Tressels, Fickells, Urbans, Days, Johnsons and Days,
Maybe my new context is 77-21.
With my new context, Jake is not five years old, he is not wearing a #5 Braxton Miller jersey and we are not in Ohio Stadium.
Instead, he's a middle schooler and we are in our living room last Saturday. We are all in our spots; the spots we abandon starting in April once March Madness ends and better weather begins. We take back up our spots promptly with the first College Football game and the only thing missing early in the season is the fireplace throwing off heat.
We look at our devices more than we should, with our theater-style setting we are all separated by ottomans in addition to devices. It's not Ohio Stadium. Marvin Martian and the piano lady are not there. But, we are all there for a few hours, we connect with all the moments a middle schooler will allow. We are not doing the busyness of everyday life.
Amazingly, my new context also comes without 3 of the best 4 Buckeye players on the field for the most part - a handful of plays for JSN and TreyVeyon, zero for Mike Hall. Also, nearly half of the OSU defensive backfield was suddenly unavailable. (Injury reports are essentially meaningless now.) The Buckeye defense is still settling into Jim Knowles' system, but overall they look exponentially better than the last two seasons.
It was still an unfair fight last Saturday even when a true freshman running back and true freshman walk-on running back began toting the ball in the second half. Dallan Hayden looked legit to me. If he knows the playbook and can block in pass protection, then he looks every bit ready to go. It's hard to believe Dallan was the fourth-string running back to start the season before Evan Pryor's injury.
It was still an unfair fight when Ohio State cleared the bench and let the true freshman have a turn in the fourth quarter. Caden Curry is a beast. How great will the defensive line be next season with Mike Hall (has the look of a future first round NFL pick), Caden Curry, JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer and Tyliek Williams?! That could rival some of the all-time great defensive lines. OSU might want to try those guys together as the season progresses and Big Ten matchups necessitate strong play in the trenches.
This could be one of those seasons where Ohio State is locked in one week and not the next. I'll hold every game to 66-0 and 77-21 context and I still know that's dumb. But, I think it's still there this season. I'm still in.
Touchdowns: TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr., Marvin, Julian Fleming
OSU 41 Wisconsin 10
Go Bucks! Beat Wisconsin! Josh Proctor for Heisman!
Stout Pops
