50 For 50: The 500 Club Live From The Friendly Confines

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 40 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 10 |

Biggest Buckeye Matchups

Purdue QB Hudson Card vs. Ohio State DE Caden Curry

Before you scoff at a matchup involving a Purdue quarterback and an Ohio State defensive end, let me remind you that the Boilermakers have won three of the last eight matchups against the Buckeyes. Sure, all three of those games have taken place in West Lafayette and this game is in Columbus where the Boilers haven’t won since 1988, but must we always be a cynic? Can’t we just appreciate a mobile quarterback like Hudson Card breathing a sigh of relief when OSU starting defensive ends Jack Sawyer and/or JT Tuimoloau head to the bench for a bit only for Card to then be chased just as relentlessly by Caden Curry when he replaces one of them? The Buckeyes will be heavily favored in this game, but they will also be seven days removed from the trip to Happy Valley. This could be the kind of game that Ohio State sleeps through a bit. They’ll need the rotational guys to pick up some slack.

Most Important Games

Arizona Wildcats at Kansas State Wildcats, September 13 (8:00 pm FOX)

This is part of FOX’s new Friday night college football package and it’s going to be one of the biggest games of the Big XII season. There are probably a half-dozen teams that could win the conference, including both Arizona and Kansas State. Arizona’s dynamic offense will be tested by the molassesness of playing against Kansas State. The winner of this game will have a leg up on everybody else in the conference. The loser won’t be out of it but they’ll have ground to make up. There’s probably better than a 30% chance that one of these two teams will be in the College Football Playoffs.

Something To Look Forward To

The Buckeyes playing at Wrigley Field.

Not since the Harlem Globetrotters played at your high school gym in 1997 have you been treated to such a ballyhooed team playing in such a beloved little venue. Ohio State will play Northwestern November 16 in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. If that doesn’t make the sentimental part of your blood start pumping, then you may be clinically dead. And yes, the logistics of knowing how to situate a football field inside the old ballpark has long been figured out. It stopped being half-court football years ago.

Iowa swarm at Wrigley pic.twitter.com/wdimLQtgTN

— Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) November 4, 2023

National College Football Predictions

The Florida Gators are not going to a bowl game this year.

Predicting that the Florida Gators are not going to a bowl game doesn’t seem all that bold considering they also didn’t go to a bowl game last year. However, the last time Florida missed a bowl game two years in a row was 1984 and 1985 — but that was due to NCAA sanctions. They only lost two games in those two years, so they would’ve gone bowling if they were eligible. The last time they went two years without bowling due to not having enough wins was 1978 and 1979. There was a head coach fired between those two seasons. Current Gators head coach Billy Napier is 2-10 against ranked opponents in his two seasons. If things don’t improve dramatically this year, there won’t be a fourth season. And I don’t think a 6-6 regular season and a bowl bid is going to get the job done.

Big Ten Football Predictions

Nebraska is winning at least eight games in the regular season this year.

I am not ready to buy stock in freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, but I am okay with buying stock in Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule. I’m also okay in selling stock on playing a Big Ten schedule. Nebraska has 17 starters back from last year’s 5-7 team. That team lost four games by three points and a fifth game by seven points. They were -17 on turnovers last year. Even though starting a freshman quarterback — which isn’t a done deal yet — will cost them a loss at some point, it’s not like the non-freshmen were doing any better. Here’s Nebraska’s schedule this year: UTEP, Colorado, Northern Iowa, Illinois, at Purdue, Rutgers, at Indiana, at Ohio State, UCLA, at USC, Wisconsin, at Iowa. They may not be an underdog until they head to Columbus. I think the Huskers can win more than eight games, but predicting eight wins is bold enough for a team that hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2016.

Ohio State Football Predictions

Four Buckeyes will have at least 500 yards receiving this year.

If four players having 500 yards receiving in a season doesn’t sound all that impressive to you, I will remind you that it has only happened once in the history of Ohio State football. If I gave you five guesses to tell me the answer to this trivia question, you should eventually guess 2018 because that should always be the first guess to any kind of OSU passing game mark. Yes, in 2018, Parris Campbell (1,063), KJ Hill (865), Terry McLaurin (701), and Johnnie Dixon (669) all topped the 500-yard mark. Who will do it this year? Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate are the easy answers. It still feels strange to suggest that Jeremiah Smith is an easy answer as well, considering Cris Carter is the only true freshman in Ohio State history with over 500 yards receiving in a season. Who is the fourth? That’s up to you. Brandon Inniss? Jayden Ballard? Bryson Rodgers? Do you want to go off the board and take TreVeyon Henderson? If you want to push things even further and say five players because of the longer schedule, I would probably fold at that point.

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