50 For 50: Will Lathan Ransom Cause Trouble For Freshman QB?

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 37 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 13 |

Biggest Buckeye Matchups

Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola vs. Ohio State SAF Lathan Ransom

Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola has not been named the starter yet, but by the time the Huskers head to Columbus for their October 26 matchup with the Buckeyes, you have to figure that NU head coach Matt Rhule will have made the switch to the future one way or the other. Asking a true freshman quarterback to handle this year’s Ohio State defense is a tall order. Ohio State strong safety Lathan Ransom will be moved around a bit in order to confuse the true freshman. Don’t be surprised if there are some safety blitzes as well. Ransom is a very good blitzer and could create some havoc in a number of ways for the rookie quarterback.

Most Important Games

Oregon Ducks at Michigan Wolverines, November 2

Michigan’s home schedule is one hell of a ticket this year, getting Texas, USC, Michigan State, and Oregon all coming to town. The Wolverines’ game against the Ducks could be one of the biggest games of the year nationally, but that will depend on what Michigan does against Texas, USC, and Washington earlier in the season. Regardless of how those games go, however, this will still be a big game for Oregon. Don’t expect the Ducks to take any prior UM losses as a sign of weakness. We don’t yet know what time this kickoff will happen because FOX has first pick this particular week and Ohio State at Penn State is happening November 2 as well.

Something To Look Forward To

An OSU running back room that goes more than two deep.

While TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins get 99% of the attention at running back for the Buckeyes, it will not just be those two who carry the ball during games. True freshmen James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon and redshirt sophomore TC Caffey will be called upon to run out the clock in the fourth quarter of blowouts this season. It’s always interesting to see what freshmen are able to do in those situations. For instance, Ezekiel Elliott averaged 8.7 yards per carry as a true freshman in 2013. Curtis Samuel averaged 6.6 yards per carry in 2014. I don’t know that we should expect head coach Ryan Day to just run the clock out. He will also want to get his quarterbacks some work throwing the ball as well.

National College Football Predictions

Georgia will make the College Football Playoffs.

Can you even imagine a scenario where Georgia isn’t one of the 12 teams in the College Football Playoffs this year? They will probably need four losses in order to be eliminated, but they do play four playoff-hopeful teams — and none of those games will be played in Athens. They have a “neutral site game” against Clemson in Atlanta and road games at Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss. Will they lose all four of those games? Not bloody likely. And if they win any one of them, that will give them a win the committee can tout.

Big Ten Football Predictions

Michigan cornerback Will Johnson will intercept Texas QB Quinn Ewers.

Michigan’ Will Johnson is arguably the best cornerback in the nation. Texas’ Quinn Ewers is arguably the best quarterback in the nation. The Wolverines and Longhorns meet in Ann Arbor the second week of the season. While it would be best for Ewers to throw at Michigan’s other defensive backs, it wouldn’t be very Texan of him. Ewers is going to challenge Johnson at times. Johnson is going to win more of those challenges than he loses. One of those wins will be in the form of an interception.

Ohio State Football Predictions

Emeka Egbuka will have at least 12 touchdown catches.

There are currently seven Ohio State receivers who have ever had at least 12 touchdown catches in a single season. That list consists of Terry Glenn, David Boston, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison, Jr., Devin Smith, and Parris Campbell. Buckeye senior Emeka Egbuka is going to add his name to the list this season. Egbuka had 10 touchdown catches as a sophomore and just four last year while dealing with an injury. Healthy and motivated this season, Egbuka is going to be very difficult for defenses to handle.

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