Kirk Herbstreit, Booger McFarland express concerns for Ohio State vs. Wisconsin
Kirk Herbstreit believes Ohio State could have a tough time with Wisconsin in Madison this weekend. The Buckeyes are coming off of a big 20-12 win against Penn State this past week in which they looked dominant defensively.
However, Herbstreit still wants to see more out of the offense. Ohio State didn’t exactly put on an offensive show against the Nittany Lions, managing less than 100 yards rushing and 1.9 yards per carry. Outside of receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who dazzled for 162 yards and a touchdown, it was a pretty tame day.
The ESPN analyst explained Tuesday on the College Football Playoff Top 25 show that he sees the Badgers as a team with a tendency to make games ugly, predicting the Buckeyes to struggle before pulling away.
“I think that any time you go into the Big Ten West, especially up against Minnesota, Wisconsin or Iowa, they just have a way of uglying a football game up,” he said. “I think Wisconsin will try to do that. Ohio State’s gonna have to show some maturity on the back end of a very very hyped up game against Penn State. I think Ohio State will win the game, but I think it’ll be one of those low-scoring games.
“I think Kyle McCord‘s still trying to find himself and his timing and rhythm with the offensive firepower that they have. I think eventually they’ll pull away, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Ohio State struggle in this game offensively just because of the atmosphere and kind of playing complimentary football.”
McCord has been solid in his first season as the Buckeyes starting quarterback. He has limited mistakes, not throwing an interception since the first game of the year, but also hasn’t exactly wowed either. That’s been surprising given Ohio State’s talent at receiver.
Booger McFarland offered his thoughts on the game, saying he agrees that the Buckeyes will ultimately win the game as the better team. He chose to focus more on the defense, however, which held a vaunted Penn State rushing attack to just 46 yards in Saturday’s win.
That was a big point of emphasis for coach Ryan Day after the game, who harped on his team’s physicality. However, McFarland wants to see them prove it more, particularly later on this season in a rivalry game against Michigan.
“This Ohio State team should be able to go into Madison and handle business,” he said. “They have way more talent than the Badgers. I think they passed their first test against Penn State, not because of who Penn State is, but because of the physicality that Penn State plays with running the football with (Kaytron) Allen and (Nick) Singleton.
“Something that stuck out to me over the last few weeks is Ryan Day has gone out of his way in his postgame press conferences and his weekly press conferences to make sure that we know that his team is physical. Don’t tell me you’re physical. Let me see you’re physical. Because the last game that you had to really man up against Michigan, they ran the football down your throat. To your point Herbie, when they go to Ann Arbor, they deal with the physicality of the Wolverines.”
Herbstreit continued to say that he isn’t concerned as much about Ohio State this week as he is for the game against the Wolverines. That’s one the Buckeyes have lost each of the past two seasons, and will be necessary to win if they hope to stake claim to the Big Ten Championship.
“The big question to me is, ‘is Ohio State right now in a position to be a threat to go to Ann Arbor?'” Herbstreit said. “Forget Madison. Can they go to Michigan? Can they be a real Playoff contender with the team that we see right now, which they’re really led by their defense and occasionally a Marvin Harrison Jr. play. But is that enough compared to what we’ve seen in the past from Ryan Day offenses and from that quarterback spot.”
For now, however, the Buckeyes will focus on Wisconsin, with kickoff for that game set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Madison.