Five Reasons Nebraska Will Win: “An” Ohio State

One: Ohio State’s Defense Appears to Represent Swiss Cheese at the Moment

It really is somewhat interesting to somebody like me to watch a team full of five and four star recruits who has a defense that is struggling. Struggling is a relative term. But I think that having a defense that is 70th in total defense in the entire country would rightly be considered struggling for Ohio State. Well maybe for any team actually.

They are also 85th in pass yards allowed at 241.1 yards per game. Are you starting to get excited? I believe that JD Spielman and Stanley Morgan are going to make things difficult for this defense. Oh, and by the way we have two really good running backs. Unlike Ohio State, the Nebraska offense isn’t one-dimensional. But we will get to that later.

Ohio State is also 48th in defensive efficiency. I do not know what that means, but they aren’t Michigan. And we know what the Michigan defense did to Nebraska.

But if we can’t run the ball, then we aren’t able to pass the ball right? Well Ohio State is 57th in the country in rushing defense. Before playing Nebraska, Minnesota was a top 20ish rushing defense and all we did was put it to them to the tune of 383 yards. And it was the first time Nebraska has had three 100-yard rushers since 2010.

Oh ya, when it comes to running the ball...

Two: The Month of October Has Not Been Great to Ohio State

The month of October has been very unlike Ohio State when it comes to running the ball. In the month of October, Ohio State has averaged 3.07 yards per rush. And it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The three games this past month were against Purdue, Indiana and Minnesota. They had 25, 48 and 32 attempts, respectively, against each team. And they racked up an “impressive” 76 yards, 154 yards and 92 yards, respectively.

So while Ohio State has averaged 3.07 yard per rush in October, their opponents averaged nearly 5 yards per rush. That is not the sign of a team that is progressing.

Well speaking of a team that is progressing...

Three: While Nebraska Has Found New Life in October

Hail Varsity’s Brandon Vogel, had the following to say at the beginning of this week:

Nebraska football went 2-2 in October, but I’m guessing that won’t be how we remember the month that just was for the Huskers. As we get a few more years into the Scott Frost era, my guess is Husker fans and pundits will look at this month as the one in which Nebraska football started to look like the Frost brand of football honed during his two-season stint at Central Florida.

What exactly does Brandon mean by the above statement?

In the month of October, using cfbstats.com, Nebraska ranked sixth nationally in rush yards per play, seventh in total yards per play and 17th in points per game. To compare, the current University of Central Florida team averaged .4 more points per game than Nebraska.

Brandon continues in his article about the great month of October for Nebraska. And particularly the strides it has made this season. It is surely exciting to think of where this offense could be by the end of the year.

So things are trending up for Nebraska while Ohio State it appears to be trending the opposite direction.

Four: Adrian Martinez Won’t Let The Horseshoe Get To Him

This is not bulletin board material. It is just a fact that even though he is only 18, at this point in the season he has already played at Michigan and a night game at Wisconsin.

Arguably the hardest environment this season was going to be at Wisconsin. And in that game all Adrian Martinez did was throw for 384 yards and two touchdowns. It

When asked about it on Monday, the freshman quarterback said, as reported by the Lincoln Journal-Star:

“I feel like Memorial Stadium is so loud and it’s a tremendous environment,” Martinez said. “And obviously the Big House (Michigan) was spectacular as well. But I feel ready. I know the team is ready. I don’t feel nervous about being in front of big crowds. That’s kind of the last thing that’s on my mind and will be on Saturday.”

I believe him. He is probably confident going into the Horseshoe because he was so successful at Wisconsin. Yes, we lost, but it wasn’t because of Martinez. It was because of that defense.

Speaking of the defense...

Five: The One-Dimensionality of Ohio State’s Offense Gives Our Defense a Chance.

Like I noted above, the Ohio State’s Offense runs through the future NFL arm of Dwayne Haskins. He is completing passes at a 71% rate which is just absurd. I wish we had a quarterback that was even close to 71%.

Oh wait we do. Adrian Martinez is completing 66% of his passes this season. Anyways back to the defense...

Ohio State is lucky that they have a quarterback who can throw the ball because they have had trouble running it.

Which gives our defense a chance. In order to win we don’t need them to be the 2009 defense. We just need a defense that can hold Ohio State to less than forty points. If you need any reason for hope that the defense has made strides this season I would like to point you to Deontai Williams.

Pro Football Focus has the back-up safety as not only the highest graded safety in college football last week, but as the highest graded player in all of college football in week eight.

That might not mean much but it does mean something. And whatever it may mean, we aren’t hoping for much from the defense this week. We know Ohio State is going to put up yards and points through the air. But if the defense is able to get a couple turnovers or to minimize the points.

And remember, by minimize, I mean less than 40 points and it should be enough to win.