The Eleven Warriors Web Report comes to you weekly from the Spectrum Sports studios in downtown Columbus, featuring our own Beau Bishop and Dan Hope along with former Buckeye linebacker Joshua Perry.
Coming off a 36-31 win for Ohio State over Nebraska this past weekend, our panel looks ahead to Saturday's game against Michigan State in East Lansing, where the Buckeyes will look to improve to 9-1 against a team that has notoriously played them tough in recent years, although Ohio State did win 48-3 last year.
Michigan State enters this weekend's matchup with the No. 1-ranked run defense in the Football Bowl Subdivision (71.7 rushing yards allowed per game). Ohio State's defense, meanwhile, is coming off another underwhelming performance against Nebraska, in which the Buckeyes allowed four touchdowns and 450 yards.
Yet while Nebraska is just 2-7 this season and Michigan State is 6-3, the Cornhuskers have a more explosive offense than the Spartans – whose offense has been plagued by injuries this season – and Bishop believes they will not pose as much of a threat to the Ohio State defense as they have in some years past, including in 2013 and 2015, when the Spartans defeated Ohio State teams that Perry played on.
"I do not believe that this Sparty has the type of offensive firepower that those Sparty teams did to make Ohio State pay," Bishop said. "I'm just not sure if they can keep up."
That said, Perry expects that Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio "will have something up his sleeve," so he said the Buckeyes need to bring their A-game up north.
"He's an Ohio guy, coached at Ohio State, so this means a lot to him," Perry said of Dantonio. "His defense, they come out of their shoes when they play Ohio State and he's a defensive coach, so I know he has something to do with that."
Hope expects the Spartans to draw motivation from their 48-3 loss last season, which could give them extra fuel to try to turn the tables against the Buckeyes at home even though they might no longer have a shot at winning the Big Ten title this year.
"They don't want to get embarrassed like that again, especially in front of their home stadium," Hope said. "Ohio State's a more talented team, but we haven't seen Ohio State play up to its talent in awhile. So if Ohio State's going to take care of business this game, they've really got to show they can play a complete game."
Watch the video above for more analysis on this week's game, and for a complete look back on the Nebraska game, as well as a look ahead to the Michigan State and a look around the Big Ten, tune into the Eleven Warriors Report on Spectrum Sports Mid-Ohio. The show airs at various times throughout the week, including 1:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.
