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Ohio State: Why Buckeyes have to watch out for Northwestern
By Jim Tomlin
Published:
Ohio State opened as a 14-point favorite over Northwestern for Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis.
But that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten), ranked sixth in the Associated Press poll released Sunday, can take anything for granted.
No. 21 Northwestern (8-4, 8-1) has won three in a row and seven of its past eight, losing only to No. 3 Notre Dame in that stretch. Oddly, all four losses came at home as NU went 5-0 on the road. So it’s apparent that a hostile atmosphere has no impact on this team. That will come in handy since OSU’s enormous alumni base and national clout as a football program mean that fans wearing Scarlet and Gray are likely to outnumber those in Wildcat Purple by a healthy margin at Lucas Oil Stadium.
As Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald pointed out in a title game teleconference, his senior class has 40 victories, tying a school record. Northwestern also has a winning record for the fourth consecutive season; that hadn’t happened in Evanston since 1928-31.
Northwestern brings a lot to the table in this game. The Wildcats cannot match offensive firepower with the Buckeyes; then again, few teams can. But NU is fifth in the B1G in passing yards per game at 237, with senior quarterback Clayton Thorson approaching his second 3,000-yard passing season in three years. Thorson is 10th in the country in pass attempts (416) and 16th in completions (251). Dwayne Haskins leads the Big Ten in all major passing categories so OSU has a decided advantage at QB, but OSU’s secondary has been spotty so it will have to perform well to stop Thorson and his favorite target, wide receiver Flynn Nagel.
Still not convinced? How about a little recent history. In 2013 the Buckeyes were all set to play in the final BCS national championship game, riding a 24-game winning streak and a No. 2 national ranking. All they had to do was knock off Michigan State in the B1G title game (the teams were then in different divisions). Much like this year’s team, OSU scored in bunches, averaging 48.2 points a game.
But Sparty jumped up and bit the Buckeyes, stunning them 34-24 and denying Ohio State a chance at a national title.
The stakes are similar here. With a win the Buckeyes can stay in the conversation for a College Football Playoff semifinal spot. Lose, and all the good feelings from last week’s victory over Michigan disappear. Even at 11-1, it’s not like OSU has been terribly consistent. The Buckeyes got blown out by Purdue, could have lost to Penn State or Nebraska and probably should have lost to Maryland.
OSU had better beware Northwestern. If the Buckeyes do not play a full game, the way they did against Michigan, the Wildcats are capable of taking advantage and taking a trip to Pasadena as the league’s champion and representative in the Rose Bowl.
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.