COLUMBUS – The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll during the regular season for the first time since 1960.
(2) Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) at (8/10) Wisconsin (4-1, 1-1), Sat. (8:00 p.m./ABC)
No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 10 Nebraska joined No. 2 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan in the first 10 of both of the major college football polls released Monday, one day later than usual because two FBS games were postponed until Sunday due to Hurricane Matthew.
In the Amway coaches’ poll, the Cornhuskers are No. 9 and the Badgers are No. 10.
Ohio State travels to Nebraska on Nov. 5 (8:00 p.m./ABC, ESPN or ESPN2) and hosts Michigan Nov. 26 (Noon/ABC or ESPN)
Alabama remains No. 1. In both polls and the Buckeyes are No. 2 but now face three top 10 opponents in their final seven games, including two of the other unbeatens: Nebraska (5-0, 2-0) and the Wolverines (6-0,3-0).
With a Saturday night game at Camp Randall Stadium looming, the Ohio State Buckeyes are trying to figure out why their usually dynamic aerial attack is suddenly sputtering.
“We’re kind of a ‘shot’ team, head coach Urban Meyer told reporters Monday. “When we hit shots, it’s really good. If it’s not, we have to find out why and get it fixed.”
Quarterback J.T. Barrett struggled finding open receivers and then getting the ball to them in Saturday’s 38-17 win over Indiana, completing just nine passes in 21 attempts for 93 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. His longest completion was for 37 yards.
“First thing I saw was a couple mis-hits on deep balls,” Meyer said. “One was eight yards behind a guy, one was 10 yards behind a guy, and for whatever reason the one guy got a little bit of pressure. We had to reset our feet and we were behind Curtis [Samuel]. James Clark was running open down the sideline, and we were a little bit out of the pocket instead of being in the pocket. Those are two examples. We had a couple plays called where we ran poor routes, too.”
Meyer also says the Buckeyes relied too much on Barrett tucking and running the ball.
Barrett says it was a case of not being able to get everyone on the same page for every play.