is very unimpressive to date. Their supposed early season challenge (TCU) is having a lackluster season (just a 1-2 league record) with their lone win being a narrow one at home over Iowa State (17-14). OSU’s Big Ten record is of course clean, but other than PSU, they have wins over three current bottom dwellers, and two of them (Minn and Indiana) had enough success against the Bucks to make the outcome of the game uncertain until reasonably well into the second half. Even if there was little chance of an upset, the fact that the Bucks had not put them away earlier is telling. Their road win at night against PSU on paper is the only good win they have, and yet (i) they were fortunate to get a come from behind win, and probably should have lost that game, and (ii) the quality of that win certainly took a hit when PSU lost to the Spartans on Saturday.
Bottom line, this is a team that is living off of their past reputation at No. 2 and not substantial evidence to date. Their running game has taken a hit because Haskins is much more of a thrower than a runner. So having to defend the usual OSU running QB is not something teams have to worry about this year. While Haskins can clearly pass better than many, if not all, of their recent running QBs, he appears vulnerable to pressure. Add to all of that a defense that (minus Bosa) has been less than impressive (and again note that this is against subpar teams), and you have a team that is highly unproven. Maybe they deserve by default the No. 2 ranking, but this is not the kind of OSU team that seems to strike fear in its opponents.
Frankly, I’m not sure why their on field performance has not been better, as even without Bosa, we all know this is a very talented team. All I know is that it really hasn’t come together yet for them. Michigan State is their only real challenge before The Game, and that is at home, so it is very possible that we won’t truly know how good this team is until we play them in late November when chances are they will be undefeated and still ranked No. 2. Couldn’t set up better for us. If we take care of business this next weekend and against PSU, destiny awaits us against what would appear to be an over ranked Buckeye squad that will not have been very well tested until we go to Columbus.
Bottom line, this is a team that is living off of their past reputation at No. 2 and not substantial evidence to date. Their running game has taken a hit because Haskins is much more of a thrower than a runner. So having to defend the usual OSU running QB is not something teams have to worry about this year. While Haskins can clearly pass better than many, if not all, of their recent running QBs, he appears vulnerable to pressure. Add to all of that a defense that (minus Bosa) has been less than impressive (and again note that this is against subpar teams), and you have a team that is highly unproven. Maybe they deserve by default the No. 2 ranking, but this is not the kind of OSU team that seems to strike fear in its opponents.
Frankly, I’m not sure why their on field performance has not been better, as even without Bosa, we all know this is a very talented team. All I know is that it really hasn’t come together yet for them. Michigan State is their only real challenge before The Game, and that is at home, so it is very possible that we won’t truly know how good this team is until we play them in late November when chances are they will be undefeated and still ranked No. 2. Couldn’t set up better for us. If we take care of business this next weekend and against PSU, destiny awaits us against what would appear to be an over ranked Buckeye squad that will not have been very well tested until we go to Columbus.
