The Ohio State Buckeyes are preparing to face the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl in what they hope will serve as some desirable revenge.

Remember: Oregon defeated Ohio State back in Week 7, handing the Buckeyes their first loss of the season. The Ducks would go on to go undefeated. Ohio State went 10-2 (now 11-2 thanks to its win over the Tennessee Volunteers).

The first meeting between the two teams was close, with Oregon emerging with a 32-21 victory. For on of the only times this season, the Buckeyes’ defense looked vulnerable.

But there was one player in particular who looked particularly exposed: cornerback Denzel Burke.

Burke entered the season widely considered one of the best cornerbacks in the country and was also viewed as a potential first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

However, his performance against the Ducks altered his fate.

Burke surrendered eight catches for 179 yards and was burned for a couple of touchdowns in Ohio State’s loss, and since then, the 22-year-old has not quite looked the same.

His draft stock has plummeted, and his confidence also appears to have been adversely affected.

And it all started in Eugene, Or. back in October.

Can Burke right the ship and come through with a bounceback showing against the top-ranked eam in the country?

The Buckeyes will need Burke. That’s for sure. After all, Oregon boasts one of the most explosive offenses in the country, and that’s due much in part to the Ducks’ high-octane aerial attack led by quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Not only that, but Burke needs it for himself. A strong outing versus the Ducks would go a long way in gaining the attention of NFL scouts once again, and it could serve as a springboard for Burke the remainder of the College Football Playoff.

Burke has lost a bit of his shine since that disastrous performance at Oregon. If there is any Ohio State player who desperately needs revenge on New Year’s Day, it’s Burke.

Kentucky dropped to No. 61 in the latest KenPom defensive efficiency ratings after allowing Ohio State to score 85 points on 56.6 percent shooting overall and 68.4 percent from two. It was an abysmal effort on that end of the floor — and that’s with the Buckeyes going just 4-15 from three after entering the matchup shooting 41 percent from deep as one of the best in college basketball.

Mark Pope said the team’s magic number to open the season was 39 percent, hoping to hold teams to that hit rate defensively throughout the year. After hitting that mark in the first six games of the year, the Wildcats have done it just once in the last six. They’ve regressed in a major way and the staff is now looking for answers during the time off with SEC play coming in January.

What is Pope’s best assessment of what went wrong in New York City?

“Defensively, we gave up 15 points on rejects alone,” the Kentucky head coach explained Monday evening during his call-in radio show. “It’s just so uncharacteristic for us, just going away from where we’re leading the ball screen, right? I had made a huge emphasis about pushing our bigs up to try and get a little bit more of a presence at the point of the screen. When you let teams reject, it’s the worst thing to do, to push up the bigs.

“Out of seven possessions, it was 15 points — all twos and an and-one, a perfect field-goal percentage. There was a lot we didn’t do well. A lot of things that are going to help us get better, and get better faster.”

He actually liked the way things started against the Buckeyes, holding firm in the first 10 minutes — plenty good enough to stay competitive while waiting for the offense to figure itself out. Then it was a disaster finish before halftime, then more of the same after the brea.

“It was interesting. We started the game well, we gave up an early three, but we were pretty solid-ish in the first 10 minutes, and then it started to get away from us,” Pope said. “There were a couple of real issues that we were struggling with. We were really struggling with — you know, it was very uncharacteristic of us, but we give up 15 points on rejects of high ball screens, which is exactly the opposite of what our defense is designed to do. That was really surprising. We took a bunch of different paths, but some of that — this is some that’s on me, some of that is my responsibility — is trying to solve some other things and push up our bigs. It gave us less security. And I was really surprised that we were having the issue we did.”

There were a number of reasons for it, not just one glaring weakness or culprit. You could call it an all systems failure on that end.

“We were getting beat going under on ball screens as the game went on. We threw out some zone, we blitzed some ball screens, but I was really surprised by that,” he said. “You’re just very much surprised that the issue actually arose. And it’s probably a bunch of stuff.

“It’s a little bit personnel, it’s a little bit us getting a little extended, it’s a little bit maybe being distracted by other things, maybe some foul issues, but that was clearly — ball screens was an issue for us throughout the night. (Bruce) Thornton was a major issue for us, for sure. And so those are two things that we were trying to address personnel-wise, and dedication-wise, this game-wise.”

Fortunately for the Cats, they have plenty of time to go back to the drawing board and get this thing right.

