The Road to Santa Clara: Week 3 (TCU)
The Buckeyes return to their home away from home tonight, as they travel to Dallas for a matchup with #15 TCU. Jerry’s World should bring back fond memories for Ohio State fans, with their last two times in the building resulting in a 24-7 Cotton Bowl victory over Sam Darnold’s USC Trojans and a 42-20 National Championship demolition of Marcus Mariota’s Oregon Ducks. While no other team in the country opened their season with even two straight Power 5 opponents, the Buckeyes add another notch on their brutal schedule belt tonight against a supposedly good Big 12 foe. Although this is arguably the biggest game in Horned Frog history, it is probably only the Buckeyes 4th or 5th biggest regular season game this year. Some pundits are saying that an Ohio State victory tonight all but guarantees an undefeated season and spot in the College Football Playoff because Urban Meyer returns next week to run the table, but I am just taking this season one game at a game.
Week 3: Ohio State vs. TCU
Date: September 15th, 2018 Time: 8:00 EST TV: ABC All-Time Series: Ohio State leads 4-1-1 Last Meeting: Ohio State 37-3 in 1973 Spread: Ohio State -13
Both teams are coming into this one with a chip on their shoulder after feeling disrespected in different sets of rankings. TCU is still upset over the 2014 College Football Playoff Committee’s correct decision to leap the Frogs with a clearly more talented, better coached, and overall better team in The Ohio State Buckeyes.
Play a conference championship game for me one time, Big 12. And quit crying regardless. The Buckeyes won the title. They clearly deserved to be there. On the other side of the field, Ohio State actually does have a legitimate reason to be pissed off, as they found themselves slighted in another set of rankings. Jack Mac from Barstool Sports, a reputable writer from a reputable sports only news outlet, disrespected the Buckeyes with how low he put them in his Week 3 Power Rankings.
I’m not sure whether this was a typo, satire, or an attempt to fire up the Buckeyes heading into their first road test of the year, but the vibe of the team has been nothing short of unsafe for their opponents as they head to Dallas. Unsafe is probably an understatement actually, especially when Nick Bosa and Chayse Young are lining up opposite of each other at Defensive End. I personally believe that it should be illegal to play them both at the same time. Too dangerous. Someone is going to get hurt. Just ask Rutgers.
I would be confident if Bosa and Young were our two best players heading into tonight’s matchup, but my newfound cockiness stems from the fact that they aren’t even close. Dwayne Haskins may not just be the best quarterback in country this year, he may be the best to ever do it. Through two games versus Power 5 opponents, Haskins has thrown 9 touchdowns and 11 incompletions. Read that again, and sound it out this time Michigan fans. This man is about to announce his Heisman presence with authority tonight on primetime television, and the Barstool Store is ready for it.
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In all honesty, when I take off my scarlet colored glasses, I do think TCU will be a formidable opponent right up until kickoff. But when the Buckeye crowd, who will have the majority of fans even though they’re playing in Texas, really gets into it, it will be a long night for the Horned Frogs. I’m probably most excited for our backups to get big game experience in the 2nd half. We may need a couple of them later this year if someone goes down with an injury, and we’ll certainly need them next year when half our team gets drafted in the 1st round again this April.
Prediction:
