Ohio State will play its first Big Ten contest against Washington on Saturday on CBS at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The Huskies and Buckeyes are both 3-0 after nonconference play, and the unreanked Huskies are hoping their raucous stadium will be enough to help them knock off the No. 1 Buckeyes.
Here’s how the BSB staff sees this game going:
Sam Cipriani: Noisy Husky Stadium No Problem For OSU
Heading into Washington and Ohio State’s clash Saturday, the biggest question around the Buckeyes’ potential success lies with Julian Sayin. Can the inexperienced quarterback dictate an offense in an environment where he might not be able to hear?
It’ll be Sayin’s first road test, and the Huskies will surely come out swinging, but given how the Ohio State offense has operated through the first three games, I’m confident the Buckeyes will find their rhythm quickly and handle adversity well.
With the help of head coach Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline to make Sayin’s life easier, I don’t see Ohio State struggling to score — outside of first-quarter jitters. Though I do believe the Buckeyes will kick multiple field goals while they continue to work out the kinks of its red zone offense.
With Washington likely without two of its top defenders in star linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah and cornerback Tacario Davis, the Huskies could struggle to contain the potent Buckeye attack.
Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. dual-threat ability will definitely give Ohio State’s defense trouble at times, although against a top-three defense in the nation, it won’t be enough to keep up with the Buckeyes’ scoring.
Ohio State 33, Washington 14
Bobby Gorbett: Buckeyes Handle First Road Test
Ohio State’s nonconference schedule included Texas, the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the country, Ohio, a scrappy MAC team, and, with all due respect to Grambling State, a relative cupcake.
As challenging as that slate was, the Buckeyes will face a new test on Saturday when they go to Seattle to take on Washington.
Not only will Ohio State be in a hostile environment on Saturday, but it will also go against one of the more athletic quarterbacks in the Big Ten in Demond Williams Jr.
While the Buckeyes haven’t had to deal with a raucous crowd or an offense as good as the Huskies’ group, I don’t see them struggling in their Big Ten opener.
I think Ohio State’s offensive line will hold up well enough in pass protection to allow redshirt freshman Julian Sayin to find his talented receivers down the field for explosive plays.
Against a Huskies’ defense that ranks 87th nationally, Ohio State should also be able to get its run game going, especially with freshman running back Bo Jackson being a revelation in the room over the last couple of weeks.
It seems as though the most star power will be on the field when the Huskies have the ball. Washington ranks second in the country in scoring offense, and the Buckeyes are tied for first in scoring defense.
As talented as some of the Huskies’ offensive weapons are, I think the Buckeyes’ back-seven will be able to keep them under wraps. Williams will undoubtedly make some plays with his legs, but I think the Buckeyes’ athletic linebackers will mainly keep up with him and limit some of his explosive plays.
Ohio State 31, Washington 17
Greg Wilson: Buckeyes Too Much For Huskies To Handle
The big story about this game throughout this week has been how much the spread has gone down. Wherever the oddsmakers have it at this point, everyone who watches Ohio State games seems to think it’s too close, and Washington fans seem to feel more comfortable that it will be a close game.
Maybe my lack of knowledge of the Huskies is coming through when I say that I don’t see what the people who are predicting Washington will pull off an upset are seeing. I don’t see this being an entirely close game once the clock hits zero.
There is a way for the Huskies to win the game, which has been bandied about by many leading up to the game. Julian Sayin has never played on the road as a starter, and he definitely hasn’t played in an environment like Husky Stadium where 70,000-plus fans will have the sole goal of making his job as hard as possible. He could slip up early in the game and make another one of those “freshman mistakes” that we saw from him against Grambling State and Ohio. But we are about to find out how “California Cool” the quarterback really is. Will he be able to deal with the noise and run the Buckeye offense?
Washington has played Colorado State, UC Davis and Washington State so far, and it is still 41st in the country in scoring defense, giving up 18.3 points per game. Experienced DB Tacario Davis is questionable and linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah will miss the game. We have seen the Ohio State offense be explosive when it has the opportunity, and Sayin is yet to miss on a deep ball. I don’t see a world where the Buckeyes offense doesn’t put up enough points to win this one if they can score early and quiet the crowd.
But Demond Williams Jr., Jonah Coleman and Denzel Boston will be a froce to be reckoned with. The Ohio State defense is second in the country in scoring defense, but this could be the most dangerous attack it has faced yet with the hindsight of how poor Arch Manning’s start to the year has gone.
Williams is extremely fast, Coleman is very powerful, and Boston is not only big for a receiver, but he has great hands. But the Buckeye defense has too many weapons of its own to counter those attacks. That’s not to say that Washington won’t score, but OSU will be the first team this year to stop the Huskies multiple times and will give them a little trouble.
An extra prediction: the Jeremiah Smith Heisman campaign takes off tomorrow and he scores two touchdowns with north of 100 receiving yards to lead the Buckeyes to a win.
Ohio State 40, Washington 21
