Will Bye Week Help or Hurt Ohio State Buckeyes?
After Chip Trayanum snuck in for the game-winning touchdown over former No. 9 Notre Dame, the Ohio State Buckeyes had a full week off on the bye. Now, with the undefeated Maryland Terrapins up next, how will Ohio State fare?
The Buckeyes have surely enjoyed the last week, coming off a top-10 win, having a week off and the Lou Holtz-Ryan Day beef settling down.
On the other hand, Maryland is coming off a 44-17 conference win over Indiana and sits at 5-0 on the season. Though the Terrapins have not faced a top-25 team yet, they are defeating opponents by an average of 25.4 points per game led by signal-caller Taulia Tagovailoa.
Maryland also is riding a seven-game streak dating back to last season, with their last loss against Ohio State 43-30.
However, the Buckeyes are 8-0 all time (since 2014) versus Maryland, and the Terps have only kept the game within 10 points once in 2018.
Senior linebacker Cody Simon said Wednesday the bye week has allowed the Buckeyes to “catch [their] breath.”
“It is important for the bye week to watch your tendencies and what you’re giving to offenses,” Simon said. “It’s really all we’re doing. We need to go back through the Notre Dame film because that’s such an important game — a lot of our issues came out of that game. We need to double down and focus on those.”
McCord definitely felt the pressure late in the game against Notre Dame, picking up a crucial intentional grounding penalty with under a minute left.
With the bye, Ohio State has had enough time to look through the film and prepare for better teams overall — specifically, No. 6 Penn State’s and No. 2 Michigan’s top-tier defenses.
Penn State, who the Buckeyes play on Oct. 21, has recorded 20 sacks for 124 yards this season.
As for Michigan, there is still plenty of time to look ahead to that.
With abundant time to look through film and recover from an emotional win, Ohio State should be able to take care of business, returning to Ohio Stadium this Saturday at noon.