50 For 50: When Will Bo Jackson Have His Breakout Game?

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 23 days away — with a daily sampling of what we can look forward to this upcoming college football season. Today’s edition features Ohio State running backs Bo Jackson and Turbo Rogers, right guard Tegra Tshabola, and more.

As always, 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

PENN STATE DT ZANE DURANT VS. OHIO STATE RG TEGRA TSHABOLA

Zane Durant had a very good season last year in his first full year as a starter. He posted 42 tackles, 11.0 tackles for loss, and 3.0 sacks. He’s a Preseason All-Big Ten type of guy. Durant is quick and disruptive, which is going to make for a difficult matchup for Ohio State right guard Tegra Tshabola. Durant had a season-high five tackles last year against the Buckeyes. Tshabola won’t be matched up against him every time, but it’s going to be imperative that he keeps Durant out of the backfield whenever the two line up across from each other.

Most Important Games

ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE AT SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS, OCT. 25

South Carolina has a four-game stretch in the middle of the season at LSU, home against Oklahoma and Alabama, then at Ole Miss. Needless to say, we’re going to know a lot more about the Gamecocks after these four games. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers is a budding star, but he’ll need to bloom to get South Carolina through this stretch unscathed. Alabama will come into this game with a loss against Georgia (and possibly a loss against Florida State). They host Tennessee before this one, so who knows what kind of emotional state they’ll be in. Somebody’s gonna be on the outside looking in after this game.

Things To Look Forward To

FRESHMAN RUNNING BACK BO JACKSON GETTING HIS FIRST PLAYING TIME.

Freshman Bo Jackson impressed at running back this spring. Buckeye fans got a good look at him in the spring game back in April, but everybody wants to see more. We’ll all get that opportunity in week two against Grambling State. Ohio State running backs coach Carlos Locklyn will rotate as much as he can in that game, but Jackson could end up with the most action. It shouldn’t take him too long to showcase his speed and power against the Tigers.

National College Football Predictions

OKLAHOMA WILL GO 4-0 IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY.

Oklahoma has non-conference games against Illinois State, Michigan, at Temple, and then Kent State after a bye week. The standout game here, of course, is Oklahoma going to Temple. The Sooners signed a 2-for-1 deal with the Owls for some reason. Maybe OU just considers it a recruiting trip to go play in Philly where the Eagles play? Aside from the Temple fiasco, there is also the week two game against Michigan. This may end up being Mikey Keene’s final start at quarterback for the Wolverines — assuming he wins the job. It would make sense to let Keene deal with Norman, and then turn the keys over to true freshman Bryce Underwood the following week against Central Michigan. Unless head coach Sherrone Moore doesn’t want his freshman QB to be making his first start while his head coach is suspended? But let’s be honest, a Michigan head coach basing his decision making on when he might or might not be suspended is like you or me wondering if it might be raining on a random day in three months. Sometimes you’ve just got to let these things play out. But Moore might want to keep his umbrella handy.

Big Ten Football Predictions

MICHIGAN WILL HAVE A PAIR OF 700-YARD RUNNING BACKS.

I never set out to make these predictions overly bold, but here I am predicting a pair of Michigan running backs will rush for 700+ yards for the first time (without help from Connor Stalions) since 1994! Jordan Marshall finished the season in strong fashion last year as a true freshman rushing for 100 yards in the bowl game against Alabama. Michigan then went and added Alabama running back Justice Haynes, who did not play in the bowl game but rushed for 448 yards last year as a sophomore. Running the ball may be difficult for the Wolverines at times because of their youth at quarterback, but that’s not going to stop them from trying.

Ohio State Football Predictions

FRESHMAN RB TURBO ROGERS WILL SCORE TDS RUSHING AND RECEIVING.

Ohio State freshman running back Turbo Rogers has played more receiver than running back the past two seasons, but will find himself in the familiar confines of the backfield this year. A true freshman running back scoring touchdowns rushing and receiving doesn’t happen every year for the Buckeyes. In fact, it hasn’t happened since TreVeyon Henderson did it four years ago. Marcus Crowley did it in 2019, and JK Dobbins and Demario McCall did it in 2017 and 2016, but don’t let that cloud your opinion on the boldness of this prediction.

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