Big Ten championship: 5 reasons Ohio State will crush Northwestern
By Alec Hartman
5. Ohio Sate’s defense should hold up again
First thing’s first is to address the fantastic play displayed by the Buckeyes’ defense. This unit was long given up on even before their rather embarrassing effort against Maryland just two weeks ago.
The Bucks held TTUN to just four yards per carry while creating a bevy of turnovers and sacks. Their average is five yards per carry.
Wolverines’ quarterback Shea Patterson had thrown just four interceptions coming into this game. The Bucks forced them to throw the ball after slowing down the run game which really put Patterson to the test. This was a test he failed at as he turned the ball over and eventually left the game due to injury.
Northwestern throws the ball a bit more than the Wolverines. This poses a threat to this unit as the rush defense is a little better than the pass defense.
However, the Wildcats don’t have the same threats on offense that the Wolverines did.
Beginning with the running backs, the Wildcats use a primary and secondary back who average about 4.7 yards per carry each.
Neither are extremely explosive nor productive which will make it difficult for them to be a legitimate threat.
The tandem is led by freshman Isaiah Bowser and sophomore Jeremy Larkin. Both have combined for just 11 touchdowns.
The offense is led by senior quarterback Clayton Thorson. He currently has the fourth most passing yards in the Big Ten but has turned the ball over plenty this season.
His mere 14 touchdowns to 12 interceptions ratio doesn’t make him that much of a threat to the Buckeyes. Their inability to score easily will cause problems for them if they were to get behind.
There is plenty of momentum behind this Buckeyes team and it doesn’t look like it will stop here.
The Buckeyes are locked in offensively as well as defensively which is very dangerous.
Everyone knew what this team was capable of and now they’re seeing it on both sides of the ball. Expect the Buckeyes to have little trouble slowing down the Wildcats’ offense.