“We’ve got to take things one game at a time.”
That timeless cliche that has been spouted by players, coaches, managers, and trainers for as long as annoying reporters have been standing in front of them asking questions that start with “Talk about…”
However, every once in a while you get a glimpse behind the curtain, and in an accidental moment of candor, someone says something else.
Saturday, after No. 4 Ohio State finished its ritual sacrifice of hapless Tulane, there were a couple of those moments.
The Buckeyes had just finished dispatching the 37-point underdogs in a game that was functionally over sometime around when it was first scheduled.
Next up was a road trip to No. 9 Penn State, a showdown in front of one of the most hostile atmospheres in college football.
Saturday’s game in Happy Valley will go a long way toward determining whether Ohio State or Penn State will win the Big Ten East, the conference title, and likely a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins said that he spent part of Friday night before the Tulane game watching some of Penn State’s game against Illinois.
When a reporter asked when on Saturday he started thinking about the upcoming showdown with the Nittany Lions, he laughed.
“Probably when I got done playing. In the second half, talking to some of the O-linemen, start prepping for them,” Haskins said.
OSU head coach Urban Meyer may have gotten an even earlier start on Penn State preparations. He didn’t mention watching the Lions on film, but at one point expressed some surprise at what Tulane’s offense had looked like.
“I didn’t have a chance to watch (Tulane) until Thursday on video, because I thought it was more spread, but that was wishbone football,” Meyer said.
Did you catch that? The head coach of the Buckeyes “didn’t have a chance to watch” Tulane on video until two days before his team played the Green Wave.
Meyer’s suspension ended at 12:01 am on Sunday. What do you suppose he was doing for the first four days he was back in the office?
Ohio State fans have had this weekend’s game circled on the schedule since the end of last season.
It has been a hot topic on Buckeye message boards, radio stations, and podcasts for weeks.
This is the school where Woody Hayes held “Michigan Monday.” He spent the first day of practice each week preparing his team for The Game, no matter who was on the schedule for that Saturday.
The 2018 Buckeyes probably haven’t been able to do quite that much. The Big Ten is much stronger than it was in Woody’s day, and the Buckeyes clearly had to focus on TCU a week ago.
But much like many of their fans, once the clock hit all zeros in Arlington, the OSU coaching staff and many of the players have been thinking about Penn State, too.