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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
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Greyshirt
All-American
Hey boys once again I don't see how MSU wins but.........for some reason MSU seems to be the horrible boogeyman in the closet for OSU. My Spartans have become a different breed since CMD showed. Yes the last few years have been thin but I expect MSU to come out swinging early. I again don't see how MSU contains OSU all 4 quarters. But stranger things have happened. Lets hope for decent weather and a hard fought game with no injuries. May the best team on that day win. I don't see may teams being the best team on paper when playing OSU. So as the dog you gotta hope you play your A++ game and OSU plays a bit off, like maybe their C game.
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Worst thing that could happen for MSU is ttun bitching up and choosing (covid) positivity as if they were Strassinin themselves! Last chance possibly to show they belong in the CCG/CFP so Im guessing we go full throttle from beginning to end tomorrow. I just don't see Sparty with enough explosiveness on either side of the ball doing much of anything. Weather would be the only caveat for a close game in my opinion.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Nobody expects Sparty to win so Mel Tucker basically has nothing to lose. In other words, Mel Tucker is playing with "house money" and I'm sure he reviewed the Ohio State/Rutgers game film (see YouTube below). He knows that he doesn't have the personnel to win playing "straight up", so I look for a lot of trick plays, fake punts, onside kicks, and/or going for it on 4th down anywhere on the field.
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Systems_id
Head Coach
If first half OSU shows up for at least the 3rd quarter then this should be an absolute rout. Sadly the last time OSU has played 4 complete quarters of ball was back in the first week.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
No. 4 Ohio State (-24) v. Michigan State - 12:00 PM EST - ABC
The 2020 season keeps getting stranger for Ohio State. The Buckeyes were forced to cancel last week’s game against Illinois because of COVID-19 issues. Ohio State could have played against Illinois, but the Buckeyes knew they had to get ahead of the virus if they had any shot at salvaging their final two games of the season.
The only person we know who will miss Saturday’s game against the Spartans is head coach Ryan Day, which will leave Larry Johnson as interim head coach. Even though Ohio State will be without Day, they have one of the best assistants in the country ready to step in and fill Day’s shoes. The players love Johnson, so it’s likely we see an inspired effort from the team, as Johnson becomes the first African-American to coach an Ohio State football game.
It’s hard to say that Justin Fields needs a bounce-back performance after setting a career high with 378 yards. What went wrong for Fields last time out was he was intercepted three times, which matches his total from his first 17 games at Ohio State. Luckily it didn’t cost the Buckeyes the game against Indiana, as Master Teague led an Ohio State rushing attack that ran for 307 yards.
Michigan State is coming off a huge win over Northwestern last week, beating the Wildcats 29-20 to hand Pat Fitzgerald’s team their first loss of the season. The Spartans surprisingly were able to run the football against Northwestern’s tough defense, finishing the game with 195 yards on the ground. Michigan State likely won’t have the same success on Saturday, as Ohio State is giving up less than 100 yards per game on the ground.
With Ohio State knowing they aren’t going to be challenged too much by the Spartans on the ground, the Buckeyes can concentrate a little more on tightening up in the secondary. Shaun Wade and the rest of the defensive backs can’t afford to get caught sleeping on Jalen Nailor, who is averaging over 23 yards per catch this year.
At some point we are going to need to see a huge win for Ohio State if they have any hope at impressing the selection committee and making the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes need that blowout win to be this weekend, since they don’t know what next week will hold with Michigan dealing with their own COVID-19 issues. Michigan State is just too sloppy and inconsistent on offense to be able to keep pace with the Buckeyes. Ohio State wins their eighth-straight in East Lansing, beating the Spartans in convincing fashion.
Ohio State 48, Michigan State 17
Just sayin': I'm anxiously awaiting the list of "unavailable players" for the game tomorrow.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
2) Ohio State got back to work on Tuesday after last week's cancellation, seemingly having a full week of preparation for this week's contest in East Lansing. Do you think the Buckeyes will be hindered at all by the delay or is it full go for Larry Johnson's first game as a head coach?
Biddle: I don't expect them to be as sharp as they typically would. Practices this week have been less physical by design, per Ryan Day. And there was going to be some rust regardless after not playing last week and pausing team activities for a full three days. Getting back on Tuesday was great news though. It was best-case-scenario for sure. I was just hoping they would get back by Wednesday. So, even though they won't be as sharp as they would be otherwise in my opinion, I still think they won't have too much trouble in this game.
Rubin: It's certainly not ideal. But what is in 2020? If anybody is equipped to deal with these trying obstacles, it's the Buckeyes.
