The Ohio State football team welcomes one of the better group of five programs in the country into the Horseshoe on Saturday when the Buckeyes host the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Both teams come into Saturday’s contest, which can be seen on FOX at 4 pm est., with perfect 2-0 records.
The Buckeyes opened the season with a 23-3 conference win on the road against Indiana before defeating in-state opponent Youngstown State 35-7 last week. Western Kentucky comes into this weekend’s game having defeated Conference USA opponent USF 41-24 and Houston Christian 52-22, both at home. This weekend’s trip to Columbus, Ohio will be their first road game of the season.
Western Kentucky’s air raid offense will offer the Buckeye defense a different challenge than they have faced thus far. Coming into Saturday’s game, the Hilltoppers are averaging 327 passing yards and three and a half passing touchdowns per game. This season, the Ohio State defense has only given up 108.5 passing yards per game while holding both opponents to no passing touchdowns. If the Hilltoppers stand any chance of making this a four-quarter game, they will need to have more success through the air against the Buckeyes than the first two opponents did.
The WKU offense against the OSU defense will definitely garner a lot of attention. But on the other side of the football, now that Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has officially named Kyle McCord as the starter, there is an expectation that the Buckeye offense will also improve.
Here are three bold predictions for this Saturday’s game for the Buckeyes.
1. Ohio State will rush for 300 yards
In Western Kentucky’s season-opening contest, the Hilltoppers gave up 374 rushing yards, 160 of which were from Bulls quarterback Byrum Brown. No one expects McCord to have a big game running the football on Saturday. However, Ohio State has a three-headed running back room that can and will make some noise on Saturday.
TreVeyon Henderson leads the team with 103 yards on 17 carries. Chip Trayanum is next with 77 yards on 14 carries while Miyan Williams has 50 yards on 13 carries. Trayanum has pulled double duty, lining up as fullback and being the lead blocker in short-yardage situations.
If any or all of these backs are going to have a big day on the ground this Saturday, they are going to need the offensive line to open up some holes. The run blocking, especially on the left side of the line so far this season has been spotty at best. Earlier this week, offensive line coach Justin Frye met with the media, and when asked about this topic, he offered the following statement.
"“You really want to be a tough guy? Then be a tough guy all the time. So, we’ve got to play more violent. We can’t be lines on a page. We’re not making a ton of mental mistakes, which is positive, but we’ve got too many point of attack mistakes. You can solve that through aggression and violence.”"
If this offensive line indeed becomes more violent on Saturday, then it will be a long day for the Hilltopper defense. Henderson, Trayanum, and Williams could have huge games. Look for the Buckeyes to rush for over 300 yards on Saturday.
2. The Buckeye offense will score six touchdowns
Now that McCord is the starting quarterback receiving all the first-team reps, there is more optimism in and around the Ohio State program that the offense can take another step forward this week.
There wasn’t much of a chance for the offense to find a rhythm switching back and forth between McCord and backup Devin Brown.
McCord looked better against Youngstown State last week than he did in Week 1 against Indiana, and when given the chance in extended play, Brown appeared quite a bit behind McCord when it came to accuracy and moving the football consistently through the air.
It feels like there is relief among the wide receivers that Day has finally chosen one of the quarterbacks moving forward.
Given the fact that the Hilltoppers have struggled to stop the run, if Ohio State can establish a consistent running attack, the receivers can explode as well, especially if WKU has to move more help into the box to stop the run.
It would leave Egbuka, and Marvin Harrison Jr. in one-on-one situations. Given this scenario, there is no reason to believe Ohio State won’t score six or more touchdowns on Saturday, which would be the most they have scored this season in a game thus far.
3. The Ohio State defense will create two turnovers
This might be my most bold prediction for this weekend’s game. Western Kentucky has yet to turn the football over. In fact, they are number one in the country at plus-six in that department. Ohio State on the other hand is at an even zero, having thrown an interception in the opening game while getting one themselves last week when Denzel Burke snatched an INT in the endzone.
You have to believe that the Ohio State defensive backs are chomping at the bit. Western Kentucky is going to throw the football two or three times more than they are going to run, offering Ohio State the possibility to jump a route or two during the game and come away with an interception. If the Hilltoppers fall behind early, they may have to run a few more longer developing plays than they would like, which also makes them susceptible to a strip sack.
Woody Hayes famously said, “There are only three things that can happen on a pass, and two of them are bad.”
Ohio State is counting on two of those bad things to happen in Saturday’s game for WKU quarterback Austin Reed. On the season, Reed has taken care of the football while managing Tyson Helton’s air raid offense to near perfection. The Ohio State defense has looked much improved on the season, but stopping this WKU passing attack is a different animal. One thing that can halt it in its tracks is a couple of interceptions.
The last time Ohio State’s defense created two or more turnovers in a game was against Penn State last year. I smell a couple of turnovers on Saturday in favor of Ohio State.