Ohio State v Nebraska 2011 On the Road
The Buckeyes (3-2) travel to Lincoln Nebraska this coming Saturday for a 8pm kickoff with the newest member of the Big Ten, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-1). Both teams are coming off difficult loses with Ohio State losing at home against Michigan State 7-10 and Nebraska losing 17-48 on the road at Camp Randall. Still ranked No 14 in the AP, Nebraska hopes to rebound while Ohio State hopes to find answers to its many offensive troubles. The Buckeyes will have two starting offensives pieces back, wide receiver Philly Brown and tackle Mike Adams, but not all the parts they had hoped to have in place.
The return of Mike Adams allows left tackle Andrew Norwell to slide down into the guard position and Jack Mewhort to switch from left guard to the right guard spot. Starting right guard Marcus Hall has been rule ineligible for the game after taking payments from a booster for work that was not performed. Running back Boom Herron and receiver DeVier Posey also received extra benefits while employed by the same Cleveland company during a school break and will not be available on Saturday.
Wide receiver Verlon Reed is out for the season after tearing his ACL on the final play of last weeks game. The underclassmen was putting together a really nice season after switching from the defensive side of the ball. He has 9 catches for 132 yards in five games. This makes the receiving corps for the Buckeyes even younger than they were, freshmen Evan Spencer and TY Williams will now see more time on the field.
Ohio State is expecting more of the same from Nebraska will lots of quarterback pressure. Neither OSU quarterback Braxton Miller nor Joe Bauserman was able to handle the pressure of MSU last week, and teams will now load up the box, stop the run, and target the quarterback until Ohio State can establish an adequate passing attack.
All the controversy off the field has led to most fans questioning the current direction of the football program. Fickell said at his Tuesday press conference with the media that the criticism makes him work harder and he likes it better than praise. The team might be feeling a little down heading into Nebraska as the return of three starters was going to be their pivot point in the season. Now with only one of the starters returning from suspension, OSU might have to relive the nightmare that was the Michigan State game.