EAST LANSING – In perhaps the most-anticipated B1G 10 game in recent memory, the Ohio State Buckeyes finally showed up in a big game, beating Michigan State, 49-37.
Long maligned for their failures in title games and primetime matchups, the Buckeyes had created a negative perception of often being an overrated flop vs. quality teams. You had the losses vs. Florida, LSU, USC and last year against Michigan State in the B1G 10 title game, 34-24 that only added fuel to the collective Buckeye bias.
Last year’s loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl only added to Ohio State’s bad reputation in bowl games—not only towards one of the most storied programs in college football—but towards a league hoping to salvage some face.
Add in Michigan State’s recent rise to conference supremacy in dethroning the in-state nemesis Wolverines and their throttling of the Buckeyes in Indianapolis and the upstart Spartans were suddenly seen as the new face of the B1G, over established and more storied powers, Ohio State and Michigan.
This writer would be remise in stating that every Buckeye fan had this Saturday’s game circled on their calendar, not only to get a rematch against the suddenly intransigent and borderline-cocky Spartans, but as a chance to atone for one of the most gut-wrenching defeats in recent memory.
If Ohio State was the Athens to Michigan State’s Sparta, consider Saturday night’s Ohio State-Michigan State matchup the B1G’s version of the Peloponnesian War.
And this time, unlike that Greek war of yesteryear, Athens won handily.
Thanks to racking up 568 total yards on a defense that many so-called experts felt was the college version of the Midway Monsters, freshman quarterback JT Barrett scored five total touchdowns, three passing, two rushing on the Spartans own turf.
If last night’s game was a chance to impress the College Football Playoff committee, then they should have no choice but to give Ohio State their due and vault them up into the top ten, thanks to the losses of Auburn, Kansas State and Notre Dame.
Yes, Ohio State lost to an awful Virginia Tech team, with a very green Barrett under center that fateful night in Columbus, if Ohio State played that same team now, the Buckeyes would drop 70 points on them.
Fact.
If defeating a higher ranked team on their own home field, and scoring almost 50 points isn’t enough to sway the committee, then every Bucks fans worst fears will be confirmed and that all the anti-Ohio State, Mark May armchair analysts of the media and their bias have pegged the Buckeyes to fail.
They say that respect is earned on the field, and in beating the Spartans in such a dominant fashion, Ohio State earned back some of the respect and luster it has lost nationally.
But in beating the Spartans handily, and with authority, the Buckeyes reminded everyone in college football that they are a force to be reckoned with. Hopefully, the committee will do the right thing and finally give Ohio State the respect they fairly deserve.
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