No. 2 Ohio State (8-0) will travel to Evanston, Illinois, Saturday to take on Northwestern (1-7). Credit: Katie Good | Asst. Photo Editor
The focus is solely on the Buckeyes.
The first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, and No. 2 Ohio State (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) slotted near the top ahead of Saturday’s game against head coach Pat Fitzgerald and the Wildcats at Northwestern.
Head coach Ryan Day said he didn’t watch Tuesday’s unveiling of the CFP rankings. Instead, he re-emphasized a familiar message shared since the start of the season: “It’s about us.”
“For us, our goals are still our goals, and if we don’t maximize every single minute of the day this week, then it doesn’t matter,” Day said. “It’s a Big Ten matchup. It’s on the road. Fitz does an unbelievable job. I know maybe they don’t have the record that they want to, but we got to go play football.”
Beginning its season with a win over Nebraska in Dublin, Ireland, Aug. 27, Northwestern (1-7, 1-4 Big Ten) has lost seven-straight games since Week 0. The Wildcats rank in the bottom three among the Big Ten in scoring offense and defense, tallying averages of 17.9 points and 28.8 points allowed per game, respectively.
Wildcats senior defensive lineman Adetomiwa Adebawore and junior linebacker Bryce Gallagher lead Northwestern’s defense. Gallagher is second in the Big Ten with 79 tackles, and Adebawore is tied for fifth with four tackles.
According to the Pro Football Focus NFL Draft 2023 Big Board, Wildcats junior offensive lineman Peter Skoronski projects as the No. 7 prospect ahead of next spring’s draft. Skoronski and Buckeyes third-year offensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr., both among 89 players recognized on the Outland Trophy preseason watch list for best interior lineman in college football, played in the 2020 All-American Bowl together, and Johnson said he’s looking forward to their next competition.
“It’s cool to see another guy in my class just really excel at his position and just be dominant,” Johnson said. “I feel like it’s kind of like when you’re playing high school ball, and you have a best friend on the other team, and even though you might not play the same position, you just want to out-compete them.”
The Buckeyes battled in State College, Pennsylvania, against the Nittany Lions and captured a 44-31 fourth-quarter comeback over then-No. 13 Penn State Oct. 29.
Second-year defensive lineman J.T. Tuimoloau played a large role in Ohio State’s latest win, hauling in two interceptions, including a pick-six, a forced fumble and fumble recovery alongside his six tackles.
Day said when the Buckeyes told Tuimoloau he earned the “champion” grade the team gives out following postgame evaluations, the team room went wild.
“You could just feel it getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and it was just one of those things then the guys went nuts,” Day said. “One of the most historic games I guess in college football. I guess that’s not an exaggeration to say that because of what he did, so they deserve that type of excitement.”
Ohio State hasn’t struck a balance offensively in its last two games, however. The Buckeyes rushed for 98 yards against Penn State after running for 66 in Week 8, both season lows.
Despite working through kinks, the Buckeyes carried the football 26 times between running backs second-year TreVeyon Henderson and third-year Miyan Williams, the latter Day said Ohio State hopes to get back after he exited in the first quarter against the Nittany Lions.
Fourth-year offensive lineman Dawand Jones said the Buckeye coaching staff “see what we do in practice” while working on run-game concepts and thinks leaning on practice habits will help iron things out.
“They believe in us. They know they can run the ball behind our guys,” Jones said. “We’ve got a good defense, and we do the same thing sometimes to our defense, but sometimes there’s struggles.”
Four games remain in the regular season as Ohio State remains one of two undefeated Big Ten programs alongside No. 5 Michigan.
The Buckeyes are keeping their eyes on their immediate opponent week-to-week, Day said, and second-year wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said Ohio State can take its next step toward its goals by “playing our type of football.”
“We’re as good as we’re going to be, and we’re as good as our last guy, so we hold ourselves to a very high standard,” Egbuka said. “At the end of the day, if we do that, we feel like we’re going to come out on top 99.9 percent of the time.”
Ohio State rounds out its two-game road trip Saturday at Northwestern with kickoff set for noon. ABC will broadcast.
