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Overconfident? Not at all. ‘I respect the hell out of these teams,’ says Ohio State LB
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Ohio State’s Pete Werner has learned a few lessons across his four years playing in the Big Ten, and humility in preparation for a league opponent appears to be a mindset he espouses.
The third-ranked Buckeyes are playing Rutgers University at home along the banks of the Olentangy and under the towering decks of the Horse Shoe stadium. The Scarlet Knights are traditionally a Big Ten embarrassment of sorts and kind of an awkward family member kept away from the others in the league basement.
But Werner, in his senior season, is not taking any victory for granted no matter how lowly the opposition or how large the point spread.
“The games we’re playing coming up, yeah we might be favorites, but I respect the hell out of these teams,” Werner told Eleven Warriors during the week’s media availability.
Werner has started 27 games for Ohio State and was on the Butkus Award Watch List to start the season. He has helped his team to a 2-0 start in 2020 with victories over Nebraska and Penn State, but understands everything on Saturday afternoons and evenings is earned, not given.
The game at Ohio Stadium kicks off at 7:30 pm ET and can be viewed on the Big Ten Network.
Mark Schipper is a reporter, sportswriter, and aspiring novelist living in Chicago, Illinois.