TMAPA, FL - JANUARY 02: Guard Jole Foreman #67 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates a touchdown catch by wide receiver Keith Nichol #7 against the Georgia Bulldogs in the Outback Bowl January 2, 2012 at Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Florida. The Sparatans won 33 - 30 in triple overtime. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Ohio State Buckeyes v Michigan State Spartans

This weekend Ohio State (#14) travels for the first time this year and its up to East Lansing to meet one of the premium teams in the Big Ten, the Michigan State Spartans (#20).  The Spartans present a challenging defense for any team with the 13th best passing defense in the country and the 11th best rush defense. Currently the Buckeyes are atop the Leaders division at 4-0. If the Buckeyes hope to finish the year undefeated they will need to find a way to move the ball against a defensive powerhouse of Saturday.

The past three games for Ohio State have been closer than anyone expected and head coach Urban Meyer has said after each one that the team needs to improve, this time everyone believes him. Meyer criticized both sides of the ball after a 29-15 victory over UAB last weekend. He said the defense bends and breaks while the offense is not very good, ouch.

Michigan State has struggled at times also this year with dropped passes and missed tackles, not playing as well as they would have liked against Eastern Michigan last week. And losing to Notre Dame September 15th at home.

The Buckeyes remain undefeated but have had their own tackling issues and have given up way too many yards on penalties with false starts on offense and personal fouls on defense. Meyer is looking for more explosiveness from the offense when they play this weekend and less passive play from the defensive.