Ohio State played one of its most complete games of the season against Purdue, but a much bigger test awaits this week against Penn State.
We spend the first half of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays breaking down what impressed us most from Ohio State’s 41-7 rout of Purdue, including the performance of Dallan Hayden (and why Ohio State should scrap its plan to redshirt Hayden), more creativity in the run game on offense and the play of Ohio State’s defensive ends, Cody Simon, Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Mathews Jr. on defense – all the while analyzing how everything we saw against Purdue could translate to the Buckeyes’ next game against the Nittany Lions.
In the second half of the show, we preview this week’s top-10 matchup at Ohio Stadium, identifying the biggest challenges Penn State will present to the Buckeyes and where Ohio State could have advantages in the biggest game of the season to date for the scarlet and gray.
The full rundown for our post-Purdue, pre-Penn State edition of RPW:
- 0:17: The Big Ten tiebreakers don’t favor Ohio State, making this week’s game a must-win for Buckeyes
- 4:49: Dallan Hayden should have a bigger role and shouldn’t redshirt after his performance at Purdue
- 14:15: Different concepts in the run game, including quarterback runs, led to better results than before
- 22:11: Will Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss see more playing time after making big plays vs. Purdue?
- 26:06: Cody Simon is pushing Steele Chambers for his starting job, but both will continue to play
- 30:12: JT Tuimoloau is getting into a groove and Jack Sawyer also had his best game vs. Purdue
- 33:28: Denzel Burke would be tough to replace, but Ohio State has other capable cornerbacks
- 37:26: Penn State’s defense presents a major test for Ohio State’s offense
- 42:33: Drew Allar has been efficient, but Penn State’s passing offense hasn’t been explosive
- 44:25: Ohio State’s receivers are its biggest advantage, offensive line is its biggest concern
- 48:48: This game likely comes down to who wins the line of scrimmage (on both sides)
- 50:48: Who does Ohio State most need healthy: Denzel Burke, Emeka Egbuka or TreVeyon Henderson?
- 56:10: Our confidence percentages that Ohio State will win and score predictions