- TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES 2018 FULL
- TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES 2018 PLUS
- TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES 2018 SERIES
Ty Fryfogle, the Big Ten’s receiver of the year in 2020, remains at his disposal, as does tight end Peyton Hendershot.
TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES 2018 FULL
makes a full recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered, the Hoosiers should be in position to again threaten the Buckeyes. If the recent trend is to be reversed, Michigan will need to find answers at quarterback, a dynamic that proved challenging for Jim Harbaugh through his first six seasons. Last season’s game was canceled due to an outbreak of coronavirus cases among the Wolverines.
TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES 2018 SERIES
But their longtime archrival has remained noncompetitive in the series in recent seasons, losing by 29 points in 2019 and 23 points in 2018. Michigan has a higher percentage of blue-chip talent on its roster than any team the Buckeyes are scheduled to face next season, according to 247Sports’ tracking.
TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES 2018 PLUS
The Buckeyes will break in an inexperienced starting quarterback, plus other new starters on defense, against one of the better teams in the Big Ten rather than a lower-level Group of Five foe, leaving the potential for some early growing pains. Not only are the Golden Gophers only two years removed from an 11-win season, but they arrive at an interesting point on Ohio State’s schedule. Otherwise the Cornhuskers will need to be much improved under Scott Frost, who is 12-20 in three seasons. With this season’s matchup scheduled two months later, it’s worth considering if weather elements could make for a more challenging road trip. The Buckeyes left with a dominant 48-7 win over Nebraska. 6 at NebraskaĪ hostile sellout crowd had little effect on Ohio State when it last traveled to Lincoln in 2019 for a primetime game. But the level of talent is improving as the Terrapins have signed consecutive recruiting classes that rank in the top half of the conference and last year added Alabama transfer quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who would finish with the second-highest passer rating for a Big Ten starter after Justin Fields.
The five games Maryland played in 2020 were the fewest by a Big Ten team, adding some difficulty to the assessment of the program’s trajectory under Mike Locksley, who enters his third season at the helm. This will be the teams’ first meeting since Purdue handed Ohio State its only loss in 2018. The series has been much different in Columbus, where the Buckeyes have not stumbled against the Boilermakers since 1988, a stretch of nine consecutive wins at Ohio Stadium. The Boilermakers have posed problems for Ohio State in the past, but those instances have been in West Lafayette. But the series has still been pretty lopsided as the teams have dwelled in opposite places in the Big Ten East. There were encouraging signs for Rutgers last year as Greg Schiano began his second stint leading the Scarlet Knights, and they were semi-competitive in a 49-27 loss at Ohio State in November, outscoring the Buckeyes in the second half. A majority of starters from a stingy defense have returned, though sack leader and unanimous All-American linebacker Zaven Collins is not among them after he became a first-round NFL draft pick in April. Tulsa was among the top teams from the Group of Five conferences last season as it snapped a three-year bowl drought and reached the American Conference championship game.
The Spartans need to sign multiple recruiting classes before they are positioned to upset the Buckeyes in Columbus as they did in 2015. Since November, more than two dozen players have put their names in the transfer portal.
Mel Tucker’s program is in a rebuilding phase as evidenced by this offseason’s roster turnover. 123 in scoring defense (41.3 points per game) in the Bowl Subdivision in 2020. 120 in scoring offense (17.2 points per game) and No. Ohio State has not lost to an in-state school since Oberlin College in 1921, and it isn’t likely to stumble against Akron, which has lost 22 out of its last 23 games, a stretch spanning to 2018.