The-Ozone Staff Picks — Ohio State at Nebraska

Ohio State heads to Nebraska for an evening kickoff on Saturday. The Buckeyes are significant favorite over the Huskers, but will our staff picks agree with Vegas?

Tony Gerdeman
I expect the weather to roll through and be out of the area before it would totally hamper Ohio State’s passing game. J.T. Barrett will have enough trouble as it is trying to throw into an eight-man drop. The Buckeye receivers will need to hit their opening on time and actually catch the balls that are thrown in traffic. And Barrett will obviously need to be accurate.

Good running games can run on the Huskers and this will be an opportunity to prove OSU’s worth up front. Defensively, the Huskers have some playmakers, but their delivery system in Tanner Lee is very flawed. Of course, as Indiana showed, you don’t need an outstanding quarterback to have a good day against this secondary. Though the Buckeyes have made strides since the season opener.

In the end, I don’t see Nebraska being able to keep up with Ohio State’s balanced offensive attack.
Ohio State 38, Nebraska 21

Kyle Morgan
Nebraska has struggled so far this season, but last week’s performance versus Wisconsin was more impressive than the final score indicated. Missed opportunities in the red zone and a bad luck bounce led to turnovers the Huskers couldn’t afford to have if they were going to hang with the Badgers.

Offensively, the Buckeyes will look to run against a Huskers team that gave up 353 yards on the ground last week. Attacking the 3-4 defensive scheme will mean a steady dose of inside zone and bubble screens which leads me to believe J.K. Dobbins is due for a big day. If weather plays a factor, look for J.T. Barrett to have an increased number of carries than we have seen so far in 2017.

Defensively, the Buckeyes will be able to pressure Tanner Lee into turnovers. With true a freshman starting at RT for the Huskers, look for the likes of Nick Bosa and Tyquan Lewis to have a big day using a bull rush and their quickness to generate pressure.

The turning point in the game, however, will be a big play on special teams. Nebraska has a very good punter who has a tendency to out kick his coverage. This is the week K.J. Hill takes a punt to the house and all will be forgiven on special teams. I have been on the K.J. Hill train a lot this season, but he has had the worst luck with the ball in his hands. All that changes this week.
Ohio State 42, Nebraska 20

Caroline Rice
This is the third road conference night game the Buckeyes have seen so far this season. Nebraska is coming off a tough loss to Wisconsin and have a hard matchup up this week as they are reminded of the 62-3 loss to the Buckeyes last year. But this is an interesting matchup for Ohio State. The Scarlet and Gray haven’t been to Lincoln since 2011 where the Cornhuskers came from behind to win the game 34-27. Playing in this environment will not be easy for Ohio State.

The Cornhuskers are a much different defense than the Buckeyes are used to facing. But I don’t think that will impact the Buckeyes as this game will really come down to defense and I think they have Nebraska beat. The Ohio State defensive line is too tough for the Cornhuskers and will force Tanner Lee into making some costly mistakes. Defenses win games and I’m expecting a big game for the Buckeyes defensively.
Ohio State 41 Nebraska 17

Chip Minnich
Ordinarily, going to Lincoln to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers would seem to be a challenging endeavor.  Nebraska fans traditionally sell out their stadium, it’s a night game, and it would make sense that it would be a difficult place to play. As I wrote “ordinarily”, a few things come to mind.  These are not ordinary times in Nebraska.  Mike Riley’s job is on the line.  Shawn Eichorst has already been shown the door.  Tanner Lee has already thrown ten interceptions, four that have been returned for touchdowns.

My biggest concerns are with Ohio State’s specal teams units.  As well-documented as Ohio State’s problems have been, my concerns are those mistakes will eventually cost the Buckeyes a game, as they did last year at Penn State.  Then again, this is not last year, and 2017 Nebraska is nowhere remotely close to 2016 Penn State.

I won’t be as bold as our guest J.P. Scott was on our recent Silver Bullets Podcast with his prediction, but I will guess Ohio State will need at least a half before pulling away from Nebraska.  I look for Ohio State’s strong defensive line to cause problems for Nebraska, possibly forcing Tanner Lee into interceptions, or at least sacks.
Ohio State 35, Nebraska 17

Brandon Zimmerman
The Ohio State defense has to come into this game licking their chops at a chance to face Tanner Lee and company. The Buckeye defense appears to have fixed some of their early-season issues, especially at the linebacker position, and they are coming off of one of the most dominating defensive performances in recent history.

Offensively, the Buckeyes have had a few weeks to work out their kinks and anyone should be able to admit the Buckeyes have made major strides. J.T. Barrett looks incredibly comfortable for the first time in years and the WR group is actually making plays. The Nebraska defense is giving up 146 rushing yards and 209 passing yards per game. Against their best two offenses, the “Blackshirts” had major problems with Oregon and Wisconsin. The Ducks were able to put up 42 points and 566 yards of total offense. The Badgers were able to put up 38 points and 466 yards of total offense.

Defensively, the Buckeyes defensive line is playing on a whole different level than we have seen. The Buckeye defense leads the nation with 57 tackles-for-loss and the defensive line has 35.5 of those. The Cornhuskers have recently really focused on the ground game to open up the pass game but that won’t work against the Buckeyes…just ask Maryland.

In this game, Ohio State looks like they will continue to roll and gain confidence on both sides of the ball. Being conservative, I think OSU easily throws for 300+ yards and runs for 200+ yards on way to an easy victory.
Ohio State 56, Nebraska 10

Tom Orr
When Nebraska defensive coordinator Bob Diaco was still at his last job (Catastrophic Failure of a UConn Head Coach), he was responsible for my favorite college football story of the past five years.

In 2015, Diaco invented a rivalry trophy to award to the winner of the UCF-UConn game and called it Civil ConFLiCT. Because FL is the state abbreviation for Florida and CT is the state abbreviation for Connecticut, you see.

He only did this after UConn won the previous year’s game, and also did so without consulting UCF. The Knights only found out that they were involved in a rivalry trophy game when a photo of the trophy showed up on the UConn football Twitter account.

The greatest moment in Civil ConFLiCT history came in 2016, when UCF won the game for the first time since the trophy was created. They ignored the trophy and just left it behind on the bench in UConn’s stadium.

Civil ConFLiCT is definitely one of my five favorite idiotic college football things, ranking alongside the Kibbie Dome, WKU’s mascot, the Rutgers cannon, and late-night Hawaii home TV broadcasts.

Diaco will not have to worry about inventing the yOHimbiNE trophy after this year’s OSU/Nebraska game because the Huskers are going to lose.
Ohio State 34, Nebraska 17