5 reasons No. 10 Ohio State will dispose of Michigan State in East Lansing
By Alec Hartman
3. The Buckeyes have been great in East Lansing
Michigan State is one of the few teams that have played the Buckeyes competitively over the years. The Big Ten East has been a highly contested for quite some time with the Buckeyes, Penn State, Michigan State, and Michigan all closely vying for the top spot. However, the Spartans have handed the Buckeyes some of their most critical losses in the past few years.
The Buckeyes have won the last three out of five meetings but have lost the war. Those two losses have each left scars in what could have been for the Buckeyes in the postseason. In 2013, the Spartans beat the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. That was a crushing loss as the Buckeyes were undefeated in the conference and had just one loss.
To save the worst for last, the Buckeyes lost at home to the Spartans on a last second field goal in 2015 which effectively ended their season. The Buckeyes had possibly one of the best rosters in team history during that season including the likes of J.T. Barrett, Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas, Taylor Decker, Billy Price, Pat Elflein, Braxton Miller, Curtis Samuel, Darron Lee, Gareon Conley, Eli Apple, Raekwon McMillan, Cardale Jones, and Joey Bosa.
The Buckeyes had hopes of winning a consecutive national championship after winning it in 2014 but that was all shot down by the Spartans. To make things worse, the Spartans ended up winning the Big Ten Championship and represented the Big Ten in the College Football Playoff. The waiting opponent was Alabama who affirmatively sat them down to a tone of 38-0. The Buckeyes had beaten the Crimson Tide 42-35 in the playoffs in 2014.
As for this year’s match up, the Buckeyes meet the Spartans in a favorable location. The Buckeyes haven’t lost to the Spartans in East Lansing since 1999. The Spartans have had better luck as the road dog in this battle and they don’t get to have that edge this time around. Expect the Buckeyes to bring the fight to the Spartans once again as they notch another victory at East Lansing.