For the Spartans, a win sends them to the Big Ten championship game.
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With Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan all 6-1 in the Big Ten – and the Spartans owning the tiebreaker – the rivalry victor will capture the Big Ten East, play for the league title, and creep back into the playoff picture only if Penn State pulls off the stunner.
“We have to take the emotional aspect out of it, because we need to be ready to play this football game”, Dantonio said. The older players do understand it. The younger guys need to understand how important this game really is to our program because it is about bragging rights throughout the state.
“WE ARE PENN STATE”, read their shirts. The Spartan defense reigned supreme against the Buckeyes; the defensive line allowed only five first downs and 132 yards of total offense before kicker Michael Geiger sailed a 41-yard field goal through the uprights to scoot the team past Ohio State, 17-13.
The public usually is on Ohio State. “It’s the greatest team game in the world for a reason, and when you’re playing a good team, you’ve got to expect some back and forth there”.
This season, the Buckeyes returned most of the talent from their title-winning team, converted quarterback Braxton Miller into an electric halfback and, if anything, improved their defensive play.
Evan Cruse: Although I am anxious about a Cook-less offense, the team has proven that it can win and win decisively without him. No. 8 Ohio State, which has won 10 of the last 11 games in the rivalry, is 10-1, 6-1, having lost to Michigan State last Saturday. Elliott was held to just 33 yards snapping his 15-game streak of 100 yards games on the ground. Can this rivalry, with two coaches who are as enigmatic as they all, take fans back to a time when Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler were walking the side lines?
What seems to be the bigger factor in the mood across OH, though, is the sudden realization that, no longer seen through the lens of unbroken success, this year’s Buckeyes might not be quite as imposing as they were thought to be.
Although they cover other things too besides American athletics, their sports themed parodies are undoubtedly their best material. “I’m just trying to get off and make a play”. They challenge every route.
If he is unable to start, look to Tyler O’Connor to try to carry the momentum he had from last week when he split time with Damion Terry.
In those three games alone, Rudock completed 69.7 percent of his passes for 1.033 yards and 10 touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Spartans duo of O’Connor and Terry totaled 16 runs for 50 yard and added a combined 91 yards through the air.
Raekwon McMillan, an Ohio State sophomore linebacker and a Georgia native, said the rivalry was a significant part of Ohio State’s recruiting pitch to him.
-Joey Bosa turning into The Incredible Hulk. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s hard”. Before losing to Michigan State, the defending national champion Buckeyes had won 23 straight overall and 30 consecutive in Big Ten regular season games. The Lions missed on a play last week where if I recall correctly it was Barkley who tossed the ball back to Hackenberg who just under threw a wide open Brandon Polk as some pressure got in No. 14’s face. “I love how we work”.
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The fifth-year senior quarterback actually did quite well in his one try against the Buckeyes – going 19-for-34 in the air for 245 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in the 34-24 loss in 2013 – but knows that this year will be vastly different. “It’s a big one”.
