Jim Naveau: OSU’s free fall should end against Northwestern

Sports BuckEyes Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp Let’s take a look at the way the three games remaining on Ohio State’s football schedule could play out from most optimistic to most pessimistic and their possible consequences: • Ohio State beats Northwestern on Saturday, then wins at Nebraska next week and again in two weeks against Michigan. To get to the College Football Playoff OSU would have to get some help over the next three weeks. The Buckeyes’ small but best hope of making it to the playoff runs through the Big Ten championship game. If they can climb over several teams ahead of them in the Big Ten standings in the next three weeks, get in the championship game and win it, they would get an automatic bid as the Big Ten champion. Ohio State (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) was twentieth in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. It probably would be more difficult to get to the playoff as an at-large team instead of being the Big Ten champion. But wins over Northwestern and Nebraska and a win by a big score over Michigan might change the minds of a few CFP voters, similar to OSU’s 59-0 win over Wisconsin in 2014. • Ohio State wins two of its next three games. If that happens, Buckeyes fans might become reacquainted with bowl locations they haven’t traveled to in 25 to 30 years or more. Or maybe they will discover where the Reliaquest Bowl is played or which bowl game dumps a tub of mayonnaise on the winning coach. Or maybe Ohio State would decide not to go to any bowl. • Ohio State wins one of the next three games. If the win is over Michigan an 8-4 record might look look a tiny bit less awful. Or maybe not. • Ohio State loses its next three games and finishes 6-6. If that happens, psychiatrists in Columbus will be very busy in the next few weeks. A month ago no one would have imagined that a match-up of second-team quarterbacks would be one of the big stories in an Ohio State-Northwestern game this season. But here we are with Luke Fahey starting in place of injured Julian Sayin for a third straight game and Northwestern’s Nicco Marchiol starting for a second week in a row because starter Aidan Chiles is injured. Chiles, who played at Michigan State the last two seasons, is one of the big reasons Northwestern (6-3 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) won six of its first seven games. He has passed for 1,898 yards and 13 touchdowns and has run for 10 touchdowns. Marchiol was 24 of 32 for 181 yards and a touchdown and ran for 52 yards on 23 carries in a 24-10 loss to Iowa last Saturday. He was West Virginia’s starting quarterback for its first four games last year before a foot injury ended his season. Last week was the first time this season Northwestern scored fewer than 23 points and it was 1 of 11 on third down conversions. Fahey, a freshman, has thrown for 620 yards and three touchdowns in his two starts. You would think Ohio State would be fired up to bounce back from an embarrassing performance in a 41-28 loss to Oregon last Saturday. But that was also the thinking when it was coming off a 30-18 loss to USC last week. Historically Northwestern has been the surest of sure things when it has been on OSU’s schedule. Ohio State has won the last eleven times the two teams have played each other and had a 24-game winning streak against the Wildcats from 1972 to 2003. OSU is struggling but should prevail in a matchup of back up quarterbacks. The prediction: Ohio State 28-17. Featured Local Savings