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LGHL Game of the Year: Ohio State vs. Illinois deserves a non-noon window
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Game of the Year: Ohio State vs. Illinois deserves a non-noon window
AlexFrank via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase (2) is tackled by Ohio State Buckeyes defensive lineman Joey Bosa (97) during Saturday’s NCAA Division I football game at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Il., on November 16, 2013. Ohio State won the game 60-35. (Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch) | BARBARA J. PERENIC / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Ohio State cannot overlook Illinois in this mid-October matchup.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about this season’s marquee matchups. Whether they feature the Buckeyes, other Big Ten schools, or major teams across the country. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Game of the Year” articles here.
In the Buckeyes’ 2024 national championship season, their home game against Indiana became a much bigger matchup than originally anticipated when the schedule came out.
Games like that are always fun. They become another big mark on the schedule for the Buckeyes.
The trip to Illinois this season could be just that. Battles against Texas, Penn State, and Michigan are going to get the most attention and anticipation, but the game in Champaign, Illinois, on Oct. 11 could become a crucial matchup in the Big Ten this season.
Ohio State and Illinois haven’t played since Nov. 18, 2017, a game the Buckeyes won 52-14. It’s the latest of nine straight wins over the Fighting Illini, a streak that dates back to the 2008 season.
That being said, Illinois has as high of expectations as they have had in a long time. The Illini have 16 starters returning from a team that won 10 games in 2024. Fifth-year head coach Bret Bielema has built a strong culture in Champaign, and Illinois has aspirations of going to the College Football Playoff.
A 12-team bracket creates a safety net for teams like Ohio State if they happen to trip up against a team like Illinois. In the past, that could have been the end of any shot for the Buckeyes to get into the College Football Playoff. But this season, should the Buckeyes trip up against an up-and-coming team like Illinois, their chances of making the field would still be very good.
Another factor that I’m intrigued by is what time it will be played. There were a lot of complaints about Indiana vs. Ohio State last season being on Big Noon Kickoff. It marked the fifth of six times the Buckeyes played at noon on FOX. While Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, and Jenny Taft are synonymous with college football Saturdays, Buckeyes fans want more games to be played later in the afternoon or in prime time.
The Ohio State-Illinois game does not yet have a kickoff time or a network designation. This is a game that seems ripe for at least 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. I would love to see it on Big Ten Saturday Night on NBC.
Plus, it would be great to see a nationally televised prime time game in Champaign, which doesn’t get a lot of marquee matchups like this.
Yes, the Big Ten and Fox have a lucrative contract, but the Big Ten is also on CBS and NBC. They’re new to televising Big Ten football, and they both need games like this to boost their respective ratings.
Regardless of the time and network, this game could have major implications in the Big Ten. Illinois is not a team to overlook, and it will be a big test for the Buckeyes.
Continue reading...
AlexFrank via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase (2) is tackled by Ohio State Buckeyes defensive lineman Joey Bosa (97) during Saturday’s NCAA Division I football game at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Il., on November 16, 2013. Ohio State won the game 60-35. (Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch) | BARBARA J. PERENIC / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Ohio State cannot overlook Illinois in this mid-October matchup.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about this season’s marquee matchups. Whether they feature the Buckeyes, other Big Ten schools, or major teams across the country. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Game of the Year” articles here.
In the Buckeyes’ 2024 national championship season, their home game against Indiana became a much bigger matchup than originally anticipated when the schedule came out.
Games like that are always fun. They become another big mark on the schedule for the Buckeyes.
The trip to Illinois this season could be just that. Battles against Texas, Penn State, and Michigan are going to get the most attention and anticipation, but the game in Champaign, Illinois, on Oct. 11 could become a crucial matchup in the Big Ten this season.
Ohio State and Illinois haven’t played since Nov. 18, 2017, a game the Buckeyes won 52-14. It’s the latest of nine straight wins over the Fighting Illini, a streak that dates back to the 2008 season.
That being said, Illinois has as high of expectations as they have had in a long time. The Illini have 16 starters returning from a team that won 10 games in 2024. Fifth-year head coach Bret Bielema has built a strong culture in Champaign, and Illinois has aspirations of going to the College Football Playoff.
A 12-team bracket creates a safety net for teams like Ohio State if they happen to trip up against a team like Illinois. In the past, that could have been the end of any shot for the Buckeyes to get into the College Football Playoff. But this season, should the Buckeyes trip up against an up-and-coming team like Illinois, their chances of making the field would still be very good.
Another factor that I’m intrigued by is what time it will be played. There were a lot of complaints about Indiana vs. Ohio State last season being on Big Noon Kickoff. It marked the fifth of six times the Buckeyes played at noon on FOX. While Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, and Jenny Taft are synonymous with college football Saturdays, Buckeyes fans want more games to be played later in the afternoon or in prime time.
