Northwestern Gameday Discussion

Unsurprisingly, ever since last week's close call with Illinois, there have been some people out there putting Ohio State on upset alert. Well there's one reason that it won't happen: I was unable to wear my lucky Archie Griffin 45 jersey last week. Just kidding. But no, really. The only other game this season I haven't worn the jersey was when I wore scarlet against Penn State to support the "Sea of Scarlet." That's two close calls that happened when I haven't worn the jersey. Coincidence? Almost definitely. But between today and next Saturday, I'm not taking any chances. Now, onto actual reasons as to why Ohio State will win and win easily today:

• Tressel seems to have learned his lesson. When you have a coach that openly admits to poor play calling on his part, you can bet that the playbook won't be so quick to shut for the rest of the season. As opposed to the past few weeks, I'm expecting the passing game to be a tad more vertical, and for Pittman to finish with right around 20 carries, as opposed to last week's absurd total of 32. If all goes as expected, Troy Smith's passing yardage should be in the 200s, his legs will be a non-factor, and he will have at least three touchdowns. With all of the second half running last week, it was interesting to note that not once did we go deep to Ginn on play action. That may have been the first game all season we didn't try it, so expect some deep passes headed #7's way.
• re‧sil‧ient  /rɪˈzɪlyənt, -ˈzɪliənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ri-zil-yuhnt, -zil-ee-uhnt]: recovering readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyant. The one thing that separates Illinois from Northwestern in the Big Ten cellar is that the Illini are much more resilient than the Wildcats. Randy Walker's death was a huge setback to Northwestern, and it seems to me watching Northwestern this season that at the first sign of trouble, the team just falls apart. Although the game was close for a while against Michigan two weeks ago, was there ever any doubt as to who would win that game? Exactly. If Ohio State goes up 17-0 like we did against Illinois, there will be no chance at a comeback.
• Final Prediction: Ohio State - 31 Northwestern - 7