50 For 50: Tyleik Williams Will Be A Backfield Disruptor For The 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 seven 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.

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Biggest Buckeye Matchups

Ohio State WR Emeka Egbuka vs. Oregon CB Jabbar Muhammad

This will be Jabbar Muhammad’s third team in as many years. He spent his first three years with Oklahoma State — two of those years were with Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, then transferred to Washington prior to last season. Muhammad transferred to Oregon following Kalen DeBoer’s departure to Alabama in January. He was a Second-Team All-Pac 12 selection last year. Emeka Egbuka will be lined up in a number of places, and it will be interesting to see how much Muhammad follows him around. Oregon and Ohio State are expected to put up some points against each other this year and this could be one of the areas where that happens.

Most Important Games

Georgia Bulldogs at Ole Miss, November 9

Ole Miss is 0-11 against Top 5 teams in their last 11 opportunities, so unless Georgia is somehow not ranked in the top five in November, this game is apparently already over. The Ole Miss sphere isn’t serious enough to get angry about losing this game. They’re probably expecting it to happen. But if the Rebels truly are a playoff contender, shouldn’t this game be more of a toss up? Ole Miss was ranked No. 10 when these two teams played last year and the Bulldogs won 52-17. This year’s game is in Oxford and happens the week after UGA plays Florida. Perhaps all of the stars will align for Lane Kiffin, provided he doesn’t realign them during the actual game.

Things To Look Forward To

OSU’s offensive line rounding into the Big Ten’s best.

The Ohio State offensive line that takes the field in the season opener against Akron will not be the same offensive line that lines up against Oregon in Eugene six weeks later. All of the names may be the same, but the starting five is going to grow throughout the course of the season — and they’re only going to get better. You should be able to see it happen from week to week, and the way the schedule is set up, they’ll need to get better from week to week.

National College Football Predictions

The CFP’s Group of Five representative will be Boise State.

All of the Group of Five’s major contenders play at least one legitimate non-conference opponent — except for Liberty. And while that might sound like a formula for an undefeated season, it will also bring about an incredible amount of scrutiny, which is the last thing a Group of Five team needs when it’s being judged to be playoff worthy. Boise State, on the other hand, is a familiar program that has a game at Oregon in week two — which everyone will be watching, and games against both Oregon State and Washington State. The Broncos should win two of those games, but the lasting memory could be the fight they put up early in the season against Oregon. As well as the fact that they play in a better conference than Liberty.

Big Ten Football Predictions

Iowa will score four offensive touchdowns in a Big Ten game.

Leave it to Iowa to have something so innocuous seem so impossible. The Hawkeyes have not scored four offensive touchdowns in a Big Ten game since a 51-14 win at Maryland on October 1, 2021. Iowa has played 27 conference games since that improbable outburst. Will a couple of those touchdowns require a short field after the Hawkeye defense forces a turnover? Of course. This should go without saying. I realize I will need some help here.

Ohio State Football Predictions

Tyleik Williams will finish with at least 11 tackles for loss.

Sure, Tyleik Williams finished with 10.0 tackles for loss last year, so me predicting that he’ll add just one more TFL to that total may not seem like much of a prediction. However, Dre’Mont Jones (2018) is the only OSU defensive tackle in the past nine years to produce at least 11 tackles for loss in a season. Williams will be the second Buckeye interior lineman in a decade to “go to 11.”

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