The Ohio State-Illinois game does not yet have a kickoff time or a network designation. This is a game that seems ripe for at least 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. I would love to see it on Big Ten Saturday Night on NBC.
Plus, it would be great to see a nationally televised prime time game in Champaign, which doesn’t get a lot of marquee matchups like this.
Yes, the Big Ten and Fox have a lucrative contract, but the Big Ten is also on CBS and NBC. They’re new to televising Big Ten football, and they both need games like this to boost their respective ratings.
Regardless of the time and network, this game could have major implications in the Big Ten. Illinois is not a team to overlook, and it will be a big test for the Buckeyes.
Continue reading...
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2025 Countdown Thread
- Buckeye Football
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2x All Big Ten
Captain & Team MVP
Father of a Captain & Team MVP
2x All Big Ten
2x All American
Maxwell Award
2nd in Heisman Voting by the 3rd narrowest margin in history (It was THE narrowest margin for 24 years)
Bob Ferguson
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Nick Saban (ex-HC Alabama Crimson Tide)
- By Thump
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Taco Bell = crack for Thump
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LGHL Game of the Year: Oregon at Penn State could decide tiebreakers for B1G Championship
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Game of the Year: Oregon at Penn State could decide tiebreakers for B1G Championship
Jami Jurich via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Melinda Meijer/ISI Photos/Getty Images
When the Nittany Lions host Oregon on Sept. 27, the outcome could have ripple effects for the Buckeyes and rest of the conference.
In an ideal world, Ohio State will get through its regular season schedule unscathed and control its own destiny as far as the B1G Championship and playoffs are concerned. However, because of the nature of this year’s conference-wide schedule, the Buckeyes (along with the rest of the Big Ten contenders) don’t have a lot of wiggle room for error if they want to make the conference championship.
Each team that could be in contention for the conference title has approximately two tough conference games, with one or two additional games that could potentially pose upset threats. Because of this, losing one game deeply increases the potential that a team’s destiny could be in someone else’s hands.
As a disclaimer, the following analysis excludes the Buckeyes’ season opener against Texas. While it could have down-the-road implications for College Football Playoff rankings, it won’t impact conference standings in any way. Plus, as the season opener, there’s plenty of time to bounce back in the rankings.
For the Buckeyes, their toughest games are their home game against Penn State on November 1 and their regular-season finale in Ann Arbor on November 29. Though they do need to be wary of their games at Illinois and Wisconsin, an unbeaten conference record is not out of the question for the Buckeyes, and more than one Big Ten loss would be disappointing, to say the least.
If the Buckeyes control their own destiny, then the rest of the conference’s schedules become a moot point. But should the Buckeyes do manage to drop one conference game, then the game that will likely have the greatest impact on season outcomes for the Buckeyes is the Oregon at Penn State game on September 27.
Of the two conference games that pose true threats for the Buckeyes (Penn State and Michigan), the Buckeyes are long overdue for a win over Michigan (and Ryan Day’s job might very well depend on it). But likewise, the Nittany Lions will have the best team they’ve had in years, with Drew Allar returning as their starting quarterback, a pair of star running backs returning, and a defense now being run by former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
So, in a hypothetical world in which the Buckeyes finally manage to beat Michigan but drop the game at Penn State, the Buckeyes’ best-case scenario is for Penn State to go undefeated. This makes Oregon at Penn State the Buckeyes’ best chance to still make the conference championship,p even if they drop the game at Penn State, as it is the Nittany Lions’ other toughest game.
Should Penn State go undefeated, the Buckeyes’ hypothetical loss to them doesn’t necessarily preclude OSU from a conference championship berth. Michigan would, in this scenario, also have one loss, but OSU would win the tiebreaker based on their head-to-head results. Oregon would presumably also have one conference loss (to Penn State), and without a head-to-head game, it would then go into further tiebreaking metrics. The next tiebreaker is record against common conference opponents, and they would both have a loss to the same team. The next tiebreaker would be record against common conference opponents with the best record (again, if they both have one loss, it would come down to Penn State). They’d move into cumulative conference opponent winning percentage, which could really go either way. So even with a tiebreaker, Ohio State would have a good chance.
Therefore, this could be the game that keeps Ohio State alive even with one loss.
But even if Ohio State goes undefeated in the regular season, the Penn State-Oregon game is not without implications for them. On one hand, there is a world in which Oregon and Ohio State both go undefeated in conference play. This would hand Penn State two losses, eliminating them from Big Ten Championship contention and setting up an OSU-Oregon B1G Championship game.
Alternatively, if Ohio State is undefeated but Penn State beats Oregon, Penn State and Oregon could potentially have one loss each, giving Penn State the tiebreaker advantage and setting up an OSU-Penn State rematch in the Big Ten Championship. Though Penn State beating Oregon is ideal in some ways because it would add more weight to an OSU win over the Nittany Lions (something that could positively impact playoff rankings), it could also set up the Buckeyes and Penn State in a rematch in the B1G Championship.
