When was the last time Ohio State were underdogs to the Fighting Illini? Sometime when Dick Butkus and/or Ray Nitschke was playing in Champaign? When the 3-3 Buckeyes visit #15 6-0 Illinois on Saturday, no one will be expecting them to win.
Ohio State is 0-2 in the Big Ten for just the second time since 1993, and they lost back-to-back games for the first time in 88 games (2004), snapping the nation’s longest streak without consecutive losses. But hey, they do rank sixth in the NCAA with 27.4 yards per kickoff return.
Illini Coach Ron Zook isn’t taking them lightly though- he believes this is the best rushing team they’ve faced this season. Carlos Hyde has stepped up in Daniel “Boom” Herron’s place. And Boom returns this week.
“Time to put on the big boy pads,” Zook said.
“this is a storied program and trust me they may be down a little bit, but they’re not out.”
OSU is not use to this: being at .500 or below.
They have three national title game appearances matching Florida State for the second-most all-time. Only Oklahoma has more with four. They’re 5-3 in BCS bowls, tied for second with Florida (5-1) for the most BCS Bowl wins all-time. USC is first at 6-1. Ohio St has not finished with a losing record since going 4-6-1 in 1988 (John Cooper’s first season leading the Buckeyes). Ohio State’s run of 21 straight seasons without a losing record is the third-longest among active FBS teams. Florida State has gone 34 straight seasons since finishing 5-6 in 1976 and Florida has gone 31 seasons since going 0-10-1 in 1979. Virginia Tech and Texas Tech have the fourth-longest runs at 18 seasons each.
“I think he’s done a great job,” Zook said about all that OSU Coach Luke Fickell has had to endure.
“You can speculate, but until you live it, you really don’t know.He’s had a lot of things coming from a lot of different directions, and sometimes they don’t know who they’re gonna have, and with all the controversy and other things that have gone on, it’s probably hard to focus on football.”
“It’s fun, it’s two physical teams, we’re grinding it out and usually it’s a close game, you have to be tough throughout all the four quarters, and not let up,” Illini weak-side tackle Jeff Allen said.
“They get top recruits every year, so their back-ups are pretty good players as well,” Allen added about the depth of OSU.
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