- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 786,367
- Reaction score
- 53
4 short-attention spans
Won’t be as close as the -15.5 odds Vegas predicts. … Illinois can’t win if it can’t score touchdowns. And it won’t do either. … Sayin continues to make Heisman push. … Miracle materializes when Bret Bielema is left speechless.
You must be registered for see images
Pregame buzz
As long as Ohio State refrains from coming out flat as the Illinois landscape, the Buckeyes should roll to victory. But will the rolling come mostly through the air, as it did against Minnesota, or will Ryan Day decide the run game needs more game reps (and yards)? It’s not necessarily an Achilles' heel – OSU so far has not shown one – but the Buckeyes rank only 57th in run offense with 171.6 yards a game. For insurance purposes, getting that number over 200 yards would help Day sleep better.
One-liner
It was pronounced Illi-noise until Ohio State silenced the Memorial Stadium crowd.
Make or breakers
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. Avoid them and OSU cruises. Cough it up three or four times and things might get dicey. No. 17 Illinois isn’t terrible, but it will need a ton of turnover help to pull an upset.
Robo’s rankings
- Ohio State (1) … Illinois presents another test … that OSU will pass with flying colors.
- Oregon (2) … Barely better than Miami. Will know more after Ducks host Indiana.
- Miami (3) … ACC opponents thankful Hurricanes have the week off.
- Ole Miss (4) … Rebs still feel like a bit of a phony, but so far so good.
- Oklahoma (unranked) … Sooners head to Texas, which has cratered.
Robo’s rantings
I understand that hotels have to make money when they can, but it’s past the point of ridiculousness how much they jack up prices during college football season, specifically on Friday-Saturday nights. Bah.
You must be registered for see images attach
Numbers for dummies
0 – Illinois Heisman Trophy winners.
3rd – Illini’s highest Heisman finish; linebacker Dick Butkus in 1964 and running back Jim Grabowski in 1965. No UI player has finished in the top-10 since quarterback Tony Eason in 1982.
1991 – the last time Ohio State lost in Champaign, Illinois; a 10-7 defeat.
1st – Julian Sayin leads the nation with a .802 completion percentage (minimum 60 attempts)
Across the field
Illinois was trending up until Sept. 20, when it got whacked by Indiana 63-10. Even when removing that defensive disaster, the Illini are allowing opponents 20.3 points a game. Fortunately for them, the offense averages 37.0, which is just under OSU’s 37.4. Quarterback Luke Altmyer makes the offense go. The senior ranks seventh in completion percentage (.736). The bad news for the Fighting Illini? The offense ranks 85th in red-zone scoring, and Ohio State owns the No. 1 red-zone defense.
Buy Ohio State posters, books, gear from CFP title win
We SEC you (a weekly look at that other conference)
Somebody call 9-1-1, because the Southeastern Conference is having an identity crisis. The SEC’s three highest-ranked teams in the AP poll are Ole Miss (4), Texas A&M (5) and Oklahoma (6), while Alabama (8), Georgia (10) and LSU (11) fall in line behind the outliers. The conference points to overall depth as the reason for its less popular brands outkicking the traditional stalwarts – and yes, I realize Oklahoma is a blue blood brand, but it only joined the SEC last year, so it still deserves the rookie treatment – but consider how southern schools would react if Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin were the Big Ten’s highest ranked?
You must be registered for see images
The weird and wonderful
Texas and Penn State began the season ranked No. 1 and No. 2, with Ohio State coming in at No. 3. The Buckeyes have kept up their end of the bargain, but the teams above them have proved once again that anything can, and will, happen in college football. If you’re being honest, you circled the Longhorns and Nittany Lions, along with Michigan, as the teams that would give OSU the most trouble. So what happened? Texas lost to Ohio State in the opener, then just lost again to unranked Florida. The Nittany Lions coughed up a huge hairball of their own, losing to previously winless UCLA on the road a week after dropping a close one against Oregon. How the mighty have fallen.
Day delivery
What the coach said: "Like they say in the Navy SEALS, if you think you've got it, you're about to get it."
What we heard: As soon as OSU thinks it's all that, "that" jumps up and bites you in the rear.
Inside the biz
As drives go, cruising the 4 hours and 45 minutes over to Champaign-Urbana from Columbus is easy, but boring. After about three hours behind the wheel, you wonder if Kyrie Irving was right about the earth being flat. Upon arriving on campus, Memorial Stadium stands out above a level horizon. It features a cool exterior, but the inside is nothing special. Not my favorite road trip.
Horseshoe haiku
Illinois slogan:
Land of Lincoln … not Kienholz
Yes, I made that up
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at [email protected] and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football defense set to destabilize Illinois offense
Continue reading...
