net, in 2013 Iowa exploited the Ohio State defense with a three TE set it didn't show on film.  After the game, Coach Meyer vowed , "We have to be prepared. Iowa did have a bye week, and 13 grouping, three tight ends, and we weren't ready for it. We didn't adjust well."

Personally, I am looking forward to watching these "chess matches" between opposing coaches and Coach Meyer and his staff. It is my belief that the Buckeyes make great adjustments during the game. It is truly a great time to be a Buckeye fan.

Thankfully, we are not Alabama fans. From 2008 through the end of the 2016 season, Alabama will have played 27 conference opponents where the opposing team is coming off a bye week. That is an average of three conference games a year. I find that outrageous. However, Alabama is 20-5 in those games (with two games remaining to be played)...remarkable.

For the record, I did not count the Alabama games. I read that information here.