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For better or worse, which Ohio State lineups have contributed late in recent games?

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For better or worse, which Ohio State lineups have contributed late in recent games?


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The first crack in the Ohio State armor was delivered by Saturday’s opponent.

Riding high at 8-1 overall and on the cusp of climbing into the Associated Press top 25, the Buckeyes led by 18 points at Penn State with 15:31 to play only to stumble their way to an 83-80 loss. It was a gradual surrender by the Buckeyes, who would use 10 different lineup combinations in the final 15 minutes in a futile effort to stave off the Penn State comeback.

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The loss showed that Ohio State wasn’t past occasionally getting burned when playing with fire, and that lesson has been hammered home again during the last two weeks. When the Buckeyes host the Nittany Lions in the rematch, they’ll do so on a three-game losing streak that has seen them again falter late. But unlike in the Penn State game, or the Jan. 10 home loss to No. 15 Wisconsin, Ohio State rallied late after falling behind by double digits only to fall short.

Down by 10 at Indiana with 3:34 to play, Ohio State made it a 67-65 game with 1:44 remaining but couldn’t get another stop and score to tie the game or take the lead in a 71-65 loss on Jan. 6. Nine days later against Michigan, the Buckeyes turned a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead with a 16-0 run around the midpoint of the second half but couldn’t hold on from there in a 73-65 loss inside the Crisler Center.

In examining the lineups used by coach Chris Holtmann in both games, there is no real overlap between the players who led the temporary comebacks – or the ones who allowed the deficits to grow.

At Indiana, Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr., Jamison Battle and Felix Okpara were on the court for the entirety of the late-game comeback as Scotty Middleton and Evan Mahaffey rotated in and out of the lineup. As Indiana turned Ohio State’s 50-49 lead into a 66-56 Hoosier advantage during a span of 7:36, Ohio State’s starting lineup (Thornton, Gayle, Battle, Mahaffey and Okpara) was outscored 4-0 in 2:37. Then, in 21 seconds as the Buckeyes were rallying late, the starters outscored the Hoosiers 2-0.

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Against Michigan, though, the Buckeyes rallied by using three different lineups that had three players in common, two of whom haven’t made much of a statistical impact in recent weeks.

While Ohio State rotated Thornton, Gayle and Middleton through those lineups, the constants were Dale Bonner, Zed Key and Okpara. It was the most success the Buckeyes have had playing Key and Okpara together all season, and from 12:00 until 4:53 Ohio State outscored Michigan 16-8 with Bonner, Key and Okpara together.

The heart of that run came with Gayle and Middleton in the backcourt, allowing the Buckeyes to outscore Michigan 6-0 in 1:55 before Thornton returned with 8:09 to play and the lead at 56-55.

Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy

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“In particular, thought our bench gave us a lift,” Holtmann said after the game. “Dale was great in that second-half stretch. Playing big helped us. Obviously we’ve got to finish games and close out games better but I thought there were really some positives we can take into this week.”

With 4:53 left and the Ohio State lead at two points, Holtmann went back to his starters and rode them until the final seconds. They were outscored, 12-6, in the next 4:29 to finish the game at minus-4 (36 points scored, 40 allowed) in 20:47.

Against Penn State, Ohio State’s starters were plus-3 (31 points scored, 28 allowed) in 12:10. Against Indiana, they were minus-6 (17 points scored, 23 allowed) in 14:03. The 20:47 of playing time at Michigan was the most for an Ohio State lineup in a game this season.

“When our body’s hurting in the last 2-3 minutes of the game, we’ve got to take that next step,” Okpara said. “We do it in practice every day. We’ve got to keep going hard when we’re tired.”

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Bonner’s play at Michigan, and Key’s ability to play alongside Okpara, could help with that. The Penn State rematch will be the next chance to find out.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game

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Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game


Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to take care of business against the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday. Now, they are set to prepare for the massive rivalry matchup against the Michigan Wolverines to end the regular season.

Ohio State has been unable to beat Michigan for the last three years. In order to get a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, they’ll need to snap that losing streak.

At this point in the year, the Buckeyes absolutely look like a national championship favorite. However, there is one weakness that is worth monitoring.

David Pollack, a former star college football linebacker and a current analyst, spoke out about the one weakness that he sees with Ohio State.

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“I don’t see a lot of gamewreckers,” Pollack said. “But I don’t see a lot of weaknesses, except at the cornerback spot. I’ve got to address the cornerback spot as a weakness. I’ve seen enough to know. There are enough penalties back there, enough flags, enough big plays that it’s not a strength.”

All season long, the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks have underperformed. Denzel Burke has looked nothing like the expected first-round pick talent that he was being hyped up to be. Davison Igbinosun has been heavily penalized and has struggled as well.

Going up against other elite national championship contenders will be a tough task with a struggling secondary.

Outside of the cornerback position, everything else seems to look solid. If they can fix the issues and get better production out of it, they would be a much more complete contender.

Thankfully, the talent is there for them to improve. Both Burke and Igbinosun are talented players who have simply struggled this season. They are more than capable of turning things around.

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All of that being said, the stage has been set for Ohio State and Michigan. On paper, the Buckeyes should be able to dominate the game, but rivalry games can get tricky. It will be interesting to see what ends up happening.



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Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State

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Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State


With just one week remaining in the regular season, there is only one team across all of college football that remains undefeated at this point: the Oregon Ducks.

So, it stands to reason that the undefeated Ducks should be the favorite to end the 2024 hoisting the College Football Playoff National Championship trophy, right?

Not according to SEC Network host and ESPN personality Paul Finebaum.

