The defense gained experience with mobile quarterbacks. The offense overpowered a strong Iowa defense. But now we're at the game everyone had circled: 5-0 Oregon at Eugene at night. In 2021, we boasted about our undefeated record against Oregon and then got stunned in the Horseshoe two years ago. Oregon no longer a pretender? A legitimate top-tier football team? At least for me, this was a revenge game (and it was for some players too). And with TTUN already at 4-2 and lucky not to be 2-4, this was an unfamiliar Big Ten showdown to claim or reclaim the top spot in the conference. 

Going into Week 7

• Presser Bullets - The offense has been improving, but Day wants to see more from the OL and more consistency in the red zone. He also specifically praised the cornerback group. Gulp. Complimented Dillon Gabriel and their dynamism on offense as well as a strong defensive front. Chip Kelly echoed Day's sentiments on Oregon's defense, starting with Jordan Burch, before getting around to the rest of their units and their experience. 
• OL-DL Matchup - OL has emerged as a strength for OSU but they would face their toughest test against an Oregon DL that everyone can't stop complimenting. But as a fan base... we're beginning to believe. The OL even catches a break with Jordan Burch out. 
• Test for the Secondary - A look into the nature of Oregon's passing offense. One observation is their penchant for short throws. It's a stretch, but criticized for giving Gabriel too much time in the pocket, could prioritizing containment may make more sense under the assumption that the ball would go out quickly anyways?
• Our expectations were varied. Some were not worried, given how much Oregon struggled against Boise St. and Idaho. Others cautioned that those scores didn't tell the whole story. They generated a lot of yards against Idaho but couldn't convert them to points. There were actually not many more forum posts about the game than usual. There were certainly a lot more after, though!
• Staff Predictions - 11W unanimously pick Ohio State to win the game, but nearly all of them were one-score margins. Confidence was high at this point, and why not? Defense looked lockdown, offense looked like it was chugging. 

Week 7 @ #3 Oregon in 40 Minutes:

Open Threads: Q1 | Q2 | Halftime | Q3 | Q4  

Coming out of Week 7

• Game Summary - Ohio State 31, Oregon 32. There really wasn't just one decisive thing to point to in this game. While my memory of this game pretty much just consists of Will Kacmarek's near/lucky-it-wasn't interception, Denzel Burke getting burned repeatedly, Derrick Harmon getting through Donovan Jackson and tearing the ball out of Quinshon Judkins' hands, that "OPI" call, and finally, Howard's slide, that doesn't include Oregon recovering an on-side kick that ricocheted off Caleb Downs, Tez Johnson spitting on Iggy, and Josh Simmons going down for the season. If you told someone about all that, they would probably think it was a blowout. Yet despite all that, it was only a one-point game. Kacmarek's 32-yard reception would set up a Will Howard rushing TD, Treveyon burst through the line for a 55-yard gain to allow Judkins to punch it in from the 1, Ohio State put together a 12-play, 75-yard TD drive, and Ohio State makes a goal line stand.

  Comments under that article are entertaining in hindsight. A lot of the critical comments were directed at the defense and understandably so. This was a rough one. 

• Presser Bullets - There were a lot of mistakes that contributed to the loss, including penalties, turnovers, and coverage issues. Comments express fatigue with Ryan Day losing big games, especially with an opportunity to win the game at the end and an unimaginative version of the offense shows up. Optimists pointed to how this game luckily doesn't end the season, but whether this team had what it takes to take advantage of that was up in the air. 
• Three Key Stats - Ohio State started all of its drives at its own 26-yard line or worse. Its defense failed to create any turnovers and worse, generate even a single sack. Eight penalties, some at critical junctures, helped to do Ohio State in. 
• Five Things - The defense gets top billing in this edition, giving up nearly 500 yards and 7.6 yards per play and way too many chunk plays. Howard became somewhat of a scapegoat for this loss, thanks to the slide at the end of the game. He actually played very well, connecting on 80% of his passes for 326 yds and 2 TDs. Had that OPI not been called, he might have been seen as the hero of this game. With this loss, Ryan Day falls to 2-7 against top 5 teams and fans are getting tired of it. 
• Stock Up/Stock Down - It's not all sadness. Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith turn in big games. Emeka caught every pass thrown his way for 93 yards and a touchdown. Jeremiah took 9 passes 100 yards and also scored a touchdown (extending his TD streak to his first six games, a school record). The defense was a different story, though. 
• User thoughts more or less echoed the above. Poor pass coverage, especially Burke. Poor pass rush, leaving Gabriel untouched. Killed ourselves with penalties. Offense was actually pretty good. Something needs to change on defense as this type of outcome under Knowles is starting to become routine. Something needs to change on offense as Ryan Day keeps coming up short when he has the ball and a chance to win. A contingent firmly believes that this team is capable of winning the rematch. 
• No video recap this week.

Up Next: Bye, then take on Nebraska.