On Saturday November 16th, at noon eastern time, the 9-1 Ohio State Buckeyes will travel to Chicago Illinois to play 4-5 Northwestern Wildcats at Wrigley Field. Ohio State is an early 29.5-point favorite in this game. Northwestern won their last game on November 2nd against Purdue 26-20. Last week Northwestern had a bye. Ohio State won their last game against that same Purdue team 45-0 on November 9th. Ohio State is the second ranked team in country behind number 1 Oregon. Northwestern is unranked and Ohio State is expected to win this game in a blow out of Northwestern.

Even though this game on paper is an overwhelming Ohio State win, games are played on the field and not on paper. Ohio State will have to still show up and do what is expected of them. I expect another good game from quarterback Will Howard and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Also, it appears that Ohio State fixed their offensive line issues that loomed during the game against Nebraska. The following week on November 23rd, Ohio State will host the 8th ranked Indiana Hoosiers. These circumstances have the makings of a trap game for the Buckeyes.

They need to focus on Northwestern and worry about Indiana next week. It is the job of head coach Ryan Day to keep his team focused on the task at hand. The Indiana Ohio State game on the 23rd is a featured Big Ten matchup and the winner could very well be playing in the conference championship game on December 7th, and they will probably play Oregon. And that would be the ultimate rematch for Ohio State. But to get to that game, they must beat Northwestern on Saturday. Otherwise, this will all be meaningless hope and speculation.