Ohio State (No 13) is ready to meet Michigan State (No 7) Saturday night in primetime on national television (ABC 8:00pm) on the road. The underdog Buckeye coaches were asked after the Illinois win about plays from last year’s Big Ten Championship game that they still think about. Tom Herman hasn’t thought about the 4th and 2 play call that lost the game for OSU last year, at least not since fall camp began and the coaches put all their focus on this year’s team. He did talk about the challenge that playing Michigan State’s highly regarded defense is for the Buckeyes. He has been busy this week watching film of the MSU defense to find something that has worked against them that the Buckeyes can duplicate. Oregon and Nebraska are games that Michigan State played that the Buckeyes can study and steal some offensive formations and plays.

Odds makers have the Spartans winning by 3 points, and being on the road in Spartan Stadium is not an easy game for any team. But the ever improving Buckeyes are the most likely team in the league to have a shot.

Ohio State players and coaches want revenge for last year’s lost in a game that will probably decide the conference division. Tight Ends coach Tim Hinton is very familiar with MSU coach Mark Dantonio after coaching with him in Cincinnati and almost going to Michigan State when Dantonio left. He understands that Michigan State will bring a toughness to the game on Saturday that Ohio State needs to match. JT Barrett cannot play as poorly as he did at Penn State and the defense needs to stop Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook for the Buckeyes to take MSU on the road.