Under Urban Meyer the Ohio State Buckeyes were undefeated; 17-0. By the skin of the teeth they still are. OSU entered the game with the longest winning streak in college football. And they had to survive a 4th quarter scare down 23-13 in Evanston to maintain it. In a battle of undefeateds, Ohio State kept their national title hopes alive by beating Northwestern 40-30 (it was 34-30 in the final seconds, than a meaningless touchdown was scored to secure a backdoor cover and OSU won 40-30.
The Ohio State Buckeyes saw their high powered fuel-injected machine of an offense stall over and over in the red zone during the first half. The Buckeyes drove inside the Northwestern 10 three times in the first half and came away with just six points on those drives. However, they came correct when it mattered.
The Ohio State Buckeyes didn’t score an offensive touchdown until 3:54 left in the third quarter. They came in 6th in the nation, and first in the Big Ten averaging 48.2 ppg. Ohio St. also OWNED and I mean OWNED the series with Northwestern, having won 28 of the last 29 meetings. And the last four NU losses in the series produced final scores reading: 45-10, 58-7, 54-10, 48-7. This one was obviously much much closer, but the domination continues.
Urban Meyer said he was going he was going to “ride” Carlos Hyde this week, and indeed he did. Hyde finished with 168 yards rushing and 3 TDs. Carlos Hyde teared up at the podium tonight while discussing his suspension. Jordan Hall did not carry the ball even once tonight.
“Jordan Hall has a knee issue that we’re dealing with,” Meyer said postgame.The Ohio State Buckeyes only have one more ranked team left on their schedule- at Michigan. Like it or not, you might have to very well watch Ohio State versus the SEC in the national title game again.
They’ll enter the bye week now looking to heal up.
“It’s going to be the most rested team in college football history,” Meyer said.
Listen to me every Tuesday at 10:30 AM CDT talking Illini and Northwestern on 1620 The Zone
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan and 1620 The Zone, he also writes for Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and Facebook, subscribe to his RSS feed