Throughout the year, we will be asking and answering questions about various Ohio State teams, the players, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that
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Coming off of a bye, the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes will travel west to take on the Washington Huskies on Saturday afternoon in Seattle. This early in the season, it is still difficult to get a solid read on either team, but we have seen enough to get a pretty decent idea of what to expect.
So, earlier this week, we asked the Buckeye faithful to give us their thoughts on the game in our weekly fan survey. We wanted to know what about this game worried them most, and then who they thought would win and what the margin of victory would be.
Today, we have the results. So, check them out below (along with my thoughts and feelings), and if the answers that your fellow fans put forth don’t jive with how you see things, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Question 1: What worries you most about this week’s game against Washington?
This, to me, is absolutely the correct answer. Despite the fact that this Buckeye team is made up of a lot of first-time starters, they are still an experienced lot, so I don’t think that some of the off-the-field issues (raucous environment, cross-country travel, rust, chip on the Huskies’ shoulder) will bother them.
However, the biggest equalizer in college football has always been a dual-threat quarterback, and Demond Williams Jr. is the best one that the Buckeyes will see during the regular season. So, if the Washington quarterback is able to break contain and pick up yards regularly, they could force the Silver Bullets to adjust their game plan to account for him. If that happens, who knows what might happen.
While that is certainly a possibility, I tend to believe that OSU has the athletes to keep Williams under control. While Arvell Reese spied on Parker Navarro a bit in Week 3, it seems like it might be Caleb Downs drawing that responsibility more often on Saturday. And if that’s the case, I don’t think there’s any offensive player in the country who is going to beat him one-on-one.
Question 2: What will the margin of victory be in Saturday’s game against Washington?
Despite the line moving quite a bit over the past week, as of the writing of this article, Ohio State is favored by 8.5 points. And while some statistical models project a very close game, the gold standard college football analytics system, SP+, has it as a 31-21 game in favor of the Buckeyes.
Personally, however, I just don’t see it being that close. If the Buckeye defense is as stout as I believe it to be, Matt Patricia will be able to scheme up a plan to limit Demond Williams Jr. — either through a spy like Downs or Reese, or via exotic pressures that OSU has not yet put on film this season.
The Husky defense has allowed average-at-best offenses to put up points against them through their first three games, and I do not think that the Ohio State offense is anywhere near average. So, I am agreeing with the plurality of Buckeye fan respondents and predicting a 41-17 win for the Buckeyes.
Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
