My Thoughts.....B1G Championship

 

Ohio State won an unprecedented fourth consecutive B1G Championship by defeating the Northwestern Wildcats in a hard-fought 22-10 game.  Justin Fields had a subpar game as Northwestern was able to pressure him into two interceptions.  Fields finished the game throwing for just 114 yards and no touchdowns.  Obviously, not having Chris Olave available, was a blow to the Ohio State pass offense they could not quite overcome.  Although, Julian Fleming, starting in place of Olave, did have four receptions for 53 yards and Garrett Wilson helped out with four receptions for 49 yards.  Fortunately, for the Buckeyes, Trey Sermon picked the right time to bust loose, rushing for an Ohio State record 331 yards on 29 carries and both Ohio State touchdowns.  I thought it was curious, given that Sermon already had racked up over 100 yards by halftime, that Coach Ryan Day called so many deep pass plays that were mostly ineffective.  The Ohio State offensive line was clearing running lanes through Northwestern’s defensive line all game long, so finally Day started calling more running plays starting late in the third quarter and Sermon took advantage, ripping off huge chucks of yardage behind an offensive line that was wearing down Northwestern’s defensive front. 

Northwestern drove the length of the field on their first drive of the game for a touchdown.  From then on, the Ohio State defense bent, but they didn’t break, giving up just a field goal.  Northwestern ended up with 105 rushing yards, the vast majority obtained on their first two possessions.  Justin Hilliard was easily the defensive man of the match, leading the way with nine tackles and two tackles for loss.  His interception in the end zone in the second quarter kept Northwestern from at least a field goal and he also recovered a fumble.  Up on the line, Haskell Garrett had a great game, getting loose for a sack that knocked Northwestern out of field goal range and getting five stops overall.  Although Northwestern quarterback Peyton Ramsey was able to get yardage throwing the short and medium routes, the OSU secondary did well on the deep coverage, with Josh Proctor also coming up with a pick, stopping a Northwestern scoring threat.

Although Ohio State struggled most of the game, they were short over 20 total players due to testing positive, while Northwestern was at full strength.  Plus, Northwestern was a legitimate top-15 team and Coach Pat Fitzgerald is one of the best coaches around.  Now that the Buckeyes are in the playoff, they will need to be at full strength and play by far their best game of the year, in order to take down Clemson.