Zack Colman
Never has there been a No. 1-ranked team as undeserving as the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Just look at the “teams” the Buckeyes have played this season: Youngstown State, Akron, Washington, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue and Kent State. Those “teams” have a combined record of 23-25.
Twelve of those wins came from Youngstown State of the Gateway Conference (where the teams actually compete for last place instead of first, meaning Youngstown State is one of the conference’s weaker “teams”) and Kent State and Akron of the MAC Conference (in which Kent State is tied for last).
And, well, we could probably label Minnesota a Division II team (yes, Division II, not the higher quality Division I-AA) and most people would be OK with it.
Additionally, the Buckeyes have only one currently-ranked team on their schedule — Michigan, which just resurfaced at No. 24 after a six-week hiatus.
Knowing this, it’s not difficult to understand why Ohio State owns the conference’s best defense and fourth best offense.
Actually, how could they not have the best offense against those “teams”? No excuse for that.
Still, the Buckeyes are (somehow) number one. And, “They’re not number one for no reason at all,” says MSU junior quarterback Brian Hoyer.
Hoyer is certainly correct.
The reason Ohio State is (supposedly) the top team in the nation is because the 10 teams ahead of them in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 lost. The reasons those teams lost, for the most part, is because they played opponents that would consistently beat most Pop Warner football teams. Ohio State has yet to do that.
In essence, the Buckeyes are college football’s No. 1 team by default. But when South Florida is the other option, it’s probably for good reason.
Wait, didn’t South Florida beat No. 9-ranked (then ranked No. 5) West Virginia and No. 18-ranked (then ranked No. 17) Auburn? Oh yeah, they did. So why isn’t South Florida ranked number one?
But hey, uh, Ohio State beat Washington, and the Huskies are in the Pac-10. That’s a pretty good conference (which they’re at the bottom of, winless).
MSU has a chance to knock off just the 1,249th top-10 ranked team this year (yes, 1,249th). They are facing the worst No. 1-ranked team this season.
Regardless, this is still a No. 1-ranked team and this is still MSU. If the Spartans knock off the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, the quality of that team doesn’t matter.
At the end of the day, MSU will have beaten what the nation’s writers, coaches and computer system consider the best team in the land.
Still, though, this is MSU’s best chance to beat a No. 1-ranked team because of how overrated the Buckeyes are.
The Spartans have preached about winning back fans, about moving the program forward, about earning respect.
Well, here’s a chance to get a head start in all three of those departments.
Fans and players alike are excited and eager.
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Yes, Ohio State is number one, but that hasn’t meant anything this year. Saturday can’t come soon enough for Spartan nation.
“We’ve always looked towards the next game and got ourselves ready to play the best we can,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said.
“Our football team is looking for opportunities to prove themselves.”
Here’s your chance, Spartans.
Go prove something.
Zack Colman is a State News football reporter. Reach him at colmanz1@msu.edu.
