This is the 94th in a series of 100 daily posts, a Countdown to College Football. (Sort of.)
One week from today, Big Ten Media Days will be done and the unofficial start of college football season will be here.
More importantly, this countdown will also be over. It started during a more innocent time, right after the OSU Spring Game.
Joe Burrow was still a Buckeye (more on him in a minute!). The Mets were in first place in the NL East. Heck, it snowed in Columbus on the day we released “100 Days To Ohio State Football *”
No, seriously. It snowed that day. So yeah, we’ve been at this a while.
But now we’re almost done. Which is good news because it means the unofficial start of football season is almost here.
Today, we’ll talk about a lockdown corner, one of the few tough games on Alabama’s schedule, one last ride for a unique offensive mind, and a player whose last two seasons couldn’t have been more different.
If you would like to check out yesterday’s edition, you can find 8 Days To Ohio State Football right here.
Now please join us as we continue our countdown of the 100 greatest Buckeyes of The Ozone era (1996-present).
We will also preview one of the 100 most exciting games on this fall’s college football schedule, and one of the 100 things we’re most looking forward to this fall.
Plus, we’ll preview one of this season’s 100 biggest personnel matchups.
Greatest Buckeyes Of The Ozone Era
#7 Shawn Springs, 1994-1996
Shawn Springs was not only one of the best true cover corners in Ohio State history, but also an explosive playmaker on special teams.
His 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown helped break open a 7-3 game in a surprising 38-6 blowout of Boston College to open the 1995 season.
Springs had five interceptions that year, including a spectacular one-handed pick against Michigan. He was named first-team all-conference as a sophomore, despite playing much of the year on a bad ankle.
Springs saw both his interception and tackle numbers plummet as a junior, mostly because teams simply stopped throwing to his side of field.
His best game might have been the last one he played for the Buckeyes. In the 1997 Rose Bowl win over Arizona State, Springs completely blanketed star ASU receiver Keith Poole.
Poole had averaged nearly 20 yards per touch during the regular season with 12 touchdowns. In the Rose Bowl, he had one catch for 10 yards, while Springs was credited with four pass breakups.
Springs was a consensus first-team all-American and went No. 3 overall in the 1997 NFL Draft.
Best Games This Fall
#7 Alabama at LSU, November 3
Alabama, which will undoubtedly be credited with surviving an absolute bloodbath of a schedule on Selection Sunday, might not play a team that finishes better than 7-5 until November.
The Tide open with a Lamar Jackson-less Louisville in a neutral site game, then play four of their first five SEC games against teams with head coaches in their first full season as the permanent coach.
They’re at a sanction-battered Ole Miss with now non-interim coach Matt Luke. Then home for Texas A&M in the first year for Jimbo Fisher and at Arkansas and new head coach Chad Morris.
Then they’re home for Missouri, and its second-year coach Barry Odom, and then at Tennessee and their first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt.
You will be stealing the Snickers out of your kids’ Halloween pails before the Tide play a team that could even remotely present a challenge.
That will come in the form of former Buckeye Joe Burrow and his new team, LSU.
The Tigers are undergoing their own transition this fall, with a new quarterback and offensive coordinator. There’s a decent chance they won’t hit 8 wins this fall, either.
But this is the only time before Thanksgiving weekend and the Iron Bowl when you could even plausibly hope for an Alabama loss.
After this, it’s first-year coach Joe Moorhead and Mississippi State and the annual SEC/SoCon Challenge against The Citadel, before a home date with Auburn.
So cross your fingers and make a wish.
What We Can’t Wait To See
#7 Paul Johnson’s Last Ride
Georgia Tech’s lovable curmudgeon of a coach is almost certainly winding down his career, but he may have one last great season of game-dominating, soul-crushing offense still in him.
The Yellow Jackets finished 5-6 last year, but return nine starters on offense, including four linemen, starting quarterback TaQuan Marshall, and slot back Kirvonte Benson, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last fall.
Johnson has been something of a personal favorite since he resurrected the Navy program more than 15 years ago, turning them from a laughingstock into a perennial top-25 contender.
His offense is not for everyone, but there is a certain beauty to it. When executed properly, it’s an absolutely miserable thing to defend.
Johnson and his proteges like Ken Niumatalolo are a shrinking group of adherents to the traditional flexbone triple-option. It’s being run at all three FBS service academies, but it has been a delight to watch major conference teams have to deal with it on a weekly basis for the past decade or so.
Johnson won 6, 8, 7, and 7 games from 2010-2013, and many thought the ACC had finally figured him out. Then the Jackets won 11 games and the Orange Bowl in 2014.
Here’s hoping he and his offense have one more run left in them.
Matchup To Watch
#7 Nick Westbrook, IU WR vs. Kendall Sheffield
Nick Westbrook’s 2017 season could not have gone much worse. He blew out his knee while covering the opening kickoff of the season opener against Ohio State.
From all indications, he wasn’t hit, his ACL just tore.
It was a tough break for the top returning receiver in the Big Ten last fall. Westbrook had 995 receiving yards as a sophomore in 2016 and was supposed to present a balance to star WR Simmie Cobbs in the passing game.
Now, with Cobbs in the NFL, Westbrook will have to be his replacement instead.
He’s 6-foot-3, and should present matchup problems for a lot of corners this fall.
That might not be the case against Kendall Sheffield, however.
Sheffield stands an even 6 feet tall, but also possesses freakish athleticism. He broke Ohio State’s 60-meter dash record while running track last winter, so staying with receivers downfield shouldn’t be an issue.
If he’s also more confident now in coverage, he could help contain the Indiana passing game a lot better than the Buckeyes did a year ago.