CFN Analysis - Ohio State's win over MSU

The Buckeyes stay unbeaten in a tough win over the Spartans.

Ohio State 17 ... Michigan State 16

By Richard Cirminiello

The more Ohio State wins going forward, the worse is it is for the Big Ten.

The Buckeyes might wind up being the class of the conference, but for those who forgot, the scarlet and gray are not eligible for the postseason until 2013. And the Big Ten is going to need its best members available in December and January if the league has any hope of improving its ever-sagging image across the nation. It’s redundant by now to suggest that the conference has had an awful start to the season, suffering embarrassing non-conference losses on a weekly basis in September. League play won’t help because the perception will be that beating one of your own is hardly considered an achievement.

The Big Ten will be desperate for a successful postseason, especially in the marquee games, such as the Rose Bowl. But the cause suffers a setback when one of its contenders, like Michigan State, falls to a program whose season will end in November. The Spartans didn’t play like a team that belongs in a January event, once again showing an inability to hold the line against a quality defense. The Buckeyes still have games with Nebraska, Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan; with each win against competitive league members, it increases the likelihood that the Big Ten will put forth an inferior product against tougher opponents from the likes of the Pac-12 and the SEC.

Ohio State is a signature member of the Big Ten. The league, though, would prefer it if the Buckeyes aren’t the highest ranked of its teams in early December.

By Matt Zemek

Midway through the fourth quarter in a four-point game, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio opted to kick a long field goal instead of going for a first down. The decision was not an aggressive one, but since Michigan State is a defense-first team with a very good kicker (Dan Conroy) and a suspect quarterback (Andrew Maxwell), the move was defensible. Even if you disagreed with the move, it owned a considerable amount of logic. Dantonio has taken big risks in spotlight games before; he doesn't arrive at a conservative decision in a casual manner.

The calculus was obvious: Dantonio expected his defense to change the game, and he also realized that his offense was not very likely to score a touchdown. Dantonio felt he needed the field goal so that, if his offense stalled at the 30 on yet another drive, it could get three points and a 19-17 win.

Ohio State's offensive line had other ideas.

The fact that the Buckeyes won this game on the road is important enough for Urban Meyer in his attempt to lift the OSU program back to sustained greatness. The fact that Ohio State won the game the way it did will do even more to bolster the Buckeyes' belief in themselves. Despite a mild injury to quarterback Braxton Miller and despite the formidable strength of Michigan State's front four, Ohio State's big uglies blew the Spartans off the ball in the final four minutes, running out the clock in the process. The Buckeyes didn't just win; they beat Michigan State at the Spartans' strongest point. That's how you renew a program. That's how you re-announce yourself to the college football world after the disaster of 2011.

By Phil Harrison
Follow me @PhilHarrisonCFN

First and foremost, congratulations to Urban Meyer on his first Big Ten win as a head coach. You have to wonder how many of those will be in his pocket when it’s all said and done.

Make no mistake about it, despite Michigan State disappointing a bit this season--at least according to expectations--this is a big, big win for the Ohio State program. Why? It went into a hostile environment, beat an extremely solid defensive team, and most importantly laid a foundation for the future.

Braxton Miller didn’t have eye-popping stats, and made some questionable decisions, but when it all mattered he willed his team to victory.

When Sparty grabbed the lead for the first time in the third quarter and seemed to grab all of the momentum, Miller unleashed a pass that couldn’t be thrown any better to Devn Smith for a huge 63 yard TD.

Answer heard loud and clear.

When the Spartans needed to make a defensive stand late in the game to have a shot at a last ditch drive, Miller was there again making plays with his legs (along with Carlos Hyde) to salt the clock away.

Game over.

Last year was a disaster for the freshman at home versus the Spartans as Miller threw for under 50 yards and looked overwhelmed in a loss against his first real competition. This game? Braxton Miller threw for 179 yards and a TD, and rushed 23 times for 136 yards. Most importantly, the team got a huge win to set the silverware for perhaps a gourmet dinner in the future.

Perhaps we are watching a talented athlete become a talented quarterback quickly.

By Terry Johnson
Follow me @TPJCollFootball

Leave it to the team that won the Big Ten's last national championship to foil any hopes of it winning one this year.

Believe it or not, Michigan State still had the conference's best shot at playing for all the marbles this season. Sure, the loss to Notre Dame hurt, but with a win over the Buckeyes today, the Spartans would have vaulted themselves back into the hunt.

It didn't happen.

There's no other way to say it: Ohio State won this game because its defense was better than the Spartans. Luke Fickell's squad controlled the line of scrimmage for the entire game and held Le'Veon Bell to 43 yards with a long of just 8. Even though the pass defense wasn't perfect, it did manage to get plenty of pressure on Andrew Maxwell that resulted in several errant throws.

After today's performance, Ohio State has an excellent chance to finish the season undefeated. Aside from a November road trip to Wisconsin, Ohio State gets all of its toughest competition at home. And while it's always tough to win in Camp Randall, the Bucks did manage to beat a Rose Bowl-bound Badger team last year.

Should his team run the table, we'll need to call Coach Meyer something other than the Urban Legend because there will no disputing his status as one of the greatest football coaches of all time.

By Bart Doan
Follow me @Bart_cfn

That groan you hear? Yeah, that’s the NCAA after Ohio State’s win over Michigan State.


Folks will point to the early whistle that “costed” Michigan State a touchdown as fodder for why Sparty lost and Brutus didn’t, but the reality is that better teams don’t let inferior teams games come down to one call at home. That’s the bottom line. The other bottom line is that Braxton Miller just entered himself into the Heisman race (yes, I understand the stats were mediocre, but today’s Heisman favors wins at all cost), and the silence you hear is are those criticizing the Ohio State defense before this tilt.

With just under 5:40 left, Michigan State got the ball. They went three and out. This Ohio State team might not be Urban Meyer’s best club, but they’re without a doubt his most defiant. With nothing to play for again, and nothing to lose but pride, Ohio State continued to press the “what if” button on the mind of every college football voter, and the legitimacy of the sport’s national championship system.