J.T. Barrett saw the video board behind him flashing MMA highlights on loop at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, knowing full well the point his head coach is trying to get across. Ohio State's upcoming matchup against Michigan State should be looked at like the only shot the Buckeyes have in front of them, and the only one they need to worry about.
But an MMA fight, where combatants try to literally beat the teeth and snot out of their opponents?
Urban Meyer's latest tactic is to show UFC knockouts ahead of Saturday's game vs. Michigan State. pic.twitter.com/LLYXfIwNjp
— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) November 14, 2016
“I don’t want to compare that. We’ll let coach Meyer do that,” Barrett said. “I know what he’s talking about, but when I think about MMA I’m talking about bloody noses, people getting knocked out, things like that.”
MMA is one of the most grueling sports on the planet. Football is physical in its own right but not nearly on the same level. But Ohio State's battles against Michigan State in recent years are certainly strenuous.
“I'd say every Big Ten matchup is very physical and this one is toward the top of the list on physicality,” center Pat Elflein said. “Always their front seven is very good. It's a hard-fought game always up front.”
He would know. The Spartans run a pro-style offense predicated on being able to run the ball downhill and between the tackles. Defensively, they trust their press quarters scheme on the outside and in the back end because Mark Dantonio likes to blitz his linebackers right up the gut. Michigan State almost always has a dominant defensive line too.
Michigan State is 3-7 this season, struggling to take care of the football and establish the things it likes to do in terms of running the ball (seventh in the Big Ten) and stopping the run (eighth). It is outside the norm for the folks in East Lansing but with what the Ohio State game always means, the players that wear Spartan green will play their hardest once again on Saturday. Especially in the trenches.
“It's a physical game up front with those guys. They really compete, they compete really hard. The big guys,” defensive end Tyquan Lewis said. “That's the meat of the Big Ten, especially in the month of November, it's that late-season grind.”
The Spartans won three of the last five meetings between the two programs, and Saturday marks the fourth consecutive year the game is held in November, to Lewis' point. The wear and tear on bodies is a little more deeper and noticeable at this point in the season. Players typically leave the matchup a little more sore than usual.
“They show up to play hard, usually have some good players,” Elflein said. “Malik [McDowell] and Shilique Calhoun and all those guys that they have up front in the front seven. They're good football players. It's always a slugfest up front for us.”
Calhoun now plays for the Oakland Raiders and McDowell could miss Saturday's game with an ankle injury. But both played integral roles in Michigan State's 17-14 victory against Ohio State last November in Columbus. The Buckeyes ran for just 86 yards on 29 attempts in that game. Simply put, Michigan State's big bodies won the game up front.
Meyer knows that too. Regardless of Michigan State's record, he wants his players to treat the game like an MMA fight—this is the only chance for Ohio State to prove it is stronger-willed, more determined and physically in better shape than the Spartans. Something that didn't happen in 2015.
“If you think about it, it's like a boxing match. One-on-one, you only have one shot,” Lewis said. “For real, every play you only have one shot to do something correctly. You don't want to miss your chance to do something right. Buying into that, it means a lot for this team because it's the month of November and you only get one swing.”
Added Elflein: “We have one swing at this game to get to where we want. We have to have a flush, square hit on this one in the sense a knockout blow.”
The bumps and bruises may sting a little more this Sunday morning than usual for both sides. But what happens for the three-plus hours on Saturday in Spartan Stadium will determine if they will hurt less due to a win or more because of a loss.
“We have one shot to win this game and prepare like we only have one shot,” Lewis said. “Just placing the immediacy and the importance on this game because we only have one shot.”
