Is the sky falling, or isn’t it? Sometimes, it can be hard to follow.
Ohio State’s proverbial sky certainly fell a few weeks about when Purdue trounced the visiting Buckeyes in West Lafayette, Indiana. But it was only one loss, and they followed it up with a win against Nebraska. A five-point victory over the Cornhuskers, who had just two wins at the time, didn’t exactly inspire confidence, but it helped the team move on from the loss that lingered during the off week.
The Buckeyes followed up that performance by beating a ranked Michigan State team by 20 points on the road in frigid, windy conditions, the exact weather that Mark Dantonio teams typically thrive playing in. Still, they had just a 7-3 lead at halftime, the offense scored just two touchdowns and the game would have been significantly closer had Drue Chrisman not nearly single-handedly won the field-position battle.
Not perfect, but a win, nonetheless.
“We knew exactly what this would be and it was. That was November football at Michigan State,” Urban Meyer said after the game. “Mike Weber ran for over 100 yards and I would have to say that 75 percent of those were post-contact yards. He ran really, really hard. Everything about that was really hard about that defense. I'm really ecstatic for our defense the way they came out and played.”
With just two weeks of the regular season remaining and one game left before the Buckeyes take on Michigan at Ohio Stadium, emotions among fans are high. They had been rising ever since Ohio State followed up its one-point win against Penn State with unconvincing victories versus Minnesota and Indiana before peaking with the loss to the Boilermakers. Tensions eased – at least a bit – after the Michigan State victory.
Despite the up-and-down sentiment this season, the Buckeyes have won nine games while losing just once and are two wins away from earning a trip to Indianapolis to take on Northwestern with the Big Ten championship – and a possible College Football Playoff berth – on the line.
It’s certainly not a bad spot to be, but the position has elicited discontent from portions of the fan base.
“First of all, it's a product of Ohio State,” Meyer said on Monday. “You know, it's a product of the top programs in America. You go on the road and win by 20 points against a ranked team. Someone said it's our eighth ranked win on the road. And what happened? What's the problem? What about this? What about that? I could stand up and say, ‘What are you guys talking about?’ But I get it. I don't think we played great either at times.”
He’s right about that. Ohio State has a 9-1 record this season, but has had stretches of poor play on both sides of the ball.
The run game declined for weeks, red-zone offense appeared to be a problem, the team committed too many penalties and the defense allowed too many big plays and had issues tackling.
“But then other times, to finish the game we did, against that defense, no one's done that to (Michigan State),” Meyer said. “No one's done it against a team that – you know how much respect I have for that coach, that staff and that place. That was awful. That was a tough environment. So once again, I'm not saying – because I don't want to come across saying, well, we're (9-1) – no, we're not playing great at times.
“But then our defense came out and played the way they did. And our special teams played the way they did. It was a great team win. But we're not where I would like us to be. Is that fair?”
Sure, that’s fair, and it’s accurate.
It wasn’t a dominant showing, but dominant showings in East Lansing against the Spartans are few and far between. Ohio State just hasn’t had many commanding routs this season, and time is running out to prove it can be the national championship contender its talent suggest it has the potential to be.
Fair or unfair, much of the uncertainty about Ohio State stems from Alabama and Michigan.
Can the Buckeyes beat Michigan in two weeks and take down Alabama if they play them in the playoff?
They’re questions unable to be answered yet, but quandaries that have hung over the team.
Just a few years ago, the Buckeyes knocked off the Crimson Tide. But this season, Alabama seems unbeatable, while Ohio State lost to an unranked team by 29 points. That’s an extremely high standard by which to hold a team, though. Michigan’s winning streak will likely lead to the Wolverines entering Ohio Stadium as a favorite against the Buckeyes for the first time in years. But it’s unreasonable for anyone to get too bent out of shape about a possible loss when not only has the game not happened yet, but Ohio State has lost once in the past 14 matchups.
With a matchup against Maryland looming on Saturday, Ohio State can’t afford to worry about the big picture. Meyer knows there’s work to be done and improvements to be made, and this game is the latest opportunity to show progress has been made.
“We're just still not there yet, where we need to be,” Meyer said. “And this is a huge challenge for us.”
