You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.
Throughout the Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
Buckle up, Buckeye fans. No matter what happens this afternoon in Happy Valley, it is bound to be filled with emotions, and likely extreme ones at that. Unfortunately, the past week has been plagued with many of those same volatile emotions, so we wanted to get a better understanding of where Buckeye Nation’s collective heads were at heading into the biggest game of the regular season.
So, in our weekly fan survey, we asked about your psyche for the rest of the season and what you thought was going to happen in Beaver Stadium at 12 noon today.
To be honest, I’m having a little trouble wrapping my head around the results as a plurality on both questions seem to be in opposition despite similar-ish percentages. Take a look at the results below, and if you want to chime in with thoughts on the results, feel free to do so in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Question 1: What is your level of optimism/pessimism heading into Penn State?
Ok, when they make these graphics, they have to shorten the responses to fit them in. Normally, what the designers come up with is perfectly understandable in the context of the question, but for this one, I think having the complete answers was necessary.
So, here are the complete answers that people selected with their corresponding percentages.
41%: I’m ready for OSU to lose, so I can emotionally disengage.
37%: I’m nervous as hell, but still optimistic
13%: I’m certainly not happy, but everyone’s level of freak-out is overboard.
7%: I’m totally fine. No one else has looked great this season, OSU is no different.
2%: I am calm. I am zen. I have no earthly worries.
This response honestly surprised me. Ohio State fans are not ones to usually admit defeat, yet 41% of respondents said that the disappointment of the team has beaten them down, and they want to get to a point where they don’t have to stress over every up and down that comes with a season that still has hope, no matter the result on Saturday.
The normally standoffish bravado of Buckeye Nation seems to have disappeared, at least when people can be honest thanks to the anonymity of a metaphorical voting booth. I personally am not there.
Perhaps I am a glutton for punishment, but as I look around the college football world, it seems to me that every other contender is flawed as well, so no matter how much we think that Ohio State is fatally so, on a good day, if the stars align, they can still beat anyone. So, until there is no more hope, I guess I will just be the gullible fan always believing that Ryan Day and company will come up with a way to figure it out.
Question 2: What do you think is the margin of victory against Penn State this week?
I am not surprised that 78% of respondents think that this will be a close game, but based on the previous answer, I am a little bit surprised that nearly half picked OSU to win; perhaps I am not the only gullible one amongst us.
The line opened at Ohio State -3.5 from FanDuel Sportsbook, and it has remained there throughout the week, despite the occasional fluctuations. The gold-standard college football analytics model SP+ projects OSU to win 25-24.
I made my official prediction in the article linked above, and am sticking with the Buckeyes 27-20, but of the handful of LGHL writers who participated, there was a fairly stark divide amongst which team we went with… I hope I end up being on the right side.
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.