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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.
Tonight’s the night. The Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Texas Longhorns in the cotton Bowl Classic at 7:30 (really 7:45) p.m. ET with a shot at the national title on the line. It has been a thrilling ride through the first two rounds of the playoff, and Buckeye fans don’t want to see that journey come to an end.
This week in our fan survey, we asked Buckeye Nation for their thoughts on OSU’s playoff run thus far and what they think is going to happen in Jerry’s World tonight. Check out the results below and if you disagree, feel free to chime in in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
Question 1: Who has been the most important part of Ohio State’s postseason success?
To me, this is not only the correct answer, but it’s not even close. I think that no matter where you stand/stood on Ryan Day during the regular season, we can all agree that the team wasn’t playing anywhere near its potential against Michigan, Oregon (the first time), Penn State, Nebraska, and at times in a handful of other games.
However, once they got into December, the Buckeyes have played as close to perfectly as a college football team realistically can, and I think that has a lot to do with Day getting rid of all of his and the team’s hangups about trying to win a certain way. Since the playoff field was announced, he has seemed singularly focused on getting the most out of his players, and he has.
While I have long written about how I think it is best for the team that Day serves as CEO and someone else calls plays (despite the fact that I think he is an excellent playcaller), the fact that they are in a single-elimination tournament trumps all of the recruiting, fundraising, and other administrative duties that might occupy his time during the regular season.
So, now that his only priority is winning, we appear to be getting the best of Ryan Day, and the Buckeyes’ on-field production is all the better for it.
Question 2: What will the margin of victory be in Friday’s game against Texas?
Following Ohio State’s dominant win over Oregon and Texas’ narrow overtime victory over the Arizona Sun Devils, Ohio State was installed as a 6.5-point favorite. The gold-standard college football analytics model SP+ projects the Buckeyes to win by a score of 26-22.
Through OSU’s first two games in the College Football Playoff, both Vegas and the analytics seemed to underestimate how well they were playing on both sides of the ball, so I would not be surprised if the Buckeyes end up exceeding both the oddsmakers’ and computers’ expectations.
I have gone on record picking the Buckeyes to win 38-16. That might be a bit of a homer pick, but who are we here at LGHL if not homers?
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.