50 For 50: Jack Sawyer’s Time Is Now

Welcome to our daily feature that I am calling “50 for 50” where I attempt to get us to Big Ten Media Days — which are 44 days away — with a daily sampling of what we can look forward to this upcoming college football season.

We will do this via the following categories: the 50 biggest individual matchups for the Buckeyes this season, the 50 most important college football games this season, 50 Buckeye things to look forward to this season, 50 national predictions, 50 Big Ten predictions, and 50 predictions involving the Buckeyes.

Previous: Day Six |

Biggest Buckeye Matchups

Michigan safety Makari Paige vs. Ohio State tight end Gee Scott, Jr.

It may not be the most-hyped matchup, but The Game can swing on a tight end coming down with the football in the end zone or having a defensive back knock it out of his hands — as we saw in 2022 between Cade Stover and Mike Sainristil. Michigan safety Makari Paige is a long, tall defender who can lay the wood. Ohio State tight end Gee Scott, Jr. is stepping in for Cade Stover. They may not match up with each other a ton when they meet in November, but it only takes one play to be the difference.

Most Important Games

Colorado Buffaloes at Nebraska Cornhuskers, Sept. 7 (7:30 pm NBC)

Narratives, start your engines! It may only be the second week of the season, but both programs need this win to stave off the vultures waiting in the skies above to swoop down and pick at the bones of one of these eventual corpses. Nebraska can’t afford to lose this game at home. They lost to the Buffs by three touchdowns last year. If this team is going to contend for anything, they can’t be losing to a Colorado team that may or may not go bowling this year. As for the Buffaloes, if Coach Prime wants his program to be more than a novelty, a win here would help.

Something To Look Forward To

An improved special teams.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day replaced special teams coordinator Parker Fleming with an all-hands-on-deck approach from the rest of his coaching staff. Over the past few years — with a dedicated special teams coordinator — the Buckeyes managed to have some very costly gaffes in the kicking game. Something had to be done and Day finally acknowledged the need to fix what was broken way too often. What will an improved special teams look like? Well, if you don’t notice them and they don’t negatively impact an important game, then consider them improved. And who knows, maybe we’ll even see Ohio State’s first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2010.

National College Football Predictions

Riley Leonard will put up 4,000 yards of total offense.

Okay, this one is actually a little too bold and I made it without thinking, so now I have to justify it. When healthy, Riley Leonard is a talented dual-threat quarterback who can go for 100 yards on the ground on any given Saturday. But I’m going to need Notre Dame to win a playoff game in order to get him to 4,000 yards of total offense. I’m also going to need him to throw for about 250 yards a game over those 14 contests, and then rush for 500 yards throughout the course of the season. I’m not sure which is the least likely of these things to happen — Leonard staying healthy or winning a playoff game.

Big Ten Football Predictions

Rutgers tailback Kyle Monangai will be the Big Ten rushing champ again.

Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai will become the first player to win the Big Ten rushing title in back-to-back seasons since Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor did it in 2017 and 2018. Monangai rushed for a Big Ten-high 1,262 yards last year averaging 97.1 yards per game. The Big Ten only had two players rush for 1,000 yards last year, which is the fewest in a non-shortened season since 2009 when Wisconsin’s John Clay and Penn State’s Evan Royster topped the mark.

Ohio State Football Predictions

Jack Sawyer is going to score a touchdown.

Over the course of his first three years at Ohio State, defensive end Jack Sawyer has seen fellow defensive linemen Jerron Cage, Haskell Garrett, JT Tuimoloau, and Tyleik Williams all score touchdowns. He is still looking for his first as a Buckeye. Ohio State defensive linemen have scored 10 touchdowns over the past 10 seasons, with four of those going to the defensive ends. And two of those happened 10 years ago. My boldness knows no bounds.

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