“We just have to come up with the right answers in the right amount of time.”

Ordinarily, the home town of an incoming vice-president of the United States ought to be awash with pride, vigor and celebration one month out from their big day.

But across Middletown, JD Vance’s home town in south-west Ohio, you would hardly know.

Its streets and shop fronts are full of festive cheer; sign after sign points drivers in the direction of the city’s famed Christmas lights display.

There’s little indication that, in a matter of weeks, this town’s most famous son will become second in line to the presidency of the most powerful nation on the planet.

Such is the apparent indifference in Middletown, that Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins, felt it necessary to attend and speak at a recent city council meeting to plead for her son to be better recognized.

“I still live here, and his sister still lives in Middletown. [JD has] got two nieces who live here and I just think it would be nice if we could acknowledge that this is his home town and put up some signs,” she said.

The City of Middletown waited a full month before publicly acknowledging Vance and Trump’s election success on its Facebook page. One council member who supports Vance called that “unacceptable”.

City council members declined to respond to Vance’s mother’s request at that time, though the city has since said it was discussing plans to mark Vance’s new position that include erecting street signs.

Other Middletown residents say reasons for the lukewarm response to what should be one of the city’s proudest achievements are not difficult to figure out.

“When I look around and want to see what this quote-unquote financial heavy hitter has done for this community, I’m still looking,” says Dr Celeste Didlick-Davis, the head of the Middletown branch of the NAACP.

“Other individuals, a variety of people who have done substantial things, have supported growth and transformation [in Middletown]. To know what [Vance] has done for this community, I’d have to really, really research and I shouldn’t have to really, really research.

“You’ve had two years as a senator – have we had one visit that benefits someone?”

Vance first shot to fame as the author of the 2016 book Hillbilly Elegy, in which he portrayed his Appalachia-rooted childhood, life with a mother struggling with addiction in Middletown and a grandmother who played a major role raising him and his sister.

In the book, he delved into life in the blue-collar city of about 50,000 people, which has struggled with the fallout of manufacturing offshoring, the Great Recession and the opioid epidemic. Vance has since formulated a political career off the back of claiming to come from a working-class family and city, while banking on support from billionaire conservatives to help him win elections.

Trump picked Vance as his running mate in July, despite the Ohio native being seen as a relative political novice and being unknown for being involved in any aspect of public life in his home town.

Locals say that may explain why in Middletown 38% of voters chose candidates other than the Trump-Vance ticket in last month’s election. Voter turnout across many Middletown precincts ran in the 40-50% range – as much as 20 points below the national voting turnout rate.

“He comes back when he needs to make a political speech,” said Scotty Robertson, a member of the local Democratic party.

“If someone would take me to one thing that JD Vance has made better in Middletown, I’d retract everything I’ve said about him.”

Vance’s rhetoric and political positions, which includes calling for the mass deportations of immigrants, has turned many in the largely blue-collar town off.

“I’m hearing from people who are concerned that their grandmom is going to get deported. That is really sending chills up people’s spines,” said Adriane Scherrer, a business owner who helps people, including immigrants, launch and run non-profit organizations.

“There is no sign on the part of [Trump or Vance] that they understand the importance of immigration in our country. What worries people the most is that there’s no recognition of the damage that deportations would do.”

Some residents say that people in the local the LGBTQ+ community have reached out to family overseas to talk about leaving the US if the environment under the incoming administration worsens.

However, others believe Vance and Trump will do great things for this Ohio city.

“Politically he’s the most famous person to come out of Middletown. I always feel like we could do more,” said Savannah Woolum, a Vance and Trump voter who manages a bar in Middletown. “It’s opening a lot of eyes to realizing that you can come from a small town like he did, and make it as far as he has.”

She said it gave people here hope, but realized that naming a drink or dish after the vice-president-elect could be problematic.

“Maybe the city [officials] are a little scared of embracing his achievements because of the people that didn’t vote for him.”

Middletown high school’s marching band and cheerleaders have been invited to Washington DC for next month’s inauguration parade, with the city of Middletown contributing $10,000 to covering that expense.

Middletown’s mayor, Elizabeth Slamka, said that adding signage around the city acknowledging Vance’s achievement was in the works.

But others are concerned that if Trump and Vance follow through on their promises of cutting education funding and vaccination programs, it could be devastating for many Middletown residents.

“I just see my community being overlooked and underserved,” says Didlick-Davis.