Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Kickoff: 12noon
TV: ABC
At 3-8, Michigan
comes into Ohio Stadium with their worst record ever. First year Head Coach Rich Rodriguez has
struggled all season trying to transition Michigan’s traditional offense into his own
high powered offensive style. Unfortunately
for Rodriguez, he simply doesn’t have the right weapons to run the new
offense. Don’t feel bad for the
Wolverines, Rodriguez has a slew of young talent coming into Michigan in 2009 but for now, the Maize and
Blue just aren’t there yet. On the other
hand, Ohio State is playing for another Big Ten
title and a possible Rose Bowl invitation.
The Buckeyes haven’t exactly lived up to expectations this season but
have played themselves into a position to four-peat as Big Ten Champs. There is a lot at stake in this game. The Buckeyes are playing for more hardware
and Michigan
is playing for pride. That alone makes the
Wolverines a very dangerous team. Don’t
expect Ohio State to come out with a bunch of new
plays that we haven’t seen all season and put up 50+ points on the
Wolverines. Instead, expect a lot of the
same ball controlling “Tresselball” schemes.
“Close to the Vest,” they say.
By Pete Quint
OSU “O”
Ohio
State fans have been clamoring
for the offense to open up ever since freshman phenom Terrelle Pryor took over
the quarterback position. But even in
blow out wins over Michigan
State and Northwestern,
head coach Jim Tressel has kept things “close to the vest” and ran his ultraconservative
offense. Don’t expect this week to be
any different as the old “three yards and a cloud of dust” play calling
continues. Likely, Pryor will not throw
for more than 12 passes the entire game while running back Beanie Wells will get
the majority of the action and rush for over 150 yards. There will be a few long pass plays early on
in the game but if the Buckeyes get any sort of lead going into the second half
expect to see a lot of Beanie-to-the-left, Beanie-to-the-right,
Beanie-down-the-middle. The senior laden
Michigan
defense was much ballyhooed at the start of the season but has since regressed
to a mere shadow of its once proud self.
Leading tackler linebacker Obi Ezeh (96) and sack master Brandon Graham
(9) are a nasty duo but the Wolverines haven’t been very successful blitzing
the linebackers and rely on their defensive line to get most of the
pressure. The Buckeye offensive line
should be effective against the defensive line’s bull-rush giving time for
Pryor and Wells to find open lanes to run.
It won’t be easy but the Buckeyes are ready for this kind of
battle.
OSU “D”
Michigan
is banged up. Starting quarterback
Steven Threet isn’t expected to play, running back Brandon Minor will start but
is nursing a bad shoulder and running back Sam McGuffie likely won’t be in Columbus due to an
unfortunate death in the family. Taking
over for Threet will be sophomore Nick Sheridan. Sheridan
has started three games this season and has come away with mixed results;
mostly on the bad side. With or without Sheridan, the Michigan
pass offense is ranked 10th in the Big Ten. The Buckeye defense is ranked second overall
in the conference and is drooling over the possibilities. Lead by All-American candidates James
Laurinaitis and Malcolm Jenkins, the Buckeye defense has been stingy all season
giving up only 13.6 points per game. Michigan has averaged
26.5 points over the last four games but hasn’t gotten any defensive help. Michigan
receivers, Martavious Odoms and Greg Mathews are a nice tandem but with
questions at quarterback, the Wolverines will have to rely on the running game
to produce positive yardage. It will be
a bend-don’t-break gameplan for the Buckeye defense; don’t get beat deep, watch
for the run and keep the receivers in front of you. Michigan
will make mistakes and the Buckeyes need to capitalize on every advantage.
Summary
Here’s what Ohio State has on the line going into the game this Saturday;
fifth straight victory over Michigan
(first time in school history), fourth consecutive Big Ten title, a fourth
straight BCS Bowl birth and an outside shot at their first Rose Bowl since 1996. While much of the national media says this is
a ho-hum match-up in the storied rivalry, for Buckeye fans this is a HUGE
game. These kind of winning streaks
rarely come around in anyone’s lifetime and the Ohio State
faithful is currently living in the history books. Michigan
will give the Buckeyes their all but in the end, Ohio State
will be too much. 28 seniors will play
in Ohio Stadium for the last time on Saturday and none of them will know what it’s
like to lose to “That Team up North”.
Prediction:
OSU 35 – UM 13
Why OSU will win:
Tresselball. This
defense isn’t what the preseason magazines made it out to be. They’re slow and easily winded. A big dosage of “Beanie-up-the-middle” will
quickly wear down the Wolverine defense allowing Tressel to play his game his
way. It won’t be a pretty win but I
promise Woody would be proud. "To hell with exciting. I'd rather be
drab as hell and win." – Woody Hayes
Why OSU will lose:
Michigan
has nothing to play for but pride. They
also have nothing to lose. Both facts
make them dangerous and with the emotion of the game, to use an old overused
cliché, anything can happen in this game.
Michigan
knows what the Buckeyes are playing for and bet that they would love to play
the spoiler and prevent any chance of the Buckeyes going to their first Rose
Bowl in 11 years. Putting all the
intangibles aside, Michigan
will have to play their best game of the season to have a chance at the upset.
Crazy stat of the
game:
-Michigan hasn’t won in Columbus since 2000.
-Ohio State has never won five in a row against Michigan.
-For the first time in 38 years, Michigan will not play in a bowl game
(1974).
-Michigan leads the overall
series 57-41-6 but since 1951, Woody Hayes’ first year as head coach of the
Buckeyes, Ohio State holds a 29-26-2 lead.
Michigan players to watch:
Junior RB #4 Brandon
Minor
Sophomore QB #Nick Sheridan
Sophomore LB #45 Obi Ezeh
Junior DE #55 Brandon Graham
Freshman WR #9 Martavious Odoms