Saturday Spotlight
(4) Michigan Wolverines at (10) Ohio State Buckeyes
Michigan: Ten in a row. That’s where the winning streak stands and in the time that Jim Harbaugh has been back in Ann Arbor as the team’s head coach, this is the best all-around team that he’s had and it’s showing with their efforts and how they’ve been able to start early and finish game but even when they’ve fallen behind in games, they’ve still found a way to come back and be victorious. To me, their turning point was when they were in Evanston, Illinois to take on the Northwestern Wildcats and when everything looked to be against them, they were able to prevail and get the win. When they played Wisconsin, I didn’t give them a chance in that game and you could understand why because they’ve struggled against Wisconsin during Jim’s time there and they’ve been very hit or miss under the lights in big games. They pass that test and they were also able to bring the Paul Bunyan trophy back to their place. This is a mentally tough football team and that’s what all the other teams lacked and they also have a quarterback. Shea Patterson has been better than expected this year. When I look at the Michigan offense, it moves the ball down the field in a fluid way and they don’t force things anymore which has been a big improvement. They play smarter and it shows. The defense, of course, has been playing at a high level all year of course and Don Brown’s units seem to get better each year. I can definitely say it’s been one special year and they’ll have one more game to handle business and with a win, they will become champions of the Big Ten East for the first time under Jim. One team stands in their path and that’s Ohio State.
Ohio State: At the beginning of the year, I thought they were one of the three best teams in the country and they could get to the playoffs and be labeled as a contender for the national championship in January. They were able to win their first three games while Urban Meyer served his suspension and Dwayne Haskins was looking like an early Heisman candidate. When they played TCU in September, I became concerned with them the minute Nick Bosa went down with his injury and you see the difference one player can make on and off the field. Nick is the best defensive player in the country and he was the anchor of the Buckeyes front seven. You need a consistent pass rush, that’s Nick, you need a guy to get to the running back, that’s Nick and if you need a guy to apply consistent pressure on the quarterback, that’s Nick Bosa again and it’s hard to replace a guy like that and fill those shoes. I became concerned about Ohio State when they played Indiana because the Hoosiers stayed in the game and it took the fourth quarter for them to pull away and even the next week against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, they struggled to put them away and needed the fourth quarter once again to get the win. I said to myself that they’ve done this before and they get way too complacent for my liking with teams and all those issues can catch up to them and that’s EXACTLY what happened when they played Purdue. They were embarrassed and that was their first loss of the season. Yes, they’ve been on a winning streak since then, but they still haven’t looked the greatest. They struggle to run the ball and defensively, they give up a ton of big plays down the field and struggle to make stops on third down. When I think of successful Buckeyes teams, I think of the defense getting takeaways and the running game being consistent, look what Ezekiel Elliott was able to do for them in 2014 when they won the national title game against Oregon. They’re looking for their second consecutive trip to Indy for the Big Ten title game.
Michigan Player To Watch: Nico Collins– You need to be able to stretch the field and that’s exactly what Nico does. He’s a big kid standing at 6’4 and he’s one of those receivers when you can throw it up in his direction and he’ll come away with it. I’m doing everything I can to attack this Ohio State secondary.
Ohio State Player To Watch: Jordan Fuller– The junior from Norwood, New Jersey is an important piece to that Buckeyes secondary. He’s a guy that can roam around and when you need a tackle in the open field, an interception or just a guy to cover, this is the guy to depend on.
Final Analysis: Well, it has come down to this and I’m absolutely honored to say this is my third straight year having the opportunity to break this rivalry down. This is by far the best rivalry in college football. What Duke and North Carolina are to college basketball is what Michigan and Ohio State is to college football. This feels like 2016 all over again. Both teams came into this battle then hoping to clinch the East, but that was ultimately won by Penn State. This is a different and hungrier Wolverines team that Ohio State is going to see compared to the last two seasons. It’s key for Michigan to allow Shea to create both in the pocket and out of the pocket with his feet. I’d definitely keep that Ohio State defense guessing. For Ohio State, you’re not going to be able to run the ball on this team, period. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get Dobbins and Weber the football in other ways. I see this game coming down to the fourth quarter. Both teams need to come out and send early messages.
Prediction: Michigan 34 Ohio State 27
