I'll Say It: I'm Nervous For This Ohio State / Wisconsin Game

Alright so one week ago today, both Ohio State and Wisconsin were gearing up for their last tune-up before what people were anticipating as the biggest game in college football thus far this season. Ohio State was sitting at #4. Wisconsin was #6. And the only things standing in the way of a heavyweight showdown in Columbus were 1-4 (0-3) Northwestern and 2-4 (0-3) Illinois. And boy did both teams struggle with that. Well, actually the Buckeyes didn't look too bad...

But Wisconsin. Gosh darn Wisconsin. As 28.5 point favorites, you couldn't beat ILLINOIS???

Awesome. Now instead of getting to add a win over #6 on our resume, we're 14.5 point favorites over a team that'll drop outside the top 20 next week if we beat them by that much. I know it looks easy to be a Buckeye fan from the outside, but gosh darn it is tough. It's tough to get the respect out of the rest of the country and the committee when the teams you play on a weekly basis consistently embarrass the conference. The Buckeyes are now expected to win this game by at least two scores over a team that one week ago was thought of having a good chance to beat us. 

So as far as the game goes, we're good right? 14.5 favorites. At home. With the GOAT in the house??

No way we should lose this game. No way! But I'll say this: I'm nervous.

I watched this Wisconsin team beat the absolute living smoke out of Michigan, and then they beat Michigan State 38-0. Playing the score comparison game seven days ago, I'd classify myself as very nervous. And now that they lost to a terrible Illinois team, I'm even more nervous. That loss certainly woke them up, and it made the Buckeyes think that Wisconsin isn't on their level. Fat pigs get slaughtered. I don't like this situation one bit.

Usually I'm all overconfident (for good reason)  when it comes to the Buckeyes, but there just seems to be something different about this week. I wish Wisconsin were still undefeated. I wish this were a battle of Top 5 teams. There's a chance we come out sleep walking, partially because it's a noon kickoff and partially because we just spent our bye week watching a team with zero wins in the conference beat Wisconsin. Ryan Day better have these boys ready to play. Should he bring Urban into the locker room??? Obviously not, but I don't hate it. Ryan Day seems to have the X's and O's down and has the boys playing better than our former coach, but there's just something special about the way Urban can fire up the team. Ryan Day is more uhhhh…interesting.

Keep dancing though, Coach. That means we're winning.

Oh, and just because I'm nervous doesn't mean I'm saying the Buckeyes don't win this game. But I think 14.5 points is A LOT. 

Ohio State 27 - Wisconsin 24