Parris Campbell wasn't in Iowa City with his teammates on Nov. 4, as he was forced to watch Ohio State from his apartment while the Buckeyes were thrashed, 55-24, by the Hawkeyes, effectively ending Ohio State's playoff hopes.
Campbell has missed the majority of Ohio State's last three games. Injuries against both Nebraska and Penn State in the first quarter held him out for the remainder of those contests and kept him home for the Iowa loss.
Even though he hasn't been on the field much in the last month, Campbell is still motivated to get the Buckeyes back to their winning ways, and said Wednesday evening that Ohio State has had an edge to it in practice this week.
"We are just a pissed off, hungry team right now. Coming off that loss, it was a shocking feeling for everybody," Campbell said. "I think the mentality now is win out (but) just worry about this week."
Ohio State's upcoming matchup against Michigan State on Saturday is a de facto playoff game in terms of determining the Big Ten champion. The winner will a firm hold of the Big Ten East division, whose winner will be on a collision course to play Wisconsin for the conference crown in December.
While putting the loss to Iowa behind them has been hard, wide receiver Johnnie Dixon – who has caught four touchdown passes in his last two games – said it is something Ohio State has to do in order to move forward and have success.
"There is nothing you can do about that (now)," Dixon said. "It happened, now you just see everybody back to work, doing what we do best, going hard."
Ohio State has never lost two games in a row under Urban Meyer during the regular season, but did drop back-to-back postseason games to close the 2013 season, losing to the Spartans in the Big Ten title game and Clemson in the 2014 Orange Bowl.
Preparing for Michigan State in November with a title on the line has become somewhat of a tradition for the two schools. Ohio State offensive lineman Jamarco Jones said that he expects a hard-fought game in the trenches from the Spartans, who have won their last two games in Ohio Stadium.
"It is going to be a physical game. Every game in the past has been with these guys," Jones said. "They are a really good team, especially their front seven. They always bring it, so we have to make sure we are on our game and we are executing at a high level to run the ball."
Should the Buckeyes win out as Campbell suggested, Ohio State's postseason destination would come down to three New Year's Six bowls. The Peach, Cotton and Fiesta Bowl would all be possibilities for the Buckeyes, as the Orange Bowl cannot take the Big Ten conference winner.
That said, Jones isn't giving up hope that the Buckeyes could still make the College Football Playoff with some help from around the country.
"You never know what could happen. This is college football, we have seen some crazy things happen the last couple of years," he said. "There is always stuff to play for. The Big Ten title is our No. 1 goal near the end of the year anyway. We still have that goal in front of us and all we can do is handle what we can handle and see what happens."
