BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Jehu Chesson caught four touchdown passes, including one from 5 yards on the final play of regulation, and MI made a goal-line stand in the second overtime to escape with a Big Ten win in Bloomington, Ind. It’s a similar story this season.
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J.T. Barrett did what he had to do after leading No. 3 Ohio State to a 28-3 victory at IL on Saturday: apologize. That’s so true – the last four opponents are averaging under 10 points a game.
“That was our best game offensively, by far, we threw for over 300, (and) we ran against them”, Meyer said.
“It’s going to be a good test, a good measure of where we’re at. You can’t let all the outside stuff get to our heads and try to get too fired up because once you get too fired up you start playing out of character and you can’t do that”.
SMU extended its losing streak to eight games, falling to 1-9 overall and 0-6 in the league.
“We were playing at a very high level on the offensive line”, Ohio State right gard Pat Elflein said.
“So it just tells you, I guess we’ve got to get on a roll”.
And the smile on Urban Meyer’s face makes it quite clear how valuable that could be for the nation’s No. 3 team ahead of a huge showdown on Saturday with No. 13 MI State. Meanwhile, for the Spartans (9-1 SU, 3-7 ATS) to have any shot at the Big Ten title – and perhaps a shot at the playoff – they’ll have to continue their bounce-back from a Week 10 loss at Nebraska.
Ohio State’s next chance to establish just how good it is will come at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against MI State.
That set the stage for the 2014 game. The victory put Ohio State back in contention for the playoffs after the loss in the second game to Virginia Tech.
As we’ve seen so many times, it took a half for the Buckeyes to get Ezekiel Elliott untracked for his 15th straight game of more than 100 yards rushing (134 of his 181, with two TDs, in the second half). “People were questioning our ability to come out and play on the big stage”. Braxton Miller, Jalin Marshall and Curtis Samuel have all gotten behind secondaries on occasion, but not enough to stop the “We Never Knew How Much We’d Miss You, Devin Smith” narrative.
After months of tracking every statistic imaginable, debating arm strength versus rushing ability, installing a two-quarterback rotation, dealing with a suspension and even opening up the possibility that a third guy with experience at the position could conceivably climb back into the mix, the Buckeyes at long last have stability at the most important position on the field.
Think of this in terms of how topsy-turvy the season is for everyone else in the Big Ten.
The ease of Ohio State’s schedule in the first 10 games adds to the anticipation.
Despite frequent flashbacks, the Cowboys wrote a different script. Again in the national discussion entering a visit to Ames, No. 8 Oklahoma State trailed by 17 at one point in the first half but rallied to win at Jack Trice Stadium. Zeng then recorded a 366.83 in the one-meter dive, which bested Eastern Michigan’s Alexander Chan (365.40) by the slimmest of margins. “Michigan State had its best defense effort against Maryland this past week, but Ohio State can now see the finish line, and it will take a triple-A-plus effort to slay the beast”, Avello said. “It’s always been the same”. You just don’t really pay attention to (the hype).
IL coach Bill Cubit said, “They’re a good football team”.
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