After three straight losses, Ryan Day must find a way to right the ship this week.
Every week after the Big Ten games, I will bring you some B1G thoughts on everything that happened! This will include analysis, stats, key players, moments, and more. With the Big Ten expanding from 14 teams to 18 teams in 2024 we will have a bunch of storylines to follow. Ryan Day and Ohio State are all in for the 2024 season. Is Oregon a national championship contender or will they stumble in their first Big Ten season? How do the former members of the Big Ten West fair in the new divisionless format? This article tracks all these storylines and more as the Big Ten hopes to win back-to-back national championships. Check out the I-80 Football Show for more in-depth analysis and to preview the next week of B1G games.
With Will Howard, Ohio State finally has a quarterback who understands the stakes!
After a disappointing end to the 2023 season, Ryan Day determined he needed to make a change at the most important position on his roster, the quarterback. After recruiting and developing three first-round draft picks at quarterback, Day finally had a guy he wasn’t sure could bring Ohio State to the level it needed to reach. Out goes Kyle McCord, In comes Will Howard. On the outside, Will and Kyle McCord had similar playing styles and similar weaknesses. If you look at the stats McCord is having a better season than Howard so why did the Buckeyes feel that Howard was the guy?
I could go into detail and break down his game and compare and contrast but the real reason is more simple, it’s the intangibles. Howard carries himself with a confidence and swagger that permeates the locker room. Howard can walk the thin line between being humble and cocky but the best part is it’s authentic. Howard isn’t faking his confidence, he isn’t faking his leadership, and he isn’t faking how much this game means to him.
Howard, coming from Kansas State, has played big games. He played in Farmegeddon, an annual rivalry between Kansas State and Iowa State but he also understood the importance of The Game. Not just the rivalry but also the importance of winning this game for the seniors and head coach Ryan Day.
After years of more talented quarterbacks who struggled to express and understand the weight this rivalry carries, Howard hit the nail on the head when asked about The Game after defeating Indiana. With Howard, Ohio State got a quarterback who can make all the throws necessary and run this Chip Kelly offense to perfection, but more importantly, they got a quarterback who understands The Game and will do everything in his power to walk off that field a victor!
“This one is for the guys that came back, this is for Buckeye nation”
Will Howard says he wants to beat Michigan for Coach Day and all the guys that came back, to silence the haters.
It may be his first time in The Game, but this minute clip shows Howard fully gets the rivalry: pic.twitter.com/CUqRWhhnkn
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) November 23, 2024
No Pressure on Sherrone Moore? No one believes that!
According to the Athletic’s Austin Meek, “No M*c*i*a* coach in the last 50 years has faced less pressure to beat Ohio State than Sherrone Moore faces this week”. Meek continues by saying “The W*l*e*i*e* could lose by five touchdowns, and as long as five-star quarterback Byrce Underwood shows up as planned, Moore’s approval rating wouldn’t budge”.
I understand the sentiment but you can not convince me that the fans feel this way after the season they’ve endured. The Game did not become the greatest rivalry in all of sports but fans accepting blowouts because of incoming recruits that aren’t guaranteed to come to campus and aren’t guaranteed to be good. Underwood could be a game-changing quarterback, but that doesn’t change the fact that after winning a national championship that team has suffered through a disappointing season.
Many fans were excited for Moore thinking that he would be able to continue Harbaugh’s success. Instead, the program has imploded playing three quarterbacks of varying levels of failure and struggling to reach bowl eligibility. Underwood isn’t going to salve the wounds of this season but a fourth straight win against their rival may. Many, including some in that fanbase, think that Ohio State is going to blow out TTUN.
It may be true, but that fanbase after celebrating a national championship has not given up already, and if they have they have bigger problems that a five-star quarterback can’t fix. The Game is always the Game… the stakes are always high and both fans want another 365 days of bragging rights against the biggest enemies.
The Seniors Came Back but The Newcomers Will Decide Ohio State’s Fate
After losing to Michigan for a third straight time Ohio State fans were in limbo unsure of how the roster would look next season with many of the best players draft-eligible. To the surprise and delight of many a large number of draft-eligible players spurned the NFL for one more shot at beating Michigan and winning a national championship. That list of returning seniors includes TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka, Donovan Jackson, JT Tuimoloua, Jack Sawyer, Lathan Ransom, Tyliek Williams, and Denzel Burke. All of these players came back with one goal, beat TTUN, but this game will be decided by the newcomers.
These players will of course contribute to Ohio State’s victory but the outcome relies on the arm of Will Howard a transfer quarterback. It relies on the toughness, leadership, and overwhelming skill of star safety Caleb Downs. This game will be won or lost on the back of superstar Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
Even Seth McLaughlin, despite his injury, will be a major factor in this game as he has served as a coach on the field and has helped raise the play of the players around him. Now his mentorship will help shape an offensive line that needs to hold back one of the most talented defensive lines in the country.
The returning players will make their plays, and they will take out three years of frustration, loss, and ridicule out on the field but this victory is in the hands of the guys who have never experienced The Game. It’s time for them to show how much this means to them and help win it for the guys who risked it all for one more shot at a pair of gold pants.
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