50 For 50: Rookie Runners Could Make Early Mark For Buckeyes

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 10 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 40 |

Biggest Buckeye Matchups

Ohio State QB Will Howard vs. Michigan State LB Cal Haladay

Michigan State linebacker Cal Haladay is a three-year starter who has amassed 307 tackles in that span. He is the leader of a Michigan State defense that is looking to change its fortunes under a new head coach and defensive coordinator. The Buckeyes have beaten the Spartans by at least 20 points in each of their past three meetings in East Lansing. The Ohio State quarterbacks leading those charges were Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and CJ Stroud. Will Howard is the Buckeyes’ likely starting quarterback this year and this would be OSU’s conference opener, so it will be a step up in opponent. He will have plenty of decisions to make while playing chess or checkers against Haladay. Ohio State is the heavy favorite here but that’s not going to keep Haladay from playing all 60 minutes.

Most Important Games

LSU Tigers at Texas A&M Aggies, October 26

Neither LSU nor Texas A&M are favorites in the SEC this year, though they both like to pretend that they are. The Aggies failed to deliver on Jimbo Fisher’s promises, so now the problem falls to new head coach Mike Elko. Texas A&M does not have a favorable schedule but they do get LSU at home. Brian Kelly has won 10 games in each of his first two years in Baton Rouge, but he’s also lost seven games in that span. Another 10-3 season this year will not go over well. There is pressure on both coaches to get this win. Neither team is a world-beater, so a loss is going to look bad for one of these teams.

Things To Look Forward To

Freshman linebackers making a mark on special teams.

It has been said that if a dog is gonna bite, it will bite as a pup. As it concerns the Ohio State linebackers this season, there are two pups who will have some opportunities to bite on special teams. The depth chart for snaps on defense is not favorable for rookies Payton Pierce and Garrett Stover, but there will be plenty of kickoffs for the Buckeyes where they can make a mark on this year’s squad. It’s always interesting to see who shows up in the coverage game. Though, admittedly, it has grown less interesting with the current fair catch rules.

National College Football Predictions

Boston College will win eight games.

The one thing we know about Bill O’Brien is that he can win games at underachieving schools in eastern states. He can get the most of out of his team and he’s got a pretty good playmaker in junior quarterback Thomas Castellanos. If you squint at this schedule, you can find eight wins, though one of them might have to be against somebody like Louisiana in the Freedom Bowl or some such thing. By the way, the last time BC won eight games was 2009. Linebacker Luke Kuechly was a freshman.

Big Ten Football Predictions

Alex Orji will outrush Donovan Edwards at least three times.

Frankly, this prediction may be true even if Alex Orji does not end up winning the starting quarterback job for the Wolverines. Orji did outrush Donovan Edwards once last year (Michigan State) and nearly a second time against Ohio State. Michigan may not want to run Orji too much this season because of quarterback depth concerns, but he’s too good at it to be ignored. Plus, it may end up being his best asset early on. We have yet to see Edwards be a consistent running back over the course of an entire season. The Wolverines need that to happen this year.

Ohio State Football Predictions

A freshman will lead OSU in rushing in a non-conference game.

Ohio State opens the season against Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall. There should be no need for either TreVeyon Henderson or Quinshon Judkins to be carrying the football much into the second half. This will allow one of the freshmen — either James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon — to possibly get double-digit carries. With the Buckeyes likely keeping the ball on the ground in the fourth quarter, the carries could pile up for somebody. Enough attempts and one of them could go the distance.

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