Ohio State Mauls Minnesota, Looks to Road Test at Illinois

On the Road Against Illinois.

This Saturday, Ohio State will play on the road at Illinois. Illinois is the best one-loss team in the nation. Bret Bielema has had his team playing well since their big loss to Indiana, and has definitely had this game circled on his team’s calendar all year long. Illinois can be difficult for visiting teams. They have a good home-field advantage from their fans, and windy weather has been known to slow teams down.

Bielema hopes to utilize the homefield advantage and repeat the biggest win of his coaching career, when he upset #1 Ohio State while coaching Wisconsin in 2010. Illinois and Ohio State both score a lot of points. The Buckeyes are averaging 37.4 points, which ranks 22nd in the nation, and Illinois is averaging 37 points, which ranks 25^th in the nation. Defense, however, is another story. Illinois is averaging 24 points allowed per game, which ranks 72nd in the nation, while Ohio State is allowing 5 points per game, which ranks 1^st in the nation.

Playing Buckeye Ball

Ohio State doesn’t need to reinvent the game of football to beat Illinois. Many times, Buckeye teams have struggled on the road in Champaign by slowing themselves down because of the wind or just playing it too conservatively. Ohio State has played conservatively against Texas and Washington, mainly to protect Julian Sayin from needing to make big-time throws. But Sayin, who’s completing 80.2 percent of his passes, is making big-time throws anyway.

You’d much rather have him set and get used to making those kinds of throws in pressure situations against Illinois in October than in December in a playoff game. Still, while I don’t always agree with him, I trust head coach Ryan Day. He’s human and can sometimes overthink or outthink himself, but he’s still one of the best coaches in the game and has been on another level in the Buckeyes’ current nine-game winning streak.

Battle for Illibuck

Coach Day and the men of the scarlet and gray should come away with the win on Saturday. The 5-1 Illini will be tough, and a good test for them, but the Buckeyes should still bring home that wooden turtle trophy. Ohio State is 69-30-4 all-time against Illinois. The Buckeyes have won nine straight against Illinois, going back to 2008. This will be the first time Ryan Day has coached against Illinois as the Buckeye head coach. The last time Ohio State played Illinois was in 2017, when Day was in his first year as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.