I hate that we ever let them grow into the boogeymen they’ve become, and I hate even more that the NCAA never had the backbone to handle their cheating the way they should have.

Because let’s be real: if this were the exact same lineup wearing jerseys that said Iowa, USC, or literally anyone else, none of us would be sweating this game. The matchups tilt toward OSU—some of them heavily. It would feel like a standard business trip: punch in, build the lead, and have this thing wrapped by the end of the third quarter. We’d be talking Thanksgiving plans and looking ahead to Indiana in Indy without a second thought.

But… those jerseys don’t say Iowa. Or anyone else. They have that name on them. So here I am, pacing, overthinking, feeling that familiar pit in my stomach.

Can’t, just once, this game go exactly the way it looks on paper? A double-digit win, handle business, move on? All signs point to it. The chalk has us winning by multiple scores.

It’s maddening. It’s past time to rip this monkey off our backs—play like we should, win like we should, and start exorcising whatever creature has been living in our closet and under our bed. The rivalry is still very real, but the game doesn’t sit at the center of the national championship picture like it used to. It’s time to show the true gap between these two programs. Time to separate ourselves from those mouth-breathing cheaters and put them back where they belong: as a team we should handle the way we handle everyone else. Time to let go of that pressure...just as we now know a win isn't the only way to glory. So, play like it's another game on the schedule...because that is what it has become everywhere but in our heads.

The rivalry will always matter, but just like it’s lost some luster in the championship race, they should lose the illusion that they’re on our level—because they aren’t. We’re the ones breathing life into their brand by letting these games stay close. Enough of that. Give us the game the matchup predicts. Show the reality. Because the truth is they’re at least two scores worse than us.

Any outcome is about us, not them. The only way this thing gets dicey—or, God forbid, worse—is if OSU beats OSU. TCUN is irrelevant. The battle is internal because we ARE the better squad.

Time to get out of our own way. Time to push past the doubt and let this just be a game, even as it remains THE GAME. Time to accept reality and believe in ourselves.

Because the reality is, and my belief is: we’re better.

Now go prove it.