Matt Barrie adamant Ohio State must beat Oregon, validate expectations

The Ohio State Buckeyes are prepping for a road trip to Eugene to take on the Oregon Ducks. It’s one of the biggest matchups of the 2024 season and it’s one that should give the winner a major boost toward making the College Football Playoff.

Coming into the season, there were big expectations on both teams, but especially for the Buckeyes. To this point, they’ve played well against a relatively easy schedule, but as Matt Barrie was adamant about on Always College Football, now is the time for Ohio State to validate those expectations.

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“It’s Ohio State,” Matt Barrie said. “It’s Ohio State by a longshot because, for me, I said this in the preseason, I’ll say it now, I think Ohio State has the most talent of any roster in the country. They just do. So, you go to Eugene, which by the way, I think this is the fourth week in a row where we’ve had a really good game that would be a really good Rose Bowl but it’s not anymore because of realignment.”

Both Ohio State and Oregon are unbeaten coming into the game. However, they’ve taken different paths to get to this point, with the Ducks struggling in their non-conference slate and playing closer games than expected against Idaho and Boise State. Meanwhile, Ohio State was dominant. Since then, however, Oregon stepped on the gas and has been excellent in their first two Big Ten games.

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“And Ohio State is going to have to prove to a lot of people that the Will Howard thing is gonna work. You have two top 10 backs in TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins,” Barrie said. “You have Jeremiah Smith, who is absolutely incredibly freakish. You have Emeka Egbuka who is one of the best receivers in the country. You have everything you need to win a national championship and win it by a nice margin. Nothing is lost this week if they lose the game and everything is gained if you go in there and win.”

For Ohio State, the Buckeyes have only allowed Marshall to score double-digit points on them this season, with the Thundering Herd earning 14 points. However, the back half of the schedule is loaded with four teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll, including two teams in the top five.

“Autzen’s a tough place to play…they’re walking into a whole other environment. I say this, bringing up another point, one loss teams other than the court of public opinion, this could be one of three times they play. They could play this weekend, they could play in the Big Ten Championship, and then they could play in the College Football Playoff…I just want to see how this talent lines up because Dillon Gabriel and Oregon, they’re loaded. You could argue they’ve got a top five talented roster,” Barrie said.

“So, I can’t wait to see what the talent does, and let me tell you something, if either one of these teams go in there and it’s a 10 to 13 point convincing victory, then you’re talking about that’s the team to beat in the entire country. Texas is really good. Texas is a top three team. All cylinders clicking, Ohio State, if that thing hits, I don’t think there’s a more talented team in the country.”

This is the first time Oregon and Ohio State are meeting as members of the Big Ten. The two teams last played in 2021 as non-conference opponents.