COLUMBUS — Once again, Ohio State and Michigan appear poised to meet up in their annual rivalry game with a trip to the College Football Playoff at stake.
One team will play the spoiler role, while the other takes another step forward on the championship trail.
But there are a lot of games to be played between now and Nov. 26, starting with Ohio State’s home game against Iowa Saturday.
(2) Ohio State (6-0, 3-0) vs. Iowa (3-3, 1-2); Ohio Stadium, Columbus OH; Sat. Oct. 22 (noon/FOX)
“After we come off the bye week, all the focus is on Iowa, but last week we did talk about some of those things and try to forecast what’s coming ahead,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day told reporters Tuesday.
The Buckeyes are four-touchdown favorites but, on paper, the game looks more like an even match, with the Hawkeyes propped up by a solid defense, which will focus on stopping Heisman Trophy favorite quarterback C.J. Stroud and OSU’s high-powered offense.
The game pits OSU’s top-ranked scoring offense against Iowa’s third-ranked scoring defense.
When the Hawkeyes possess the ball, the game looks more like a mismatch. Iowa’s offense is dead last among 131 D-I teams.
The championship trail
Last fall, Ohio State’s mistakes and inability to stop the run led to Michigan’s 42-27 home win, which snapped a streak of eight straight Buckeyes wins in the rivalry series. The loss ruined Ohio State’s season, shutting it out of the conference championship game and the College Football Playoffs.
The Buckeyes have been thinking and talking about revenge ever since. Day’s 2022 maxim of “competitive stamina” was borne out of the Michigan loss.
If Ohio State and “That Team Up North” can run the table ahead of this year’s edition of “The Game,” expect an extra heaping helping of hype during Thanksgiving week.
It’s already percolating in Columbus and Ann Arbor, where the two teams are rekindling memories of the “Big Two, Little Eight” days of Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, turning the chase for a conference championship into a two-team race.
The Buckeyes and Wolverines are the Big Ten’s only undefeated teams. No other team in the conference is ranked among the top 15.
Penn State can potentially be a factor in the because it hosts Ohio State on Oct. 29, but the 16th-ranked Nittany Lions will have to play much better than they did while getting pummeled at Michigan.
The Buckeyes went into their off week with spotless 6-0 record (3-0 in the Big Ten).
The season’s second half tilts on two key games — Penn State and Michigan.
Ohio State’s other second-half opponents, Iowa, Northwestern, Indiana and Maryland, will likely be double-digit underdogs.
Of those, Maryland could present the most interesting challenge.