Pssst…It Won’t Be Personal on Saturday

On September 1st, it won’t be personal.

Most Ohio State fans don’t mind Oregon State at all. Sure, most Ohio State fans don’t get the PAC-12 Network, so they don’t have a lot to go on. If there is any hate there, it’s purely just some stupid thing about your university using “OSU.”

If you see something about that, don’t worry. None of it would be real anger. A good portion of us have owned Oregon State hats at one point in our lives, but it had nothing to do with football. We were young and stupid.

With that said, things will be different this Saturday. There will be hate. Probably a lot of anger. Without a doubt, there will be no mercy. The real kicker is this — it has nothing to do with your team. This past month or so has provided a lot to deal with for this football team.

All of the talk during fall camp was supposed to be about how great the Buckeyes looked. Right now, the talk should be about how great Dwayne Haskins looks as the new starter at quarterback.

It was supposed to be about how the defensive line is the most dominant force in the Big Ten. Heck, sprinkled in there was supposed to be stories about how J.K Dobbins and Mike Weber were healthy and ready to dominate the college world.

But that didn’t happen.

As a fan base, we don’t know what the future holds for Ohio State football. Will Urban Meyer coach next year? Will everyone stay healthy? Will Dwayne Haskins throw for 7,000 yards? Hell if I know.

The only thing we do know is this: Ohio State is going to open up a can of whoop ass on whichever team is out there, and it just so happens to be the Oregon State Beavers.

It won’t be personal.

This is an angry team.

This is a team that is led by a sophomore quarterback who was thrown into the biggest rivalry in all of sports to replace an injured legend with his team trailing on the road.

This is a team that has two of the best backs in college football. A tandem that combined for over 2,000 yards last season and 17 touchdowns. All while averaging a hair under 7 yards per carry.

This is a team that returns a wide receiver crew that combined for 211 catches, almost 3,000 receiving yards, and 31 touchdowns last season. This was all done without a pass-first quarterback, which they now have.

This is a team that has three guaranteed first-round picks starting on the defensive line in Nick Bosa, Dre’Mont Jones, and Chase Young. This doesn’t even include former five-stars like Jonathon Cooper, Antwuan Jackson, and Taron Vincent.

This is a team that features the next set of first-round defensive backs from “DBU”. Juniors Jordan Fuller and Kendall Sheffield already have scouts drooling. They are joined by a long list of talented young players like Jeffrey Okudah, Shaun Wade, and Isaiah Pryor.

I repeat, this is going to be an angry team.

This is also a very talented team. This isn’t personal, but this team is going to try to run the Beavers out of the stadium.

If you thought the game in Eugene last year was rough when the Beavers lost 69-10, Saturday in Ohio Stadium will make that look pathetic.

Anything short of 42 points at halftime will be a major disappointment.

Nothing personal!