It might not have been the most convincing win of the season, but Ohio State took care of business in a 30-14 win against Minnesota on Saturday to remain undefeated after seven weeks.
Only eight teams – No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 10 Central Florida, No. 16 North Carolina State, No. 20 Cincinnati and No. 21 South Florida – have no yet lost. So while the Buckeyes have not played their best football the past couple weeks, it’s not a bad group to be in.
A matchup against Purdue stands between Ohio State and its bye week. But before taking a look at that game, let's take a look back at this past weekend's risers and fallers.
Stock Up
Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow
Last fall, Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow engaged in a competition to back up J.T. Barrett. Burrow seemed to have a slight lead after serving as the backup the year prior, but when he suffered a broken hand, Haskins saw an opportunity and took advantage of it. A couple months later, he completed Ohio State’s comeback win against Michigan.
Burrow wasn’t done, though. He battled Haskins throughout the spring for this year’s starting job. Only after the entirety of spring practice was completed did he transfer. Haskins won the job, but Burrow made it close.
Just a few months later, Haskins and Burrow are leading Ohio State and LSU – both top-5 teams – to a combined 13-1 record. Haskins just became the first player in program history to throw for more than 400 yards in back-to-back games, and Burrow helped LSU to a 36-16 upset win against second-ranked Georgia.
I cast my Heisman ballot for #DwayneHaskins! Click the player you think deserves the Heisman House vote. (@NissanUSA)
— Joey Burrow (@Joe_Burrow10) October 5, 2018
Not a bad year for the Buckeye and former Buckeye. Now, just imagine them meeting up in the College Football Playoff. It's certainly still in play.
K.J. Hill
Underrated, underappreciated and somehow forgotten no more.
K.J. Hill led Ohio State in catches last year, but had a yards-per-reception average below 10 yards, seemingly highlighting his lack of explosiveness. It hasn't mattered. He doesn’t have the speed of H-back predecessor Curtis Samuel or H-back teammate Parris Campbell, but he makes up for it with a combination of sure-handedness and route-running ability.
The polished receiver has the second-most catches and receiving yards among Ohio State players this season and was the most dominant player in Saturday's win against Minnesota. The turnaround, one-handed snag headlined a nine-catch, 187-yard, two-touchdown day. In each of the prior six games, Hill had between four and six catches, never gaining more than 95 yards.
Chaos in college football
As long as your favorite team doesn’t lose, college football chaos is the absolute best. Nothing matches the excitement of multiple top-10 teams going down.
On Saturday, chaos reigned. Second-ranked Georgia, sixth-ranked West Virginia, seventh-ranked Washington and eighth-ranked Penn State fell. The toppling of some teams is predictable (West Virginia was never the sixth-best team in the country), but out-of-nowhere upsets fuel the excitement of college football.
This week's Associated Press top-25 poll welcomed three new teams into the top 10. Who's next?
Michigan and Michigan State
Who saw this coming at the beginning of September when Michigan and Michigan State both lost early in the season and had unspectacular beginnings to the year? Heck, who even saw this happening for Michigan State after Northwestern beat the Spartans a week and a half ago?
Michigan handled Wisconsin in a 38-13 win, and Michigan State upset Penn State, beating the Nittany Lions 21-17.
In less than three weeks, Ohio State will head to East Lansing, Michigan, to face the Spartans, and two weeks later, the Buckeyes will play host to Michigan. Prepare yourselves, Ohio State fans. Mark Dantonio just proved his magic still exists, and Michigan, which seemingly came as close as a team could come without winning its past two games against Ohio State, look like a team that'll be a tough out for the Buckeyes.
It'll be hard for this year's end-of-the-regular-season rivalry game to match the climactic games in 2016 and 2017, but Michigan's Chase Winovich seems to be doing what he can to make that happen.
"The revenge tour has officially commenced. I was thinking about putting that for my next Instagram post."
— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) October 14, 2018
- @Chase_Winovich is wildin' on this ESPN interview. pic.twitter.com/RysNIgeS4z
Stock Down
Ohio State's run game
A combination of J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber shouldn't struggle to pick up yardage. It should be that simple, but it isn't. Ohio State's rushing yards per attempt average has decreased every single game and reached a season low of 2.88 yards per attempt on Saturday.
The Buckeyes were held to fewer than 100 rushing yards for just the third time in Urban Meyer's tenure at Ohio State. The other games the Buckeyes couldn't manage 100 yards? A Dwayne Haskins-led offense surely differs from offenses headed by Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones, but that doesn't make the trend any less troubling for Ohio State.
Haskins might be able to pick up yards seemingly at will in the middle of the field, but the Buckeyes haven't found easy solutions to either converting third-and-short situations or punching it in from the red zone. They'll need an uptick in run game production in order to convert in those key situations.
West Virginia
Click on my bio and check out my favorite college football and basketball players. Yup, we’re going to bypass whatever it is that happened to the Mountaineers on Saturday. Moving on, now...
Health of Ohio State
Name an Ohio State starter. There's a decent chance he's dealt with an injury this season that has kept him off the field at times. Now, name a defensive lineman. More than likely, he has dealt with an injury this season. Nick Bosa, Chase Young, Robert Landers, Dre’Mont Jones and Jonathon Cooper have each been hindered by various injuries.
Of those players, only Bosa is expected to miss Saturday's game against Purdue. But each of the other players, along with Damon Arnette, Malik Harrison and Thayer Munford, will likely be paying through at least some level of pain. The Buckeyes will have a bye week after the game against the Boilermakers, but Purdue has won three games in a row, and the game won't necessarily be a breeze for Ohio State, especially with the injuries.
