The arrival of Big Ten football in Columbus coincides with the coming of autumn. Forests of green leaves turn to hues of yellow, orange and red. What’s left of the bright and hot summer sun gives way to shrinking light, shorter days and colder nights.
In the air, there is a chill and also an overwhelming sense this time of year was always intended to be the backdrop for a sport that's as woven into the fibers of Midwestern culture as corn, cows and cheese curds.
But far away from the seemingly endless fields of crops and dairy farms that fill the vast spaces in between cities and college towns, Ohio State will open this season's conference campaign on the Eastern Seaboard in College Park, Md., which sits about 30 minutes northeast of the buzz and bustle of Washington, D.C.
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| MARYLAND TERRAPINS |
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4–1, 1–0 BIG TEN ROSTER | SCHEDULE |
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NOON – SATURDAY, OCT. 4 BYRD STADIUM COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND |
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Home to the Maryland Terrapins, Byrd Stadium pales in comparison to the league's array of college football cathedrals like the Horseshoe, Beaver Stadium, the Big House, Camp Randall, Spartan Stadium and Nebraska's Memorial Stadium. It holds 54,000 people, and when the Buckeyes come to town Saturday, expect every seat filled for the first time since 2008.
"I think they’re saying it’s one of the biggest games in Maryland history," senior tight end Jeff Heuerman said. "Whatever that means."
For Ohio State, it's a chance to sustain momentum after offensively springing to life in a 50-28 win against Cincinnati last weekend.
For Maryland, which is playing host to their first-ever Big Ten game, this is a spectacle with historical implications and the chance to secure a win that would surely live in Terrapins lore.
"They've been working on this one, I imagine, for a while," head coach Urban Meyer said this week. "This will be a big‑time atmosphere."
Opponent Breakdown
In Randy Edsall's fourth year at the helm, Maryland has gotten off to its best start (4-1) under the direction of the former Connecticut head coach.
In fact, the Terrapins have improved in every year since Edsall's arrival in 2011: they were 2-10 in his first season, 4-8 in 2012 and 7-6 in 2013. Because of that, Maryland seems to be playing with a certain confidence that it's lacked in recent years. And their lone loss is a three-point defeat to a West Virginia team that looks legitimate after putting up fights against Alabama and Oklahoma.
On offense, expect to hear the name Stefon Diggs early and often. The junior wide receiver, who spurned Meyer's Buckeyes and just about every other major program in the country for the hometown team, leads the Terrapins with 29 catches for 398 yards and two touchdowns.
A five-star recruit out of high school, Diggs is regarded as one of the nation's best. Meyer, a master curator of talent for his spread offense, coveted the Gaithersburg native.
"We had a good relationship with Stefon Diggs and his family. And I really thought we had a legitimate shot at him. I knew when watching him play that he was special," Meyer said Monday. "Now that I see him, he's as good as there is in America."
Of course, Diggs figures to challenge an Ohio State pass defense that's still the team's weakest link after giving up 350-plus yards and four touchdowns through the air against Gunner Kiel and the Bearcats last weekend.
The difference here, though, is an uncertainty looming over who will, you know, actually throw Diggs the football Saturday.
After starting dual-threat quarterback C.J. Brown went down with a sprained wrist against Indiana, backup Caleb Rowe torched the Hoosiers for 198 yards and two touchdowns on 12-of-18 throws in the second half.
As of Tuesday, Edsall was noncommittal on whether Brown will play against the Buckeyes, saying "we'll find out on Saturday," during the Big Ten coaches teleconference.
On defense, Maryland is giving up 25 points and 375 yards a game. But Meyer said Wednesday he expects the unit to be more than formidable.
"They’re the most athletic defense we’ll face so far this year," he said. Which is, of course, quite the compliment considering the way Virginia Tech simply stifled Ohio State in a 35-21 win last month.
Buckeye Breakdown
In what's the first true road game for Meyer and Co. (the game against Navy was a neutral site), the Buckeyes find themselves with a chance to make a statement in the conference.
While their hopes of playing in the first-ever college football playoff seem long gone after that loss to the Hokies Sept. 6, a win over Maryland, of course, would keep their hopes and dreams of winning a Big Ten title very much alive.
To do so, they'll have to find a way to stave off a team hungry to knock them off. Ohio State, after all, has been among the conference's cream of the crop for the last decade.
"Everybody’s just in survival mode and now you’re getting guys banged up a little bit — it’s Week Five, Week Six, whatever it is — and Big Ten does make everything a little different, but to say like ‘Well, did you practice harder?’ No, but we understand the significance of it because our goal is to compete for a championship in November. This is it," Meyer said.
On offense, the Buckeyes amassed 710 yards and 45 first downs on 101 plays against Cincinnati's horrid defense. Still, the outburst was significant for a team that's still very much trying to find its footing with redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett at the controls, four new starting offensive lineman, and unproven commodities at the skill positions.
Meyer, though, said Ohio State has to play like that against tougher opponents.
“We have to do it against better defenses — nothing against Kent State and Cincinnati — but we’ve got to continue to grow. What I think is going on best is the balance right now," he said. "You look up the scoreboard and seeing 250 or 300 each, you know, that’s a good sign. The last two years, we were kind of run-dominated.” The Terrapins, while not world beaters, should provide more of a challenge.
On defense, most — if not all — of the attention will be focused on a pass defense that squandered an opportunity for a breakout game against the Bearcats last weekend. In particular, the Buckeyes were gashed for four big plays of 60-plus yards that kept Cincinnati and its high-flying attack in the game until midway through the third quarter. With a player like Diggs lining up across from them, Ohio State's defensive secondary will face a similar threat on the outside.
"We've got to get it fixed," Meyer said. "And it's a combination of coaching and playing."
How It'll Play Out
Meyer's a master of hyperbole, but Diggs is the real deal. He's talented enough to give all of Ohio State's secondary problems (especially on screen plays) and should break a few here and there. That comes with the territory of playing a defense where you're going to occasionally get burned. As he goes, so goes Maryland's offense.
Get smart with Maryland Bucknotes.
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the Terrapins don't seem to have quite the stable of wide receivers that Cincinnati had. And against the Bearcats, senior cornerback Doran Grant was able to more or less shut down their biggest threat in Mekale McKay.
That said, playing in what's potentially the biggest game for Maryland in a few decades, Diggs and Co. are going to come into this contest determined to make a statement. With the din of the home crowd behind them, the Terrapins will jump out to an early lead against an Ohio State team that has yet to prove it can win in a hostile environment.
As a whole, however, the Buckeyes should be able to exploit holes in Maryland's defense. With four games of experience now, Barrett and the offense are starting to come on strong and have an element of confidence they did not previously have before last weekend.
On defense, Ohio State will have to contend with Diggs, but unlike Cincinnati and Virginia Tech, the Terrapins' quarterback situation doesn't look like it will threaten the Buckeyes the way Kiel and Hokies signal-caller Michael Brewer did.
In the end, Meyer's squad starts to pull away in the third quarter before flying back to Columbus with a win and a step toward making a run at returning to Indianapolis.
ELEVEN WARRIORS STAFF PREDICTION: Ohio State 34, Maryland 25
