Staff Picks: Buckeyes Host Dylan Raiola and Nebraska

Ohio State has had extra time to process the loss to Oregon and how to get better moving forward. Now an upstart Nebraska squad will enter Ohio Stadium on Saturday afternoon, but the Cornhuskers are still licking their wounds after being dismantled by Indiana last week.

Will the Buckeyes show rest or rust coming out of the bye? Can Nebraska get back on track after a poor showing on both sides of the ball?

Ross Fulton

Nebraska presents a typical Big Ten profile of a good defense with a below average offense. Ohio State will look to get the bad taste out of its mouth but all eyes will be on how the Buckeye defense looks scheme wise following the loss. Look for Caleb Downs to be further utilized downhill and more spilling the football.

Ohio State 43 Nebraska 12

Tony Gerdeman

Everybody is going to be watching the Ohio State defense to look for the necessary changes that they want to see, but I will be watching the Buckeye running game to see if it gets back on track after being relatively shut down against Oregon.

Is Quinshon Judkins good to go? And if so, can he get back up to speed after the lowest YPC performance of his career?

Indiana went for 215 yards on the ground last week against the Huskers, averaging 6.5 yards per carry. As with all things Ohio State-related, the Indiana Hoosiers are the benchmark. Can the Buckeyes hit the 215-yard mark this week?

Defensively, I don’t know what we’ll see at safety, but I’d go with Jordan Hancock. I know this is going to be a very scrutinized defensive line performance, Nebraska is only scoring 18.3 points per game in conference play, so the old Buckeye defense should be fine, let alone the theoretically new-and-improved edition. There will be multiple interceptions available for the Buckeyes in this one. They just need to be ready.

Ohio State 42, Nebraska 14

Marc Givler

The players and coaches probably hated having a bye week right after that Oregon game. You generally want to get right back up on the horse when it throws you off. But I kind of like that they had to sit there an extra week and let the frustration build.

Nothing leads to changes like a loss. It sends wake up calls, it makes everyone focus just a little bit harder and self-evaluate just a little bit more. To that end, I will be interested to see what the defense looks like on Saturday after another disappointing performance in a big game.

Nebraska should also come in with a chip on its shoulder after a dreadful performance against Indiana last week. The Dylan Raiola angle is interesting for headlines but I don’t sense much animosity from either side going into this game.

I think Ohio State bounces back into the win column with a solid all-around effort before turning attention to a potential Top 5 showdown in Happy Valley next weekend.

Ohio State 41 Nebraska 17

Kevin Noon

The Buckeyes have had an extra week to stew on the loss at Oregon and have some difficult conversations. To Ryan Day’s credit, we have seen needed, but the lack of pass rush has been persistent and makes you wonder what needs to be done to get things sorted out.

This team is too good to lose another game along the way in the regular season, but some real challenges still remain on the schedule, mainly at Penn State the following week.

That makes this week a dress rehearsal for that game and while Nebraska does some things right, it does a lot of things wrong too, against good teams, and like it or not, Ohio State is still a good team.

Dylan Raiola has been hit by the freshman wall and is not nearly as efficient as what we saw to start the season, and the Huskers can’t run the ball. That doesn’t mean that Nebraska will be kept off the board, but this is not going to be the same matchup where NU scores 40 (UTEP) or even 24 (Illinois).

The Buckeyes will make some legitimate steps on defense while the offense should get back to functioning at a much higher clip. The Huskers have scored 21 points in their last eight quarters of football and the sledding isn’t going to get any smoother at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.  

Ohio State 38 Nebraska 7

Tom Orr

Nebraska isn’t nearly as bad as its 56-7 loss to Indiana would have you believe. The Huskers turned the ball over five times, and went 0-for-5 on fourth down to turn a game that was 14-7 in the middle of the second quarter into a blowout loss. Their 5-2 record is based mostly on wins over mediocre opponents, but that’s true of a lot of teams this time of year. 

This weekend, they will face an opponent that is decidedly better than mediocre. Ohio State should be able to run the ball a decent amount on Saturday. If they average 4.5 yards per carry, that would be an okay day with Zen Michalski replacing Josh Simmons at left tackle. If the Buckeyes hit 5 yards per carry without the number being skewed by one or two big runs, then it’s going to be a good day for the Buckeyes. They should be able to throw the ball consistently enough to move the chains and give them plenty of scoring chances.

On the other side of the ball, Nebraska ranks 96th in the country in yards per rush, at just 3.71, a number that will likely go down this week. Couple that with a (talented) true freshman at quarterback, and you’re looking at a recipe for a game where that young quarterback is asked to do more than is probably fair at this point in his career. That leads to turnovers, and that will lead to a comfortable win for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State 34 Nebraska 6