The final Four semi-finals. Texas – Ohio State. It doesn’t get more classic than that. While this is a prequel to the home opener of next season, Will Howard and company will need to be focused on this game or they will be having sunset margaritas this time tomorrow.
On the offensive side of the ball for OH, a big part of tonight’s game plan will be Jeremiah Smith. He most certainly will be a primary focus of the game on both sides of the ball, after having an explosive performance vs Oregon. For Ohio State getting him involved early and often usually outputs great outcomes, and for Texas- stifling him will be a top priority. I suspect they are going to deploy double teams in multiple ways, similar to how Justin Jefferson is treated in the NFL every Sunday. That will ultimately release up some running lanes for Henderson to take advantage of and even Egbuka in the passing game. I would love to see Egbuka have a huge game, he is an underrated wide receiver on this team. But I would say that the X factor to tonight’s game is Smith, get him going and it should be a good night.
Defensively, I would ensure that Ewers is uncomfortable. Hit him on every throw, even if you’re not getting home. I’ve seen this quarterback get rattled before and when that happens, he likes to get a little inaccurate and careless with the football. That is when Texas is at their worst. Texas has lost both times when they had to play a great defense like Georgia and I think Ohio State is in a good position to duplicate that effort. Ohio State through the playoffs has held onto the Nation’s top-ranked defense, according to the PFF stats. They boast a 93.9 overall defensive rating vs Texas’s 15th ranked offense, posing a great matchup in favor of the Buckeyes. I’m excited to see them feast tonight… get the turnovers and you likely win.
As I stated last week for the Oregon game, I’ll say it again for this game. Hold Texas to under 30 points and you will likely win. I think the Buckeyes have too many weapons on offense to be held under 30, so I expect a good number of points for that side of the ball. Texas averages 35.9 points a game and facing that elite defense should knock a few points off the average.
I say 38 – 30 Ohio State wins and we’ll be onto the National title game.
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