No Wind At Wrigley Field Should Be A Winning Forecast For The Buckeyes

As Ohio State prepares to take on Northwestern at Wrigley Field, it was understandable that the novelty of the Buckeyes taking on the Wildcats at Wrigley Field should have been the focus of head coach Ryan Day’s press conference on Tuesday.

After all, Wrigley Field is one of Major League Baseball’s signature ballparks, and I have no doubt that both Ohio State and Northwestern fans are excited about the venue.

“It’s a different feel, but it’s a great opportunity for our team. Ultimately, it’ll be a 100-yard football field and there will be stands and we’ll compete,” Day pointed out.

Near the end of the press conference, I took note of a question from Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch. Rabinowitz pointed out that the weather forecast for the Saturday game was calling for only 10-15 mph winds, a stark difference from the last time Ohio State played Northwestern when the wind wreaked havoc on the Buckeye passing game, holding star quarterback CJ Stroud to a career-low 76 yards passing as a starter.

Day was quite diplomatic in his response, saying, “Good. That’s 70 mph less than last time we were here.”

Even though Ohio State was victorious against Northwestern in 2022, winning 21-7, Day reflected upon that experience as a “nightmare of a day.” Day was exaggerating about the 70mph winds, as the winds were about 40mph, but even with that accurate adjustment, the impact upon Ohio State’s offense was keenly felt.

“Really what ended up happening was when the wind was in our face — and Northwestern did the same thing, they were trying eat up the clock and huddle, and then when the ball was behind us, we were trying to go no huddle so that we could punt the ball and throw the ball with the wind behind us,” he said. “But even when the wind was behind us that day, it was a challenge.”

Ohio State is a heavy favorite (-30), and seems to be approaching this game in a similar fashion as they did last week versus Purdue. I will be curious if the similar approach of playing backups or younger players, like DT Eddrick Houston or DT Kayden McDonald, will once again be on display versus Northwestern, with the crucial home games looming versus Indiana (11/23) and Michigan (11/30).

No matter if Ohio State plays their backups a lot or a little, the coaching staff will be grateful that they will not need to be playing in a wind tunnel as they did two seasons ago.