We blinked, and suddenly it's November.
The final month of the college football regular season is upon us.
How did we get here? Didn't the season just start? Can we rewind things to the beginning? This is not OK.
From Ohio State's perspective, November is the time which Urban Meyer often says he wants his team to compete for championships. At 7-1, the Buckeyes likely have an opportunity to do just that should they win their final four games.
Around the Big Ten, several other teams feel the same way. Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan and Penn State are all fighting to get to Indianapolis and play for the league title.
We've reached the stretch run of the college football season — as sad as it might be. Stock Up/Stock Down returns this week — with an Ohio State flavor, per usual — to examine who's trending up and who's trending down around the conference.
Stock Up
Ohio State's crunch-time offense
It's not fixed. Let's start there. Ohio State's offense, in general, has some kinks to work out.
But the Buckeyes showed something in the fourth quarter of Saturday's win over Northwestern. There's an argument to be made they shouldn't have even been in that position in the first place — and that's fair — but for Ohio State to "nut up" as head coach Urban Meyer described it and score a go-ahead touchdown then ice the game was rather important.
Noah Brown's catch on third down and J.T. Barrett's third-down run were the two big plays for the Buckeyes as they saved their season in the 24-20 victory over the Wildcats.
Saquon Barkley — Penn State running back
Ohio State held Barkley relatively in check last week thanks in large part to his low number of carries. The sophomore running back had just 12 rushes for 99 yards.
In Penn State's 62-24 rout of Purdue on Saturday, Barkley had 207 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. He's the Big Ten's best running back by a decent margin and he was named the conference's offensive player of the week for his performance.
Clayton Thorson, Austin Carr — Northwestern quarterback, wide receiver
The last few weeks I've come away impressed with some of Ohio State's opponents and Thorson and Carr certainly caught my eye Saturday.
Thorson was 22-for-42 passing for 256 yards and a touchdown while also showing some mobility when things broke down. He made some big-time throws — particularly on third down — and, as just a redshirt sophomore, looked like a legitimate pro prospect for the Wildcats.
His favorite target was Carr, who proved why he led the Big Ten in receptions coming into Saturday's game. He's such a tough matchup for any defensive back and he got open quite often against the Buckeyes with eight catches for 158 yards.
Stock Down
Ohio State's vertical passing game
Devin Smith is not on the Buckeyes' roster and defenses aren't allowing Ohio State to throw the ball down the field. The Buckeyes are going to have to figure out another way to create explosive plays offensively.
It might be time to chalk up the deep passing game as a loss this season for Ohio State.
Michigan State
I promised I'd leave Michigan State alone since this season has already been disastrous enough for the Spartans, but then I saw this tweet Monday afternoon.
life comes at you fast pic.twitter.com/xQvydm2W80
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) October 31, 2016
Moral victories, baby!
