Happy Monday, Eleven Warriors!
How could it not be? The Buckeyes won their second road game of the season last weekend, Michigan fell out of the rankings yesterday, and Penn State cut James Franklin loose after a third straight upset loss on Saturday.
Bearing all that in mind now that we have reached the middle of OSU's schedule, This Week's Question calls for some re-assessment of the current landscape: Other than Michigan, which opponent left on Ohio State's regular season schedule most concerns you?
Up until yesterday, the obvious answer seemed to be the Nittany Lions. But the team's complete collapse over the last handful of weeks combined with Drew Allar's season-ending injury suddenly has Penn State looking more vulnerable than ever.
Because of that, I'm going to float a team that as recently as two weeks ago I never would have guessed could be a potential answer to this question: UCLA. The Bruins have clearly galvanized themselves since getting rid of Deshaun Foster as head coach, and Nico Iamaleava is suddenly playing like the top transfer portal product that many projected him as even after Tennessee's first round exit in last year's College Football Playoff.
Speaking of the most recent CFP, Iamaleava will be eager for some payback after how last season ended for him. He figures to enter this game a bit less rattled than last time having experienced playing in Columbus before.
I'm not saying I expect a close game outright at this stage — we're still a month away from OSU hosting UCLA after all. But if you ask me right now which remaining game for the Buckeyes gives me the most pause, I have much more reservations about facing a surging opponent with a talented quarterback than I do a program that just hit a low-point in its last decade that just lost arguably its offensive leader and terminated the head coach. Then again, maybe Penn State turns it around after canning the guy running the show just like UCLA did!
But what about you? Which of Ohio State's remaining regular season opponents other than TTUN will you most have your guard up for when the time comes?
