By Jim Naveau
In the early to mid-1800s the Oregon Trail, used by settlers on their way to the West Coast, ran through Nebraska.
Now, almost 200 years later, Ohio State hopes the Getting Over Losing to Oregon Trail also runs through Nebraska.
The No. 4 Buckeyes (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) did not play last Saturday. So their first game since a 32-31 loss to No. 1 Oregon will be Saturday against Nebraska (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) at Ohio Stadium in a contest that will kick off at noon.
Before a 56-7 loss to unbeaten Indiana last week the Cornhuskers were viewed as possibly a sleeper team in the Big Ten – not good enough to win the league but good enough to be competitive against its better teams.
Now, after that drubbing by Indiana, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect from Nebraska. Maybe the decision makers at Ohio State, Indiana and Purdue, who all made the Cornhuskers their Homecoming game, suspected something the sports talk show hosts and halftime pundits didn’t see.
Nebraska started its season with non-league wins over Texas-El Paso, Colorado and Northern Iowa. In the Big Ten, it has wins over Purdue and Rutgers and has lost to Illinois and Indiana.
Quick history lesson: Nebraska won five national championships between 1970 and 1997, including three in four years from 1994-1997.
Legendary coach Tom Osborne retired after the 1997 national championship and was replaced by former Cornhuskers player Frank Solich, who averaged 9.7 wins per season in his six years as head coach before being fired.
Nebraska has had five coaches since Solich and is trying to end a streak of seven straight losing seasons in current coach Matt Rhule’s second season.
Ohio State came up short at Oregon against the best team it has faced this season. The biggest area of emphasis since then has been the defense which gave up too many explosive plays and got too little pressure on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Here are five things to watch for that could play a big role in Saturday’s game:
• Will Ohio State’s offensive line play at the high level it has so far this season with left tackle Josh Simmons out for the season with a knee injury and his replacement Zen Michalski making the first start of his career?
Nebraska shares the Big Ten lead in sacks with 21 and had not allowed a rushing touchdown until Indiana emphatically ended that streak last Saturday. If the Cornhuskers’ defense from their first six games shows up there could be some pressure on OSU’s offensive line.
• Will Ohio State’s defense limit big plays and get pressure on the quarterback, two things it did not do well in the loss to Oregon?
OSU coach Ryan Day didn’t dance around the subject of needing to put more pressure on the opposing quarterback earlier this week at his press conference. He said the Buckeyes weren’t doing a good enough job in that area and some things might be changed to get pass rushers to the quarterback more effectively.
• How will Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola react to facing the biggest hostile crowd he has played in front of in his college career against the team he first committed to during his recruiting process?
Nebraska needs a big game from Raiola if it is going to have a chance to stay close to Ohio State because its running game lacks playmakers. Nebraska running backs have only six runs of 20 yards or more this season.
After throwing eight touchdown passes with only two interceptions in the Cornhuskers’ first four games Raiola has one touchdown pass and four interceptions in their last three games. Three of those four interceptions came against Indiana.
• Which team will do the best job of maintaining for four quarters the energy and intensity each of them will presumably bring to this game after disappointing losses the last time they played?
• Ohio State’s special teams could score a touchdown or set up one. Nebraska has had two field goal attempts and three punts blocked this season.
The prediction: Ohio State 35, Nebraska 7.