Helwagen: I don’t think this will have any ill impact. They basically missed playing the game on Saturday and running on Sunday. They usually take Monday off anyway. The bigger issue may be that they have only played one game in the last 27 days, while Michigan State is sky high after beating Northwestern last week.
Murphy: I don't think anything at Ohio State this week could be described as "full go," but that argument could be used about this whole year. I think the Buckeyes will be fine with Johnson leading the team this week and it sounds like those that are available got as much work in as possible. Will this be the most prepared Scarlet and Gray team we've ever seen? I doubt it. But I think they've had enough time to get the job done.
Bax: I think they’re more than prepared after all these practices they’ve had with the delays, I’m more concerns about the physical sharpness. How many missed tackles should we expect from a group that hasn’t had more than one live fire football game in the span of a month? That’s my biggest worry about tomorrow’s game.
3) Michigan State is coming off an excellent win over previously unbeaten Northwestern, boasting two 'big' wins on their resume thus far.
Sure, they've also lost every other game but there's been some highs along with lows in Mel Tucker's first season. What's your read on the Spartans?
Biddle: They are not very good. I watched both games they won in their entirety and I still was not impressed with them. This is also a team that got handled by Rutgers with relative ease (mostly because QB Rocky Lombardi morphed into a turnover machine as he is apt to do), and got destroyed by Iowa. I give Tucker credit for winning two games because I thought that was their ceiling this season and he's already reached it. But they are a bad team overall. They do have a somewhat good defense -- I love senior linebacker Antjuan Simmons who originally committed to Ohio State -- but they are very limited offensively. I do like their receivers and Lombardi can throw a good deep ball, but overall they are a sputtering offense.
Rubin: They are a hard team to peg. Just a super inconsistent outfit so far. Given their limitations, the Spartans can't fall behind and remain competitive like Indiana did. So it behooves the Buckeyes to get off to a really fast start. Forcing Rocky Lombardi to into one-dimensional status could a key a 50-point effort for Ohio State.
Helwagen: My read is they are hard to read. The quarterback, Rocky Lombardi, runs so hot and cold. He only completes 54 percent of his throws and I’m sure is maddening for MSU fans. But then he hits a couple big plays and they beat Northwestern, so you think something is there. Defensively, they gave up 42 points to Iowa and held Northwestern to 20. There is nothing to explain it. Who knows what team will show up?
Murphy: This is an inconsistent Michigan State team that is still very much finding its way under Tucker. No offseason did the Spartans no favors as the players attempted to adjust to life under a new head coach. MSU looked better last week, but Northwestern also did not play well after getting into the top 10. I still think Tucker has a ways to go to build Michigan State back up to the team Mark Dantonio had for a while in East Lansing.
Bax: Before the Northwestern loss, I thought MSU was objectively the worst team in the Big Ten. The only logical answer I have for their two wins is that they have some pride under Mel Tucker, which explains the win over TSUN, who is also terrible. Northwestern? Look, Fitzgerald loses a game every single season he has utterly no business losing and with no MAC teams on the docket this year, it had to be Sparty.
5) Fingers crossed and the Buckeyes play the game, how do you see this playing out? Final score prediction, please.
Biddle: How nice was it to see that press release from OSU Friday afternoon that the game is definitely on? I think the Buckeyes will cruise in this one and earn some style points. Ohio State 42, Michigan State 16.
Rubin: If there was ever a time to cut it loose offensively this is it. Go for 70. Ohio State 51, Michigan State 17.
Helwagen: Could be a tough one for three quarters because MSU played so well last week. Turnovers could be huge on a cold day. But I think Justin Fields and the Buckeyes make enough plays to get out of there with the win. Ohio State 42, Michigan State 21.
Murphy: This is a difficult one to call but it is still unclear who will be available for Ohio State. A full-strength Buckeye team should have no issues with the Spartans but take some key pieces off the field and this becomes a contest. But it's too difficult to predict who will or won't play. So I'm going to say you get an angry Ohio State team that comes out fired up after not playing last week. Justin Fields needs to show his three interceptions last week were a fluke and this Buckeye defense needs to look much more impressive than against Indiana. I think both those things happen and it's a fairly comfortable win for the Scarlet and Gray. Ohio State 45, Michigan State 17.
Bax: If OSU’s secondary doesn’t get healthy against the Spartans, they’re not going to get healthy, period. I think the offense goes out and runs them over and we get a much better defensive showing….assuming we’re not missing some very critical pieces. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow! Ohio State 49, Michigan State 17.
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Are they going to wait an hour before kickoff time this time around to make it worse? Joking, seems pretty certain we're playing now. Thank God, this season is killing me.
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