Coming off its first top-10 win of the season, Ohio State is heading back on the road.
The No. 4 Buckeyes (4-0) travel to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois to take on an improved Fighting Illini (2-3) program. Graduate linebacker Tuf Borland said that Ohio State will be expecting Illinois’ best performance on Saturday.
“They’re definitely a solid team, they’re well coached, they have talent and, like you said, they’ve given people problems throughout the season,” Borland said in a press conference Tuesday. “We know, as Ohio State, we’re gonna get everyone’s best shot every week, so we’re gonna be ready.”
The Fighting Illini opened the season 0-3, before stringing together back-to-back wins against Rutgers and Nebraska.
Illinois head coach Lovie Smith called his team’s performance in their 41-23 triumph over Nebraska Saturday their best play to this point in the season.
“We played our best ball the last time out and we’re excited about having the opportunity to play one of the best teams in college football,” Smith said in a press conference Monday.
Despite Ohio State coming off a game in which it allowed Indiana redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to throw for 491 yards and five touchdowns, the Buckeyes’ pass defense will get a chance to improve against a subpar Illinois passing attack.
Through five games, the Illini are averaging less than 160 passing yards per game and completing just over 51 percent of their pass attempts. In the last three games, Illinois has started three different quarterbacks, with senior quarterback Brandon Peters getting the most recent nod.
However, the Illini tend to control the game on the ground as they average 222.4 rushing yards per game — good for second in the Big Ten behind Ohio State. Like the Buckeyes, Illinois employs a running back-by-committee strategy to its rushing attack.
Leading the way for the Illini is junior running back Chase Brown who has tallied 357 yards and two touchdowns in five games. Senior running back Mike Epstein adds 338 yards and four touchdowns and is coming off a career-high 113-yard performance against Nebraska.
Borland said Illinois’ potent rushing threat will create a challenge for the Buckeye defense.
“They have two extremely good backs, they both run very hard. The offensive line, they move well,” Borland said. “We have our work cut out for us, but we’ll be ready.”
Ohio State has found success stopping the run this season, allowing the 12th fewest rushing yards in the country at 98.5 per game. Ohio State allowed its lowest output of the season against Indiana when the defense held the Hoosiers to -1 rushing yards on 16 attempts.
The defense, which allowed 35 points a week ago, will not be the only group looking for a bounce-back performance Saturday.
Junior quarterback Justin Fields surrendered the ball a career-high three times Saturday and said he “didn’t play well at all” in the Buckeyes’ first top-10 win of the season.
Fields called for a need to improve following the game, and head coach Ryan Day said Tuesday the two of them discussed the game over film — which revealed positive and negative plays.
“We just talked about, in some of those situations, not forcing the action, not trying to do too much with it,” Day said. “He also made a bunch of plays with his feet as well, and so that’s hard for him to let go at times, but that’s part of playing quarterback.”
Even with the mistake-ridden game, junior wide receiver Chris Olave said the team has 100-percent confidence in Fields.
Olave also said Fields will not let the performance linger and affect his play moving forward.
“Justin’s the hardest critic on himself. We all know he’s going to bounce back. He has the highest standards for himself, so we’re not worried at all about him,” Olave said Tuesday.
As the Buckeyes celebrated Thanksgiving with one another, Day said that he was grateful to be around his players and coaches during this difficult year.
“[I’m] grateful for the players and the coaching staff, who have also sacrificed so much to be away from their families,” Day said. “[I’m] grateful to be part of such a great family who’s stuck together and worked through a crazy year, but I’m proud of the way that we’ve handled ourselves. I’m proud of the way this team has stuck together.”
