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Kirk Herbstreit, David Pollack explain why Ohio State’s win over Michigan State was so impressive
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Even with a host of players not making the trip to East Lansing due to COVID-19 issues, Ohio State still dominated Michigan State to come away with a 52-12 win last Saturday.
ESPN college football analysts Kirk Herbstreit and David Pollack were impressed, and mentioned the Buckeyes performance on Monday’s episode of the CFB Podcast with Herbie, Pollack and Neghandi.
“Ohio State looked great, man,” Pollack said. “I love the way they looked this week. Down all these guys, down all those coaches, came out fist to face. They smacked around Michigan State. I’m not saying Michigan State’s a great football team by any stretch of the imagination, but I just love the way they came out, handled their business and looked really, really good doing it.”
During their game with Indiana the week prior, Ohio State was looking for a convincing win over the Hoosiers to solidify their claim to the top of the B1G, but some questions were left hanging out there.
Herbrstreit addressed the game, with his answer.
“I think the bigger point that needs to be talked about, and we all wondered, and … Ryan even wondered, specifically, if the offensive line was OK and ready with some of the starters gone and some of the leadership gone,” Herbstreit said. “And I think when I saw, on (ESPN’s) College GameDay, the warmup shots in East Lansing, I completely changed my concern. I went from thinking, ‘Well, Michigan State, fresh off a win at Northwestern (29-20, Nov. 28). They play good defense. It’s up in East Lansing. Ohio State, time to time, doesn’t always play their best against Michigan State.’ And then, all of a sudden, I saw all of the Ohio State players warming up, looking like they’re going into a national championship. And I thought, ‘Oh, no. I feel bad for Michigan State now. This is about to get ugly.’ And that’s exactly how it turned out.
“Ohio State was backed into a corner. Their coaches clearly did a good job of motivating them, making them feel there’s a big question mark around this program not only with the COVID issues but with the way they finished in their last game. Everybody watched, against Indiana, before they canceled Illinois. They were up 35-7 and they took their foot off the gas. Same thing against Rutgers (49-27, Nov. 7). Same thing against Penn State (38-25, Oct. 31). So it’s become a little bit of a thing for them.”
Scott Schultz covers Michigan State Football, along with Breaking News for B1G Football & Basketball for Saturday Tradition. He also serves as an Automotive News Editor & Writer, and Softball Writer elsewhere on the web. Follow him on Twitter @SRSchultz.