Hey all - OSU fan living in Austin, long-time lurker and first-time poster. It’s either a perfect or horrible time for me to initiate contact….either way I suppose it’s a win for the internet.
TX has the right talent in the right positions to win this. Primarily - your superb DL vs our suspect OL. Now the OSU OL has actually been playing out of its mind during the CFP, and I hope it continues. But the depth is very thin and most guys are playing out of position - this is your best opportunity to derail our offense in the same way Michigan did. Get pressure on Will AND slow down the running game with your front 4, and your back 7 has the talent to disrupt our offense enough to make this game a barnburner. But you have to do it with your DL first; mixing in blitzes and such is great but it has to be supplementary to your line pressure or Howard will pick you apart. (Fortunately for us, at this point I don’t expect Day/Kelly to gameplan an offensive attack that plays directly into our opponent’s strengths - that was a special kind of pain reserved for the current hell of The Game). I know your secondary is great and you have historic reasons to doubt Howard, but he’s been phenomenal for OSU and a boost to this team in every game but one.
On the other side of the ball, you have great talent at the skill positions and I’m a Ewers believer; you’ll hit a few big plays over the course of the game. But your OL needs to play to its full potential. OSU’s defense is actually its biggest advantage, especially on the DL and at safety. This combo is going to test Quinn something fierce but I know he’s capable of standing in the heat and making plays. I have great respect for Blue but I don’t think you’ll be able to establish a consistent running game - you will need to take situational advantage of the right circumstances to pop enough plays in the running game. I do think Sark is capable of this and the chess match vs Knowles will be fascinating.
A quick final note - the only offense to really stress the OSU defense this year has been Oregon’s and that primarily because of Gabriel’s scrambling ability to extend plays and buy time for the OSU secondary to finally break. It’s the only offense to score a passing TD on OSU in the latter 2/3 of the season. This particular skill is not a facet of Ewers’ game, so as much as I respect the guy and think he needs to be your primary engine (given his experience and command of the offense) this is one area where Arch might be really helpful for you given his mobility. It would need to be within specific circumstances and he can’t just be a running back - gotta let him be a full QB threat or OSU will shut it down. But I can see him helping you if Sark smartly deploys him.
My guess is 31-21 OSU, where we look a lot more pedestrian than in the previous 2 games but pull out enough plays to win it. Turnovers and whatnot (at which your D excels) could easily change this.
Anyway, Go Bucks.