The Buckeyes take on the Huskies this weekend in their first true test of the season. The talking heads out there in college football land would have you think that Washington is destined to be the next Appalachian State. They played well in Syracus and broke Boise State’s 15 game winning record, the team is confident and the fans are confident that today’s game will be an upset.
Isn’t that what Iowa thought last year? When the Buckeyes traveled to play Iowa, the media was looking for an upset, the Hawkeyes were confident and the crowd, well they were pumped…at least until the game started.
That’s what the Buckeyes will need to do at Washington. They need to hit hard an fast and take the crowd out of the game. If we can get the Huskies on their heels early, this should be a promising Buckeye win. However, if we play the first half like we did against Akron the Huskies get a chance to gain momentum and this becomes a different game.
That means the defense needs to continue the three and out pressure they put on Akron but more important, the offense needs to come out of the gate ready to go. Turnovers like we had last weekend will only fuel both confidence and the crowd and that is when the Buckeyes could get into trouble.
The Huskies have heard all week how they are the unrecognized team and they will be coming into this game overconfident. If we can shake that confidence, this could turn into a chance for the Buckeyes to truly prove themselves on a national stage.
Oh, and this game is on ESPN as opposed to the BTN so no complaints from me this weekend.
On a historical note:
It was 14 years ago this weekend that the Buckeyes upset Washington in the shoe with a team lead by Bobby Hoying, Joey Galloway and Eddie George.