“I’m ‘Paul Out’ with block letters. I don’t even think Oregon is the best team in the Big Ten, let alone the favorite to win it all,” Finebaum said during Sunday morning’s ‘Paul-In, Paul-Out’ segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “And thanks Ducks fans waking up on the West coast, I’m aware that you beat Ohio State. But Ohio State, to me, looks like the best team in the country.

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“I think they’ll have a fun game in a couple of weeks in the Big Ten championship game, and both are going to go to the Playoffs and be in very good shape. But Oregon, to me, looks a tad below Ohio State.”

As Finebaum reminded the college football world, this exact matchup has already been decided on the field once this season, with the Ducks eking out a 32-31 win in Eugene in mid-October. While it’s not official yet, all expectations are Oregon (11-0, 8-0 B10) and Ohio State (10-1, 7-1) will meet again in the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.

But in the meantime, Finebaum is sticking by the preseason favorite Buckeyes.

Ryan Day wanted to ‘leave no doubt’ vs. Indiana

Ryan Day wanted to leave no doubt during Ohio State’s 38-15 win over Indiana Saturday in Columbus and it certainly worked out by the time the game came to its conclusion.

After trailing 7-0, Ohio State ripped off 31 straight points to erase any opportunity of the Hoosiers pulling off the biggest win in school history. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers came in No. 2 and 5 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

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But with Day and Ohio State one step closer to the Big Ten Championship vs. Oregon, they can put this game to rest.

“Game got a flip there with the punt return (for a touchdown by Caleb Downs),” Day told FOX’s Jenny Taft postgame. “I thought, you know, we had a chance to really separate ourselves in the first half. We didn’t do that. I thought we played well in the second half. I thought we played physical all across the board, and our guys had a great look in their eye. And so now it’s onto the rivalry game.”

As far as scoring the final touchdown, despite a 31-15 lead with less than two minutes to go, Day and Ohio State wanted to leave their mark.

“Well, you say, leave no doubt,” Day said. “And you know, these guys want to finish the game the right way. TreVeyon (Henderson) did the right thing going down at the one-yard line. We ate up the clock. We didn’t want to put the defense back out there. You just never know in games like this, it’s a top five matchup. So we wanted to finish it the right way and make sure that everybody knows that this is the Ohio State Buckeyes.”

Nick Kosko contributed to this report.

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College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News

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College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News


Ohio State and Notre Dame looked the part of national championship contenders in Week 13. 

The Buckeyes – who are No. 2 in this week’s Sporting News Top 25 – came one step closer to a Big Ten championship rematch against No. 1 Oregon. The Buckeyes beat Indiana 38-15, and the Hoosiers dropped to No. 8 as a result. 

Now, Ohio State faces Michigan and can break a three-game losing streak in The Game on Nov. 30. To be honest, that’s not the game we want to see. 

How about a rematch from last year’s 17-14 thriller against the Irish on Sept. 23, 2023. That was the one where the Buckeyes scored a late touchdown when the Irish had 10 players on the field, and Ohio State coach Ryan Day called out Lou Holtz afterward. How sweet would a rematch in the College Football Playoff be? 

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Notre Dame moves up to No. 5 after a 49-14 blowout against No. 19 Army at Yankee Stadium. The Irish set up a win-and-in matchup against rival USC, which seemed unthinkable after a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7. 

A playoff matchup between the Buckeyes and Irish would not materialize until the quarterfinals or semifinals at this point, but we would take it whenever and wherever it happened. Ohio State has allowed 10.2 points per game since the Oct. 12 loss to the Ducks. The Irish have allowed 11.6 points per game in their last five games. Of the 10-1 teams in the top-10, Ohio State and Notre Dame are on the best trajectory heading into Rivalry Week. 

Here is a closer look at The Sporting News top 25 rankings.

MORE: SEC title game scenarios | Big 12 | Big Ten | ACC

Sporting News Top 25 rankings for Week 14

Here is a closer look at our latest top 25 ranking heading into Week 14:

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RANK SCHOOL RECORD PVS. WEEK 12 RESULT
1 Oregon 11-0 1 Bye
2 Ohio State 10-1 2 Beat Indiana 38-15
3 Texas 10-1 3 Beat Kentucky 31-14
4 Penn State 10-1 4 Beat Minnesota 26-25
5 Notre Dame 10-1 6 Beat Army 49-14
6 Miami, Fla. 10-1 10 Beat Wake Forest 42-14
7 Georgia 9-2 9 Beat UMass 59-21
8 Indiana 10-1 5 Lost to Ohio State 38-15
9 Tennessee 9-2 11 Beat UTEP 56-0
10 SMU 10-1 14 Beat Virginia 33-7
11 Boise State 10-1 12 Beat Wyoming 17-13
12 Arizona State 9-2 17 Beat BYU 28-23
13 Iowa State 9-2 20 Beat Utah 31-28
14 BYU 9-2 13 Lost to Arizona State
15 Clemson 9-2 18 Beat The Citadel 51-14
16 Alabama 8-3 7 Lost to Oklahoma 24-3
17 Ole Miss 8-3 8 Lost to Florida 24-17
18 South Carolina 8-3 21 Beat Wofford 56-12
19 Texas A&M 8-3 15 Lost to Auburn 43-41
20 Tulane 9-2 22 Bye
21 Kansas State 8-3 23 Beat Cincinnati 41-15
22 Illinois 8-3 24 Beat Rutgers 38-31
23 Army 9-1 19 Los to Notre Dame 49-14
24 Colorado 8-3 16 Lost to Kansas 37-21
25 Missouri 8-3 NR Beat Mississippi State 39-20



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