Depth And Discipline – What Ohio State Needs Going Into The Final Three Weeks Of The Regular Season
It’s November and for College Football, this is the make-or-break time and that is no acceptation for the Ohio State Buckeyes. The first of back-to-back games in which we are hearing the phrase “trap game” the Buckeyes came out and handled their business against the Purdue Boilermakers, 45-0 in Columbus.
These are the games that need to be taken care of and a team comes out free of injury. Unfortunately, we saw left guard Carson Hinzman and quarterback Will Howard go down with what would be minor knee injuries. Late in the game, true freshman Aaron Scott was walked off the field as well. Aside from those, which again seemed minor, the Buckeyes were able to get their backups some reps and much-needed game experience from players like Devin Brown and Julian Sayin at the QB position.
However, some names that do not get the hype as Sayin or Brown may get that got some much-needed reps, James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon at the running back spot and on defense, CJ Hicks, Dedrick Houston, Joshua Mickens, and a host of others. This season the College Football Playoff is now 12 teams and as it stands now, the Buckeyes would have to win four games to win it all. Including the Big Ten Championship Game, that’s 19 games a college football team would play. Depth has never been as crucial to college football as it is this year.
Watching Peoples and Williams-Dixon, we are in good hands at the RB1a and RB1b positions next season. Both players have talent and really could be starting at most college football programs. That being said, one injury and that forces one of those two, probably Peoples, would be forced into significant playing time.
The same can be said with the defense and we need to start seeing much better play from the second and third-string defensive players. Hicks, Curry, Houston, Scott, Jermaine Mathews and the rest of this defense need to stay healthy and fresh for some of the biggest games of their careers. Hick was a former top 10 recruit in the country and with Cody Simon having a history of injuries, that would force Hicks into playing an extremely crucial role as the signal caller for the defense.
Jim Knowles and his defensive staff are going to be tested the rest of the way. Indiana is now 10-0 and will head to Columbus for a monster match-up with the confident team and a coach who has already given this team some bulletin board material. Health and discipline are going to be big for this team heading into the final three weeks of the season.
Next week, the Buckeyes travel to Evanston, Illinois and will play another Big Noon game on the shores of Lake Michigan against the Northwestern Wildcats in their makeshift football stadium.
