People act like it was Cardale Jones that was the problem in OSU's run a few years back. It was being overblown because of the circumstances and the fact he was a QB. The star of the run was Zeke who rushed for about 700 yards between the B1G Title Game and National Title game. Trey Sermon is on a similar tear.

Florida and Ole Miss both were able move the ball and score all night on Alabama. Offensively Ohio State is much better than Ole Miss and no worse than Florida. 

I expect this game to be decided late by whichever defense can make a big stop.

 

Watch red zone Touchdown/FG rate and turnovers to get a feel for who is in charge. Any FG attempt is a win for the defensive units.

Alabama 38-31.

I think that this will be a great game. As a Clemson fan, watching both of the semi final games, OSU is a touchdown better than Bama. Clemson is like 2.5 touchdowns better than ND,  OSU dominated us more than Bama dominated ND. By the eye test OSU was the best team I saw that day. They flat out wanted it more period. Also the OSU fundamentals of football were just at another level. Will there be a hangover after an emotional revenge win like that? That is all OSU has to fear I think. Day is a great coach and he will transition the "I get no respect" narrative to fire up his team for this game as well. 

OSU 41

Bama 36

1 hour ago, El Diablo said:

I think that this will be a great game. As a Clemson fan, watching both of the semi final games, OSU is a touchdown better than Bama. Clemson is like 2.5 touchdowns better than ND,  OSU dominated us more than Bama dominated ND. By the eye test OSU was the best team I saw that day. They flat out wanted it more period. Also the OSU fundamentals of football were just at another level. Will there be a hangover after an emotional revenge win like that? That is all OSU has to fear I think. Day is a great coach and he will transition the "I get no respect" narrative to fire up his team for this game as well. 

OSU 41

Bama 36

Awesome post, Day basically guaranteed victory vs. Clemson, I’ve never seen him like that.  In fact, a million dollar bet came in right before the game on OSU.

I do worry the focus was so much on Clemson and Dabo.  Alabama is the top dawg, OSU has to refocus this week and have their best week of practice.

9 minutes ago, John Anthony said:

Awesome post, Day basically guaranteed victory vs. Clemson, I’ve never seen him like that.  In fact, a million dollar bet came in right before the game on OSU.

I do worry the focus was so much on Clemson and Dabo.  Alabama is the top dawg, OSU has to refocus this week and have their best week of practice.

If he guaranteed victory, he probably saw the miss-matches on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Clemson's weakness was offensive line. Alabama has a lot better of a offensive line so I think the game will be competitive. I just think OSU can control the game better than Bama can, Sermon all day and take shots with with Fields. Plus I think a big factor is Mac has cinder block feet and Fields can move.

3 hours ago, El Diablo said:

If he guaranteed victory, he probably saw the miss-matches on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Clemson's weakness was offensive line. Alabama has a lot better of a offensive line so I think the game will be competitive. I just think OSU can control the game better than Bama can, Sermon all day and take shots with with Fields. Plus I think a big factor is Mac has cinder block feet and Fields can move.

Once again spot-on!  I was talking to my crew of people in Columbus and we love the fact Jones isn’t much of a runner.

Smith is terrifying, I think the wildcard is Harris.  Nobody has been able to run on us, but I think he’s the best RB in CFB.  
 

Day flat out took Dabo and Venables to school last week.  He had new shot plays and used formations he hasn’t used all year which created mismatches with Olave and created all around confusion for Venables.  I think he literally had a ham plan waiting for Clemson since spring.  I also think the ACC teams don’t prepare Clemson for the physicality OSU brings.

Bama is Bama though, he will have to be brilliant again.  I agree with whoever said it will come down to settling for field goals and turnovers.
 

 

Hearing OSU has been hit hard again with Covid this week.  The plan is to continue forward for now.

This is a tough one to call...

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a OSU or Bama fan. I don’t dislike either of them, I just don’t follow either nearly as closely as others on BGP.

When I feel like teams are evenly matched, I’ll grasp for straws when making my pick.

Day is a great coach. No question about that. He’s not a hall of fame coach yet. Saban is.

Is OSU healthy ? I haven’t heard much on how Fields is holding up. 

IMO The Buckeyes played a near perfect game against Clemson. Can they do it again against Bama ?

We all think this will be a high scoring game so I’ll go slightly against that.

Bama wins with a late touchdown.

Alabama 28

OSU 24

No rooting interest in this one for me. I hope it’s as good of a game as I thought OSU/Clemson would be.

If Saban were to win, this would be his 7th national title in his last 16 years coaching collegiality. Even if it remains at 6 in 16 years, I do not feel like we make enough of this. That is insanely good.

43 minutes ago, MBWC41 said:

This is a tough one to call...

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a OSU or Bama fan. I don’t dislike either of them, I just don’t follow either nearly as closely as others on BGP.

When I feel like teams are evenly matched, I’ll grasp for straws when making my pick.

Day is a great coach. No question about that. He’s not a hall of fame coach yet. Saban is.

Is OSU healthy ? I haven’t heard much on how Fields is holding up. 

IMO The Buckeyes played a near perfect game against Clemson. Can they do it again against Bama ?

We all think this will be a high scoring game so I’ll go slightly against that.

Bama wins with a late touchdown.

Alabama 28

OSU 24

No rooting interest in this one for me. I hope it’s as good of a game as I thought OSU/Clemson would be.

I’m hearing bad Covid reports, sounds like OSU will be without multiple starters on the D-line.  They won’t release full details until Monday however.

48 minutes ago, John Anthony said:

I’m hearing bad Covid reports, sounds like OSU will be without multiple starters on the D-line.  They won’t release full details until Monday however.

How bad does it need to get for the game to be rescheduled?

4 minutes ago, MBWC41 said:

How bad does it need to get for the game to be rescheduled?

Rumors suggest the B1G wants to move it back a week.  OSU wants to play Monday unless they lose more guys.  OSU won’t disclose numbers until Monday.  I’ve heard everything from 2-3 defensive starters, to an entire position group.

Shots fired... 

 

1 hour ago, John Anthony said:

Rumors suggest the B1G wants to move it back a week.  OSU wants to play Monday unless they lose more guys.  OSU won’t disclose numbers until Monday.  I’ve heard everything from 2-3 defensive starters, to an entire position group.

I hate it but at this point, if each team is able to field enough players to safely play then the game should go on as scheduled.