Pre-Snap Read: Michigan State vs. Ohio State
By Jim Comparoni
EAST LANSING - You know the word on Ohio State. They are playing the best football in America.
Some thought their game against Cincinnati would be a little bit of a test. They destroyed the Bearcats 42-0.
Some thought Nebraska might provide some resistance last week. The game was over by halftime.
OSU is outscoring opponents 52-8.
You know the scores.
Ohio State 45, Florida Atlantic 21
Ohio State 42, Cincinnati 0
Ohio State 51, Indiana 10
Ohio State 76, Miami of Ohio 5
Ohio State 48, Nebraska 7
THE MACRO
Ohio State has 11 players in its starting lineup who were Top 100 recruits. They have more on the second string. Michigan State has one on its entire roster, freshman WR Julian Barnett.
The partial good news for Michigan State is that Ohio State recruited outside of the Midwest more under Urban Meyer than any time in history. That left more Ohioans for Michigan State to try to sort through. That’s good for Michigan State for 364 days of the year. But Saturday marks the 365th.
The bad news is that OSU killed it on the recruiting trail in places like Florida, California, Texas, Maryland, and the fruits of that labor is showing up this season, with an array of four- and five-star talents playing up to their billing - in some ways better than they did most years under Meyer, at least so far.
Recruiting rankings aren’t everything. Ask Purdue and Iowa, both of which beat OSU by multiple touchdowns in each of the last two seasons.
The trick is catching OSU with their guard down and their intentions distracted.
Michigan State met the opposite two years ago in Columbus when they met as a pair of Top 15 teams. OSU had lost to Iowa the week before. Michigan State received the full Mike Tyson version of Ohio State on that day, with the Buckeyes winning 48-3.
Urban Meyer did a great job putting this roster together. But he didn’t do a great job of outsourcing his defense to various coordinators in recent years.
OSU had ugly gap assignment breakdowns last year against TCU and Penn State, but managed to win those games. But it caught up to them in the loss to Purdue.
A year earlier, OSU lost to Iowa, 55-24.
Those losses to Iowa and Purdue kept OSU out of the College Football Playoff. So the Buckeyes never got a shot to climb into the ring with peer group programs such as Alabama, Clemson, Georgia.
This year, the OSU defense is much improved under new coordinators. The gap errors have been eradicated. They have been a major surprise, which has seemingly lifted OSU back up to the Bama, Clemson, Georgia echelon. Looking back, it seems OSU had been underachieving in the past three or four seasons.
Then came this season:
* OSU is averaging 34.6 points in the FIRST HALF of games this year.
* OSU is outscoring its opponents 173-18 in the first half.
* OSU is in the top five in the nation in sacks and interceptions.
* OSU is averaging 281 yards rushing per game, which ranks No. 7 in the country.
* On defense OSU has allowed only 425 yards rushing, a 12-year low.
It’s not like OSU was bad last year. OSU is 26-5 vs. ranked opponents since the start of the 2012 season, and has won 10 straight. Now, they’re just better - or appear to be, because the defense is better.
By Jim Comparoni
EAST LANSING - You know the word on Ohio State. They are playing the best football in America.
Some thought their game against Cincinnati would be a little bit of a test. They destroyed the Bearcats 42-0.
Some thought Nebraska might provide some resistance last week. The game was over by halftime.
OSU is outscoring opponents 52-8.
You know the scores.
Ohio State 45, Florida Atlantic 21
Ohio State 42, Cincinnati 0
Ohio State 51, Indiana 10
Ohio State 76, Miami of Ohio 5
Ohio State 48, Nebraska 7
THE MACRO
Ohio State has 11 players in its starting lineup who were Top 100 recruits. They have more on the second string. Michigan State has one on its entire roster, freshman WR Julian Barnett.
The partial good news for Michigan State is that Ohio State recruited outside of the Midwest more under Urban Meyer than any time in history. That left more Ohioans for Michigan State to try to sort through. That’s good for Michigan State for 364 days of the year. But Saturday marks the 365th.
The bad news is that OSU killed it on the recruiting trail in places like Florida, California, Texas, Maryland, and the fruits of that labor is showing up this season, with an array of four- and five-star talents playing up to their billing - in some ways better than they did most years under Meyer, at least so far.
Recruiting rankings aren’t everything. Ask Purdue and Iowa, both of which beat OSU by multiple touchdowns in each of the last two seasons.
The trick is catching OSU with their guard down and their intentions distracted.
Michigan State met the opposite two years ago in Columbus when they met as a pair of Top 15 teams. OSU had lost to Iowa the week before. Michigan State received the full Mike Tyson version of Ohio State on that day, with the Buckeyes winning 48-3.
Urban Meyer did a great job putting this roster together. But he didn’t do a great job of outsourcing his defense to various coordinators in recent years.
OSU had ugly gap assignment breakdowns last year against TCU and Penn State, but managed to win those games. But it caught up to them in the loss to Purdue.
A year earlier, OSU lost to Iowa, 55-24.
Those losses to Iowa and Purdue kept OSU out of the College Football Playoff. So the Buckeyes never got a shot to climb into the ring with peer group programs such as Alabama, Clemson, Georgia.
This year, the OSU defense is much improved under new coordinators. The gap errors have been eradicated. They have been a major surprise, which has seemingly lifted OSU back up to the Bama, Clemson, Georgia echelon. Looking back, it seems OSU had been underachieving in the past three or four seasons.
Then came this season:
* OSU is averaging 34.6 points in the FIRST HALF of games this year.
* OSU is outscoring its opponents 173-18 in the first half.
* OSU is in the top five in the nation in sacks and interceptions.
* OSU is averaging 281 yards rushing per game, which ranks No. 7 in the country.
* On defense OSU has allowed only 425 yards rushing, a 12-year low.
It’s not like OSU was bad last year. OSU is 26-5 vs. ranked opponents since the start of the 2012 season, and has won 10 straight. Now, they’re just better - or appear to be, because the defense is better.
