The Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Oklahoma Sooners in one of the college football games on Saturday, September 17, 2016 start time at 7:30 PM ET, at Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma.
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One thing college football has shown us so far this season is that inexperience is not necessarily a negative. Whoever wins this game will be looking at a good chance to get there again.
Billy George: The Buckeyes are slight favorites in this game, and for good reasons. Despite the Buckeyes being on the road, they’ll come into the matchup expected to win.
Dano Opacich: The Buckeyes use Sooners backup QB’s calling their defense “basic” as bulletin board material and their defense excels.
The Sooners crushed Louisiana-Monroe last week, but they’re only 1-1. Oklahoma needs to take advantage of that more than they did against Houston, when Mayfield had more rush attempts than both Mixon and Perine. However, the home team is certainly capable of a big win. Ohio State has not been challenged to date, beating up on Bowling Green and Tulsa by a combined 125-13 score. Those questions, and many, many more, are about to get answers. Barrett can absolutely throw the ball, but the Ohio State wide receivers shouldn’t be a big mismatch for OU’s secondary. Sooners, to Crimson And Cream Machine. Their high-octane offense, led by one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, will be hard to stop, and the young Ohio State defense is the most athletic one that the Sooners will face all year. Going to 0-2 against great teams (actually against FBS teams) with a loss to Ohio State? There is a precedent for what the Sooners have done previously with their backs to the wall.
Thomas Scurlock: The Buckeyes are ranked No. 3 largely based on Urban Meyer and throttling two inferior teams. They’ll still have a chance to win the Big Ten, no matter what happens Saturday, and the Big Ten victor is going to make the Playoff nearly every year.
Ohio State and Oklahoma, the top two teams in the AP’s all-time rankings, will meet today with the high stakes one might expect in such a matchup. Against Houston, Mayfield’s struggles were in making good decisions and waiting too long for downfield plays to develop. Each is somewhere in the Heisman picture, and each could turn this game on its head.
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We’ll see how influential the officiating mistake ultimately proves.
