Ohio State gets Maryland at home Saturday afternoon with a chance to keep its Big Ten momentum moving in the right direction, and the setup is as one-sided as it gets. The Buckeyes are back in Ohio Stadium for a 4:15 p.m. kickoff on Big Ten Network, favored by five touchdowns against a Terrapins team trying to spring a major upset against the nation’s No. 5 squad.
Ohio State is coming off a 31-14 win at Iowa, and the conversation now turns to what the Buckeyes can do next as conference play rolls on. With kickoff closing in, here’s the forecast for what could happen, the players worth tracking, and the questions that matter most.
One of the clearest expectations is that Ohio State will create havoc on defense. The Buckeyes have already forced eight turnovers in five games, and the idea here is that they’ll add three more against Maryland.
That prediction leans on Maryland quarterback Malik Washington, who has shown talent but also inconsistency. He’s completed 62.6% of his passes with seven touchdowns and six interceptions, giving Ohio State a real chance to come away with a pair of picks and a fumble recovery to finish the job.
Another big number to watch is on the ground. Bo Jackson is picked to break through for his first 100-yard game, and Saturday is framed as the right spot for it.
Maryland’s defense has been vulnerable against the run, giving up 136 yards per game, which ranks 66th in the FBS. The Buckeyes have also seen Ja'Kobi Jackson look like the better back so far, but this is being viewed as a chance for Bo Jackson to make his best case yet and deliver the kind of long run that has been missing.
There’s also a bold coaching prediction attached to the matchup: Mike Locksley will be fired on Sunday. The report notes that Maryland’s rumored timeline is a move during the bye week after next week’s game against Rutgers, but a lopsided loss could accelerate things. A 59-7 Ohio State win was floated as the kind of result that could make it hard to keep Locksley in place if Maryland suffers a third straight blowout.
On the individual-player front, Devin Sanchez is one to watch in the secondary. He’s coming off a pair of pass interference penalties in each of the last two weeks, but Ryan Day still believes he can grow into “that lockdown corner that we all know he can be.” The expectation here is that Sanchez helps fuel Ohio State’s turnover total, and an interception would be a meaningful step in that direction.
Freshman receivers Brock Boyd and Chris Henry Jr. could also get their moment. If Devin McCuin and Brandon Inniss are out, Boyd and Henry might make their first career starts.
Even if both veterans are available, the game shape suggests the freshmen should see plenty of snaps. They’ve shown flashes, but through five games they’ve combined for just nine catches.
Day said Wednesday that he expects them to get “more and more opportunities in the passing game,” and this matchup could be the opening for that to start happening around Jeremiah Smith.
Eddrick Houston is another name worth tracking after his best game of the season against Iowa, when he finished with four total tackles. The bigger takeaway, though, was how disruptive he looked inside.
Even when the plays didn’t show up in the box score, he was creating problems for Iowa’s offensive line. If that carries over against Maryland, it would be a strong sign for Ohio State’s defensive front.
Day said Wednesday that Houston is taking a step in the right direction.
Special teams could bring another wrinkle if Legend Bey gets back on the field. Brandon Inniss and Devin McCuin were listed as questionable on the initial availability report, which opens the door for Bey to handle return duties.
He could work as a kickoff returner again and possibly make his punt-return debut. There’s also a possibility he gets a look at running back, though Bo Jackson and Ja’Kobi Jackson have made that room crowded.
The offense still has one more box to check, too: an explosive run. Ohio State’s backs ran hard at Iowa, but the longest carry went only 16 yards, and the Buckeyes still haven’t hit a 20-yard run since the season opener against Kent State. Maryland has already allowed 475 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 75 attempts in its first two Big Ten games, so this feels like the kind of week when Ohio State should finally pop a big one.
Up front, the Buckeyes are still trying to put together a complete game. The run blocking stood out against Iowa, but pass protection wobbled at times and Julian Sayin was sacked four times.
Ohio State also had four false starts, with Austin Siereveld and Gabe VanSickle responsible for two apiece. Ian Moore posted a 40.4 rating by Pro Football Focus, and Maryland’s defensive line has shown an ability to create negative plays.
That makes the offensive line one of the most important things to watch in Columbus.
In Other News...
Former Ohio State Coach Brian Hartline Just Took A Brutal First Step Back
Brian Hartlines first months at South Florida had gone smoothly enough, with the former Ohio State offensive coordinator off to a 4-1 start before a stumble at UTSA snapped the momentum. The trip also came with a side note that got plenty of attention, after Hartline made comments about the noise inside the opponents stadium and then had those remarks revisited in a very public way once the game was over.
From Ohio States perspective, Hartlines next chapter is still part of the larger coaching tree story, but the Buckeyes have their own issues to sort out as the schedule rolls on. The offense has had trouble getting the rushing game where it needs to be, and while Hartline is now trying to settle in as a head coach, his rough first step back served as another reminder that the margins get small fast once conference and nonconference tests start to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States Elite Passing Game Is Hiding A Bigger Running Back Issue
Ohio States passing game has been humming along at a level few teams in the country can match, but the ground game is carrying a very different kind of conversation. The Buckeyes sit 81st in rushing yards per attempt, a ranking that stands out for a team with this much offensive firepower and one that has had to lean on a rotating backfield rather than finding a clear weekly answer.
The workload has bounced among Ja'Kobi Jackson, Bo Jackson and Isaiah West, with true freshman Legend Bey also part of the early mix. Beys limited role has drawn attention because of questions around why his touches have thinned out, and while there has been speculation about professionalism concerns, nothing has been officially confirmed. For a team built to pressure defenses in every way, the bigger issue may be less about who is getting the carries and more about whether Ohio State has settled on the right one. [Read more 🡒]
Maryland Brings Coaching Drama And A Defense Ohio State Can Exploit
Maryland arrives with plenty of noise around the program, and not much of it has anything to do with what happens between the lines. The uncertainty around Mike Locksleys future has hung over the Terps for a while now, with the athletic director potentially waiting until after the bye week to make a call, and that backdrop only adds to the sense that Ohio State is catching Maryland at a tense moment. At the same time, the offensive side has slipped, with Malik Washingtons play trending down and the Terps searching for steadier footing.
There is still enough on the defensive front to make Maryland worth studying, especially along the line, where a few key pieces can flash and disrupt a game if the rest of the unit holds together. The problem, as Michael Howes pointed out, is that the tackling has not been dependable enough, and those misses have repeatedly undercut the defense. For Ohio State, that creates a familiar sort of opportunity, one that starts with pressure up front and can quickly turn into a longer afternoon for a defense already carrying too much uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]