COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State has known all year that the 2015 season would be defined by the final two games on the Big Ten schedule.
The Buckeyes finally arrive at that point this week with a 10-0 record and holding steady with a No. 3 College Football Playoff ranking after last Saturday’s 28-3 win at Illinois.
Now comes Michigan State, which came in at No. 9 in Tuesday night’s latest CFP rankings, on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC) in Ohio Stadium and the traditional regular-season finale the following week at rival Michigan, which is No. 12 in the CFP rankings.
There’s a lot on the line for the Buckeyes: a 30-game winning streak in Big Ten regular-season games and 23-game win streak overall, a chance to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten East Division title and stay in the running for the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis and back-to-back berths in the College Football Playoff.
For the Buckeyes (10-0, 6-0) to wrap up a third straight trip to Indy this week, they’ll need to get past Michigan State (9-1, 5-1) and have Penn State upset Michigan.
If Ohio State and Michigan survive this week, the winner of their annual showdown on Nov. 28 in Ann Arbor will advance to the Big Ten title game.
Urban Meyer’s record suggests that anything but an Ohio State win on Saturday would be an upset. The Buckeyes coach has not lost a Big Ten regular-season game, going 30-0 since 2012.
For the first time this year, Ohio State faces a ranked team. None of its first 10 opponents were in the Top 25 and the Buckeyes seemed to perform to the level of their competition, winning comfortably but not as convincingly as expected.
The Buckeyes have yet to play as well as they did in the postseason a year ago when they claimed the national championship. The defense is performing at a high level, but the offense is still getting its bearings while the quarterback situation was decided.
Now, though, the Buckeyes hope to turn it up a notch against a respected opponent.
“Michigan State, that’s the top of our conference and obviously the next two games we have are big, big-time games,” Meyer said, “and that’s human nature to say we see what’s coming. I think what our guys have done, because you see it across the country, the consistency and winning, it’s very admirable for the way our guys are.”
Keep in mind that Ohio State’s last loss to a Big Ten team came against Michigan State in the 2013 conference championship game in Indianapolis.
Last year, the then-No. 14 Buckeyes atoned for that loss with an impressive 49-37 victory at then-No. 8 Michigan State in November. Ohio State’s offense, led by quarterback J.T. Barrett and running back Ezekiel Elliott, clicked into high gear that night.
“We were playing at a very high level on the offensive line,” Ohio State guard Pat Elflein said. “It was a turning point when the offense really started clicking on all cylinders. We have to get back to that level this week.”
So there they are again. The stakes are high, the pressure is on. The hype is here with ESPN’s College GameDay coming to Columbus for the first time since 2010.
Ohio State senior offensive tackle and team captain Taylor Decker has played in his share of big games the past four years. He’s part of a senior class that has won a school-record 48 games. And he’s experienced enough to know not to let distractions be disruptive.
“It’s always been the same. You just don’t really pay attention to it, Decker said. “You just keep it all within the team and the coaches do a really good job of that. Plus, we haven’t even played our best yet. We obviously have to play better. So we have to focus on that and not what other people are talking about.”
The Ohio State offensive line faces a test against a talented Michigan State defensive line led by Shilique Calhoun. And the Buckeyes’ defense expects to be similarly challenged by the Spartans’ offense directed by quarterback Connor Cook, who threw for 358 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s game and has a 32-4 career record as a starter.
“He’s one of the best quarterbacks we’ll face this year,” Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple said. “He’s not shy about throwing the ball in traffic. He has a lot of confidence in his receivers and is able complete a lot passes in good coverage. We saw that a lot on film last year and we’ve seen it even more this year. We have to be ready and prepared every play.”
For the first time in weeks, Ohio State goes into a game without its quarterback selection dominating the conversation. Meyer doesn’t have to expend energy dealing any controversy because Barrett is clearly the guy this week against Michigan State.
“I’ve got a lot of free time,” Meyer said with a sly smile. “No, it’s a comforting level.”
NOTES, QUOTES PLAYERS TO WATCH
–RB Ezekiel Elliott is running his way back into the Heisman Trophy conversation. The junior extended his streak of 100-yard rushing games to an FBS-best 15 last Saturday in the win at Illinois with 181 yards on 27 carries. He leads the Big Ten and is third nationally in rushing yards with 1,425 on 220 carries, and his 16 rushing touchdowns are the best in the conference. Elliott’s performance against Illinois elevated his career rushing total to 3,565 yards, which is third in Ohio State history and just 203 yards behind second-place Eddie George.
–QB J.T. Barrett returned as the starting quarterback last week in the win at Illinois after sitting out the previous game because of a one-game suspension resulting from an OVI arrest. The redshirt sophomore opened the scoring against the Fighting Illini with a 24-yard touchdown strike to WR Michael Thomas and finished 15-of-23 passing for 150 yards with one interception. Barrett ran for 74 yards on 16 carries, including a 6-yard touchdown in the final minute of the first half that extended Ohio State’s lead to 14-3 at halftime.
–WR Michael Thomas scored Ohio State’s first touchdown last Saturday against Illinois with a 24-yard touchdown grab in the first quarter. It was one of Thomas’ six catches for 76 yards against the Fighting Illini. The junior extended his streak of games with a reception to 26. He leads the Buckeyes with 45 catches for 651 yards and eight touchdowns.
–DL Joey Bosa was a disruptive force on the defensive line last Saturday in Ohio State’s 28-3 win at Illinois. The All-American equaled his career high with three tackles for loss and boosted his Big Ten-leading total in conference games to 12 1/2. Bosa has only four sacks this year, but he has been such a beast inside that he’s occupying blockers and enabling teammates to make tackles and sacks. Bosa, a junior projected as a top NFL draft pick in 2016, likely will be playing his final home game on Saturday against Michigan State.