RELAX PEOPLE!

THIS JUST IN: 

• The Ohio State Football team is 8-1.
• The Ohio State Football team (most likely) controls their own destiny.
• The Ohio State Football team can still realistically achieve EVERY GOAL they had for themselves this season (except to go undefeated, which I assume was a goal).
• The Ohio State Football team can still realistically achieve EVERY GOAL that we, as fans, had for them this season (except to go undefeated, which I assume was a goal).
• The road to Indianapolis (and potentially the College Football Playoff) for anyone in the B1G East goes through Columbus.

As Ramzy reminded us before the Purdue game:

 

Here's the rub: OSU's five remaining games:

(at) Team playing its Super Bowl
Team playing its Super Bowl
(at) Team playing its Super Bowl
(at) Team playing its Super Bowl
Michigan

It's all figurative title games from now up until the literal ones.

The Buckeyes get everyone's best shot, and when they're playing their best:

• A healthy, confident TCU team playing at night, minutes from home.
• At Penn State (we're their biggest rival, you know), at night, in a whiteout, against a team that had to replay 2017's 1 point heart breaker over and over and over in their heads for a year.
• At Purdue, who was confident and riding a 3 game win streak (and whose 3 losses were by a total of 8 points), who also has one of the best offenses in the B1G, at night, against the Purdoo Voodoo, with the added motivation of #TylerStrong... the perfect storm. Alabama wasn't winning in West Lafayette that night. The Buckeyes didn't stand a chance.
• Nebraska has gained confidence over the last month following two consecutive wins and a 3 point overtime loss at B1G West leader Northwestern. Nebraska is improving every week now. Adrian Martinez is the real deal.

Now, don’t get me wrong… our Buckeyes have inconsistencies… they’re tough to watch sometimes… and everyone assumes that a 5 point win over a “bad” Nebraska team means nothing is fixed. I disagree:

• The Buckeyes only had 6 penalties for 46 yards. That’s improvement. Even more encouraging are the nature of those penalties. Only one false start! NO holding penalties! 3 Defensive offsides (one was on 1st and goal from the 2), Offensive Pass Interference (absolute garbage, although the refs gave it back with the defensive PI against Nebraska 2 plays later), and the targeting against Fuller (no comment). This is very encouraging.
• The running game had big runs, (mostly) consistent gains throughout, touchdowns. This is improvement.
• The defense? Improved. I know… they gave up 31 points… I don’t care. Why don’t I care? Nebraska has the hottest offense in the B1G over the last month. They’re figuring it out, they’re gonna score. But how’d Nebraska get there? Yes, Nebraska started the game with a nice drive. They’re a good offense. It happens. After that, for the rest of the first half… Nebraska ONLY scored when the Buckeyes uncharacteristically turned the ball over. Their other 14 points of the half were “off turnovers.” I don’t expect the turnovers to become the norm for the offense, that should be a one game problem… and Nebraska took advantage. In the second half, The Buckeyes only allowed 10 points to Nebraska’s high powered offense. They were late in the game and made the final score a lot closer than anyone would have wanted… but the defense played well in the second half.

The Buckeyes are focused on The Spartans this week... and the Terps next week. I'm not suiting up this weekend with the Buckeyes, so I'm looking ahead a little bit... and assuming both the Buckeyes and Wolverines find a way to win their next two games.

The Game: Everyone (media, for sure... many commenters here on 11W as well) seem(s) to have already crowned the mighty wolverines as B1G East champions and B1G champions and Alabama's only real threat... but wait! That Team Up North has played 3 road games thus far... yes, only 3. (The Game is in Columbus, no need to compare what the wolverines do at home or what the Buckeyes have done on the road). They have outscored their 3 road opponents by a TOTAL of 10 points... and are 2-1* on the road. Maybe they're not so amazing, huh? Last I checked, the Buckeyes are 6-0 at The Shoe this year... regardless of what happens the next two weeks, that stat won't change. That said, the wolverines revenge tour is legit... but I have confidence in our boys to get it done at home!

For all of their problems, these are our Buckeyes. Enjoy them while you can. At the very least, you get four more games with them this year... at the most, six. Our Buckeyes are 8-1 and in control of their own destiny. 

Go Bucks!

Beat michigan State.

*EDIT: typo'd 1-2 earlier, corrected to 2-1