It is extremely difficult to beat the same team twice in a season. We saw this last year with Oregon and OSU. It would be less than ideal for the Buckeyes to have to play Penn State a second time heading into the playoffs, and I don’t have confidence that if we beat them once, we’d beat them a second time.
While there are so many hypotheticals in any pre-season analysis, if the Buckeyes have the season we’re hoping they’ll have, the Penn State-Oregon game could be the biggest game of the year because, while OSU has no control over the outcome of this game, it will likely have ripple effects for the Buckeyes and the rest of the conference that will leave us talking for months afterward.
Continue reading...
Jami Jurich via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Melinda Meijer/ISI Photos/Getty Images
When the Nittany Lions host Oregon on Sept. 27, the outcome could have ripple effects for the Buckeyes and rest of the conference.
In an ideal world, Ohio State will get through its regular season schedule unscathed and control its own destiny as far as the B1G Championship and playoffs are concerned. However, because of the nature of this year’s conference-wide schedule, the Buckeyes (along with the rest of the Big Ten contenders) don’t have a lot of wiggle room for error if they want to make the conference championship.
Each team that could be in contention for the conference title has approximately two tough conference games, with one or two additional games that could potentially pose upset threats. Because of this, losing one game deeply increases the potential that a team’s destiny could be in someone else’s hands.
As a disclaimer, the following analysis excludes the Buckeyes’ season opener against Texas. While it could have down-the-road implications for College Football Playoff rankings, it won’t impact conference standings in any way. Plus, as the season opener, there’s plenty of time to bounce back in the rankings.
For the Buckeyes, their toughest games are their home game against Penn State on November 1 and their regular-season finale in Ann Arbor on November 29. Though they do need to be wary of their games at Illinois and Wisconsin, an unbeaten conference record is not out of the question for the Buckeyes, and more than one Big Ten loss would be disappointing, to say the least.
If the Buckeyes control their own destiny, then the rest of the conference’s schedules become a moot point. But should the Buckeyes do manage to drop one conference game, then the game that will likely have the greatest impact on season outcomes for the Buckeyes is the Oregon at Penn State game on September 27.
Of the two conference games that pose true threats for the Buckeyes (Penn State and Michigan), the Buckeyes are long overdue for a win over Michigan (and Ryan Day’s job might very well depend on it). But likewise, the Nittany Lions will have the best team they’ve had in years, with Drew Allar returning as their starting quarterback, a pair of star running backs returning, and a defense now being run by former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
So, in a hypothetical world in which the Buckeyes finally manage to beat Michigan but drop the game at Penn State, the Buckeyes’ best-case scenario is for Penn State to go undefeated. This makes Oregon at Penn State the Buckeyes’ best chance to still make the conference championship,p even if they drop the game at Penn State, as it is the Nittany Lions’ other toughest game.
Should Penn State go undefeated, the Buckeyes’ hypothetical loss to them doesn’t necessarily preclude OSU from a conference championship berth. Michigan would, in this scenario, also have one loss, but OSU would win the tiebreaker based on their head-to-head results. Oregon would presumably also have one conference loss (to Penn State), and without a head-to-head game, it would then go into further tiebreaking metrics. The next tiebreaker is record against common conference opponents, and they would both have a loss to the same team. The next tiebreaker would be record against common conference opponents with the best record (again, if they both have one loss, it would come down to Penn State). They’d move into cumulative conference opponent winning percentage, which could really go either way. So even with a tiebreaker, Ohio State would have a good chance.
Therefore, this could be the game that keeps Ohio State alive even with one loss.
But even if Ohio State goes undefeated in the regular season, the Penn State-Oregon game is not without implications for them. On one hand, there is a world in which Oregon and Ohio State both go undefeated in conference play. This would hand Penn State two losses, eliminating them from Big Ten Championship contention and setting up an OSU-Oregon B1G Championship game.
Alternatively, if Ohio State is undefeated but Penn State beats Oregon, Penn State and Oregon could potentially have one loss each, giving Penn State the tiebreaker advantage and setting up an OSU-Penn State rematch in the Big Ten Championship. Though Penn State beating Oregon is ideal in some ways because it would add more weight to an OSU win over the Nittany Lions (something that could positively impact playoff rankings), it could also set up the Buckeyes and Penn State in a rematch in the B1G Championship.
It is extremely difficult to beat the same team twice in a season. We saw this last year with Oregon and OSU. It would be less than ideal for the Buckeyes to have to play Penn State a second time heading into the playoffs, and I don’t have confidence that if we beat them once, we’d beat them a second time.
While there are so many hypotheticals in any pre-season analysis, if the Buckeyes have the season we’re hoping they’ll have, the Penn State-Oregon game could be the biggest game of the year because, while OSU has no control over the outcome of this game, it will likely have ripple effects for the Buckeyes and the rest of the conference that will leave us talking for months afterward.
Continue reading...
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