October 25 — In the early to mid-1800s, the Oregon Trail, used by settlers on their way to the West Coast, passed through Nebraska.
Now, nearly 200 years later, the state of Ohio hopes the Getting Over Losing to Oregon Trail also runs through Nebraska.
The No. 4 Buckeyes (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) did not play last Saturday. So their first game since a 32-31 loss to No. 1 Oregon will be Saturday against Nebraska (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) at Ohio Stadium in a game that begins at noon.
Before a 56-7 loss to undefeated Indiana last week, the Cornhuskers were considered perhaps a sleeper team in the Big Ten — not good enough to win the league but good enough to be competitive against its best teams.
Now, after that drubbing by Indiana, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect from Nebraska. Perhaps the decision-makers at Ohio State, Indiana and Purdue, all of whom made the Cornhuskers their homecoming game, suspected something that sports talk show hosts and halftime pundits had not seen.
Nebraska began its season with non-league wins over Texas-El Paso, Colorado and Northern Iowa. In the Big Ten, it had wins over Purdue and Rutgers and lost to Illinois and Indiana.
Quick history lesson: Nebraska won five national championships between 1970 and 1997, including three in four years from 1994 to 1997.
Legendary coach Tom Osborne retired after the 1997 national championship and was replaced by former Cornhuskers player Frank Solich, who averaged 9.7 wins per season during his six years as coach. head coach before being fired.
Nebraska has had five coaches since Solich and is trying to end a streak of seven straight losing seasons in current coach Matt Rhule’s second season.
Ohio State fell short at Oregon against the best team it has faced this season. The main area of focus since then has been the defense giving up too many explosive plays and putting too little pressure on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Here are five things to watch for that could play a big role in Saturday’s game:
—Will Ohio State’s offensive line play at the high level it has so far this season with left tackle Josh Simmons out for the season with a knee injury and his replacement Zen Michalski making the first start of his career?
Nebraska shares the Big Ten lead in sacks with 21 and hadn’t allowed a rushing touchdown until Indiana ended that streak emphatically last Saturday. If the Cornhuskers’ defense in their first six games shows, there could be some pressure on the OSU offensive line.
—Will Ohio State’s defense limit big plays and put pressure on the quarterback, two things it didn’t do well in the loss to Oregon?
OSU coach Ryan Day did not address the need to put more pressure on the opposing quarterback earlier this week during his press conference. He said the Buckeyes aren’t doing a good enough job in that area and that some things could be changed to make passers more effective toward the quarterback.
—How will Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola react to the largest hostile crowd he has played in front of during his college career against the team he committed to for the first time during his recruitment process?
Nebraska needs a big game from Raiola if it wants to have any chance of staying close to Ohio State, as its running game lacks playmakers. Nebraska’s running backs have only six carries of 20 yards or more this season.
After throwing eight touchdown passes with just two interceptions in the Cornhuskers’ first four games, Raiola has one touchdown pass and four interceptions in his last three games. Three of those four interceptions came against Indiana.
—Which team will do the best job of maintaining for four quarters the energy and intensity that each of them will likely bring to this game after disappointing losses the last time they played?
—Ohio State’s special teams could score a touchdown or create one. Nebraska has had two field goal attempts and three blocked punts this season.
The prediction: Ohio State 35, Nebraska 7.
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