Staff Picks: Buckeyes Open Big Ten Play at Michigan State

Ohio State opens its 2024 Big Ten season on the road at East Lansing to face a 3-1 Michigan State team under new head coach Jonathan Smith. The Buckeyes enter the contest as more than a three-touchdown favorite.

Will the Ohio State offense keep rolling and will the defense bounce back from a lackluster performance last week against Marshall? We have our staff picks for Saturday night’s showdown.

Ross Fulton

Michigan State is emblematic of a certain type of Big Ten team that Ohio State faces at least once every year with a good defense (22nd in SP+) and a non-existent offense (114th).

That said, Jonathan’s Smith staff will likely try to copy some of what Marshall did successfully against the Buckeye defense, spreading Ohio State out and then running the quarterback Aidan Chiles back to the boundary. It will be interesting to see what lessons, if any, Jim Knowles took from that Marshall contest.

The Michigan State defense will likely provide a stiffer challenge to the Buckeye offense. But look for Ohio State to get going by getting the ball out to the perimeter on RPOs before running the football.

Ohio State 41 Michigan State 10

Tony Gerdeman

Offensively, Michigan State is going to be one of the most-skilled teams the Buckeyes play this year. Quarterback Aidan Chiles can make all of the throws. He can also miss all of the throws. Can he put them all together against an Ohio State defense? Probably not.

The Buckeyes haven’t forced a turnover in their past two games. That streak should end this week as Chiles has already thrown seven interceptions on the season. If MSU coach Jonathan Smith isn’t going to dial him back, Chiles is going to keep learning on the job. This would be a likely week for Caleb Downs to get his first interception.

Offensively for the Buckeyes, everything is clicking now, but this will be the first real defense they face. The Spartans will get after quarterbacks. They have tackled well this season. We could get our first real look at Will Howard the runner in this game. One of the RBs is gonna hit a big one. And Jeremiah Smith will likely do something that takes everybody’s breath away once again. This one won’t be as easy as recent trips to East Lansing have been.

Ohio State 34 Michigan State 13

Marc Givler

This is probably good timing for an Ohio State conference road opener after the Buckeyes were taken to task a little bit by the coaching staff this week, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

With a very uneventful non-conference schedule in the rearview mirror, I expect a motivated and focused team to show up in East Lansing. Michigan State is playing really good defense so far this season behind an offense that has put it in some bad spots with sudden change situations.

Aidan Chiles will make a few off-schedule plays with his legs, and freshman receiver Nick Marsh is going to be a star, but for the most part, I see Ohio State shutting down Michigan State’s offense and the Buckeye offense continuing to be efficient and explosive.

Ohio State 41 Michigan State 13

Kevin Noon

We are finally to the Big Ten season with Ohio State traveling to Michigan State. The Buckeyes have won the last eight games in this series and the last three games at Spartans Stadium have not been all that close with Ohio State winning by 20-plus in each of those games.

The Spartans earned a big road win over Maryland and that should not be discounted but when did we start comparing Ohio State football to Maryland?

Exactly.

Aidan Chiles is a turnover machine and I expect Ohio State to force more than one in this game. The Spartans have a pair of backs that they have worked but neither should have much success against Ohio State’s front.

Going the other way, Will Howard will get to play in his first Big Ten league game after growing up in the footprint. Look for him to have something special while the 1-1A tandem of Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson will chew up the yardage as the Buckeyes win this one going away. 

Ohio State 42 Michigan State 13

Tom Orr

The Buckeyes hit the road for their first Big Ten game of the season,
and their first away from the Horseshoe this weekend in East Lansing.

The Spartans are in the first season of the Jonathan Smith era, and
while Smith is likely going to turn MSU into a solid program that will
be a consistent 7-8 win team and a pain in the butt for their rivals
in Ann Arbor, this is still very much a transitional season. It’s a
new coaching staff, and a team that loaded up in the portal, so
they’re likely going to be a tougher team in November than they are in
September. MSU comes in 3-1, and very nearly knocked off Boston
College last weekend, giving up the go-ahead score with less than 90
seconds left to play.

This is also the same Michigan State program that Ryan Day has beaten
by 24 points or more in every previous meeting. Smith will close that
gap at some point once he gets more of his players and system in
place, but this should be one last laugher for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State 38 Michigan State 10