Ohio State Football: 3 Predictions vs Northwestern in Big Ten title game

A defensive battle

There is really only one way that Northwestern is going to win this game and that’s to make it a low-scoring defensive battle, which, in some ways, it will be.

Strange as it is, the Wildcats actually put more players on the First-Team All-Big Ten defense than the Buckeyes (3 to 2) and Ohio State doesn’t have that elite pass rusher, although Zach Harrison is getting there in a hurry.

Shaun Wade is obviously as good as it gets in the Big Ten conference, but I’d expect more running than throwing from the Wildcats Saturday. Northwestern, even though it averages just 3.9 yards per carry, ran 44 times per game during the regular season compared to 30 pass attempts and I’m it would love to keep Fields and the Ohio State offense on the sidelines for as long as possible.

Peyton Ramsey, the Northwestern quarterback is throwing for less than 190 yards per game. He did throw nine touchdowns in seven outings and he’s had success against Ohio State before but that was at Indiana, where he played previously.

I do think Northwestern will get a turnover and cash that in for some points, but I have a hard time seeing the Wildcats get more than one touchdown and I don’t see them scoring 20 points.

On the other side, Northwestern’s defense should be solid enough to keep it close for a while. One thing that could make it easier that Ohio State is reportedly going to be down a “star wide receiver” which is obviously Chris Olave or Garrett Wilson.

It sounds like other players could be missing too and who knows, the Sun Belt title game was canceled, so that’s not beyond the realm of possibility if the issues are bad enough.

That would probably doom the Buckeyes playoff hopes, but even an ugly win Saturday may not be enough, which leads to our final prediction.