The old adage, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend“, is usually reserved within a political context. For Ohio State, ranked fourth in the latest version of the BCS standings, this adage may be necessary during the November stretch run.
Ohio State sits 9-0, coming off an impressive 56-0 victory at Purdue. The second bye week of the 2013 season will come at an opportune time for Ohio State, allowing the players time to rest and recuperate before finishing up the month with games at Illinois, Indiana, and That Team Up North.
A common, and convenient, refrain used by critics of Ohio State has been that the Buckeyes have not played anyone. While Ohio State did play against lesser-regarded teams such as Buffalo, San Diego State, and Florida A&M, the media conveniently ignores that Ohio State did defeat ranked teams such as Wisconsin and Northwestern earlier in the season. All Ohio State can do, from here on out, is play, and defeat, the teams the Buckeyes have left to play.
What could help the Buckeyes would be if Michigan State, as well as That Team Up North, were to win the remaining games on their respective schedules. This is where the old adage from up above kicks in.
For example, That Team Up North has remaining games versus Nebraska (11/09), at Northwestern (11/16), and at Iowa, before THE GAME on 11/30. If That Team Up North were to win all of these games before the Buckeyes arrive in Ann Arbor, their record would be 9-2. That Team Up North truly needs to regroup for the November stretch run.
Weekly Wolverine Watch: Michigan embarrassed by Michigan State, has officially let Ohio State down: http://t.co/IGCBkuBES7
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) November 4, 2013
Michigan State, which thoroughly dominated That Team Up North in its 29-6 victory, is not scheduled to play Ohio State. Michigan State’s remaining games are at Nebraska (11/16), at Northwestern (11/23), and Minnesota (11/30). Like Ohio State, the Spartans have a bye week scheduled for 11/09. If the Spartans won all of their remaining games, Michigan State would have an 11-1 record, and the Buckeyes would play the Spartans for The B1G championship the evening of 12/07 in Indianapolis.
Ohio State can only control its performance on the field. It certainly would not hurt for the Buckeyes to be rooting for their enemy, and the enemy of their enemy, for the remainder of November.
Michigan State’s final match-up against Minnesota could potentially be two top-25 teams, which should bolster Michigan’s standings going in to the B1G championship. But I have trouble believing that will be enough. It couldn’t hurt, but OSU has bigger hurdles to clear outside of their control.