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.
It’s been a tough week for Buckeye fans following the utter failure at the hands of the USC Trojans on Saturday night. There is little that went well on the Buckeyes’ first trip to the Coliseum for a conference game. So, if the Buckeyes want to work their way back into the College Football Playoff race, they will need
to make serious, almost magical adjustments, and fast, with Oregon coming to town this weekend.
So, in this week’s fan survey, we want to know what you would fix on the OSU squad if given a magic lamp. Then, since the Buckeyes will be back on the field this weekend, we also want you to pick the margin of victory for Saturday’s game.
Take a look at the options below, then vote in the survey at the bottom of the article. On Saturday morning, before the game kicks off, we will share the results, so make sure to check back in with us in a few days. And if you want to explain your rationale or add another option, head down to the comments and break it down.
Question 1: If you could magically fix all issues with any Ohio State position group, what would it be?
At this point, I think that it would take fairly significant improvements across every position group for this Buckeye team to get to where we anticipated it would be heading into the month of November. However, for the purposes of this survey, we have narrowed it down to the six position groups (primarily because we are limited to six slots in our surveys).
We’ve got three offensive units as options, two on defense, and the whole of special teams, because we all know that this is a mess. I left out the wide receivers because Jeremiah Smith exists, and I figured that the biggest issue with the WRs is they have a guy making only the second start of his career this coming week. So, if you would have otherwise most hoped for improvements with that unit, you can still side with the passing game by going with the QBs.
On defense, I combined the safeties and corners for a general secondary option, since they are so inter-related, while I also skipped out on including the linebackers. While they haven’t been perfect, I feel like it is pretty safe to say that they have been the most consistent defensive unit for OSU.
Question 2: What will be the margin of victory in Ohio State vs. Oregon?
The Buckeyes opened as 9.5-point favorites heading into Saturday’s matchup against the Oregon Ducks. The gold standard of college football analytics, SP+, projects OSU to win 31-19, but that doesn’t fully factor in the fact that the Buckeyes are now without Julian Sayin, who was pretty darn important in amassing the advanced analytics that helped form that prediction.
Historically, this is a series that has been decidedly one-sided in Ohio State’s favor, although Oregon has made things considerably more competitive in recent years. The Buckeyes lead the all-time series 10-2, having won the first nine meetings between the programs, dating back to a 10-7 victory in the 1958 Rose Bowl.
That dominance includes a pair of particularly memorable postseason triumphs: Ohio State’s 42-20 victory over the Ducks to claim the national championship following the 2014 season and its 26-17 win in the 2010 Rose Bowl. However, Oregon has won two of the last three regular-season meetings, suggesting that the balance of power between these two programs has shifted considerably since their earliest encounters.
The Buckeyes did win the most recent meeting, dismantling top-ranked Oregon 41-21 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day 2025. Ohio State scored the game’s first 34 points, with Jeremiah Smith catching seven passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns, avenging a heartbreaking 32-31 loss in Eugene less than three months earlier.
That October defeat was the first meeting between the programs as Big Ten opponents and came down to the final seconds, when Ohio State’s attempt to set up a game-winning field goal fell apart. The Buckeyes ultimately got the last laugh, however, using their dominant Rose Bowl performance as a springboard to the national championship.
Interestingly, Oregon’s only other victory in the series came during its most recent visit to Columbus, when the 12th-ranked Ducks stunned No. 3 Ohio State 35-28 in September 2021. The Buckeyes are 5-1 against Oregon at Ohio Stadium, but have not beaten the Ducks in the Horseshoe since 1987.
Now, with Ohio State coming off its disappointing loss to USC and facing an increasingly precarious College Football Playoff situation, Saturday’s matchup offers the Buckeyes an opportunity to reassert their historical dominance over Oregon while taking a desperately needed step toward salvaging their season.
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in OSU fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
