Midweek Musings: Ohio State vs. Nebraska
Here are some of my thoughts in the middle of the week as we inch closer to Ohio State and Nebraska kicking off the season:
OHIO STATE'S OFFENSIVE LINE
I love Ohio State's offensive line this year. There's been so much talk about replacing J.K. Dobbins at running back after he rushed for more than 2,000 yards last fall. It sounds like Master Teague is healthy and Trey Sermon brings significant experience to the backfield. I'm sure they're going to split carries. But having perhaps the best offensive line in the country is going to help take a lot of pressure off the running game.
Thayer Munford is healthy and in fantastic shape, everyone on the team and coaching staff have sung Harry Miller's and Nick Petit-Frere's praises during camp, Josh Myers and Wyatt Davis are arguably the two best linemen in the Big Ten ... this has a chance to be as good of an offensive line as we've ever seen in Columbus. I don't think the Buckeye offense will skip a beat from their high-octane 2019 campaign.
NEBRASKA'S OFFENSIVE LINE
Speaking of offensive lines, Nebraska has all five starters on their line returning this year. It's the first time the 'Huskers have all five starters back up front since 1964. Considering the Buckeyes feel very good about their defensive ends, but their depth will be tested at defensive tackle, I think that matchup could be the most intriguing in Saturday's opener. It's not that the Buckeyes aren't capable - they just have a lot to prove.
RANDOM WEEK 1 THOUGHTS
Ohio State is playing Nebraska for the fifth year in a row, so it's not like they have no clue what the 'Huskers are all about. But with a new offensive coordinator and no film from non-conference games to prepare, this has to be a tough challenge for the Buckeyes to prepare this week. Since that's the case, I think the mentality for Ohio State is to focus on executing what they want to do as best they can and not worry so much about trying to shut down Nebraska's strengths. Trust your talent and go play with reckless abandon.
Holy smokes does Nebraska have a big roster. There are 154 players on their roster, which is believed to be the largest roster of any non-service academy in the country. 109 of them are freshmen or sophomores. Considering Scott Frost is heading into his third season and the program hasn't had a winning record since 2016, they better hope they've got some legitimate talent coming up soon because their schedule is really tough this fall and they're not expected to be at the top of the West Division.
Much has been made about playing in a virtually empty stadium. There will be roughly 1,000 family members from teams and coaches. I realize the stadiums will be pumping in up to 70 decibels of crowd noise during play and the acoustics will be strange because you'll have sound bouncing off lots of concrete and steel - I can imagine it will echo rather loudly. But I'm curious to know who's parents are going to be the loudest and easiest to hear on the field? Everyone has been to football games before with that fan.
Along those same lines, have you noticed how much more effective hard counts have been from quarterbacks this year? I wonder if we'll see an encroachment penalty in a critical situation this weekend.
Perhaps it's blind faith, but I'm not really concerned about the Big Ten playing nine games in nine weeks. I'm sure there will be some positive CoVID cases that pop up, but so far none of the schools across the league have reported major issues. Even at Michigan, where yesterday it was announced that the undergraduate student body had to immediately shelter-in-place for two weeks because of the virus spreading on campus, the football team is allowed to continue practicing and playing games because there has been no evidence of transmission by athletes. It was an agonizing wait for fans, but I think the league has the right system in place for the season to go smoothly.
NATIONAL POLLS ARE IRRELEVANT
I'm so glad that college football went to a playoff system, and I strongly believe they need to expand to eight teams, but that's a conversation for another time. But this week's AP Poll made me shake my head. Georgia got trounced in the second half by Alabama and they only dropped one spot to No. 4.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame played a very mediocre game against Louisville and they moved up to No. 3. It's pretty apparent that there is a sizeable drop-off between Clemson/Alabama/Ohio State and the rest of the country. Hopefully the Buckeyes will live up to the hype, but there's no reason to believe they won't do that.
BIG TEN THOUGHTS
Penn State losing running back Journey Brown for perhaps the entire season because of an undisclosed medical condition is brutal for the Nittany Lions. Brown was a dark horse Heisman candidate in my opinion. He was unstoppable in that Cotton Bowl victory over Memphis last season and was primed for a big season in Happy Valley. That's a big blow to Penn State's chances of upsetting Ohio State in 10 days.
I also think Nico Collins not playing for Michigan is really tough on a wide receiver group there that is lacking experience. Collins could've been a nice security blanket for Joe Milton, who has been thrust into the spotlight as their quarterback. I think Collins could have really benefitted from another year in college football, but he's chosen to train for the draft instead.
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