When it’s game time in Glendale and the fans have begun to make their way into the bleachers; music is playing over the loud speaker, the players are dressed in full pads in the locker room and Coach Meyer has addressed the team for the final time; which Ohio State will we see take the field? The dominant,  virtually unbeatable juggernaut that played the school up north or the disengaged often confused Buckeyes that we saw, the week before, against Sparty? I have a great feeling that it will be the former and here’s why.

The Run Game

(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

Zeke Elliott, who is arguably the best tailback in the country, leads the Buckeyes’ run offense with 1,672 yards and 19 touchdowns, this season. The last time we saw Zeke, he put on a clinic against our rivals, where he ran the ball thirty times for 214 yards. Surely, the Buckeyes will be leaning on Zeke to carry a heavy work load tomorrow as well.  However E-Z-E isn’t the only work horse when it comes to running the ball for the Buckeyes. Notre Dame’s defense will put emphasis on stopping Zeke, inevitably allowing JT Barrett to run the ball a bunch from the zone read. Barrett was impressively effective runming the ball in OSU’s last game. He had nineteen carries for 139 yards and three touchdowns. This level of run efficiency is going to wear out Notre Dame’s 64th ranked run defense, if they aren’t prepared.

The silver bullets

The one facet of Ohio State, that hasn’t wavered all season, is its silver bullet defense. Game in and game out for the last three months, the bullets have shut down or shut out, almost every one that stepped in their path. Thanks to the exceptional work of our soon-to-be former Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash, the Buckeyes have gone from a mediocre pass defense in 2012, to a top ten secondary in college football, this season. Our growth in the secondary and at the linebacker position is a huge reason why Ohio State is second only to Wisconsin, in the entire country, when it comes to points allowed this season; and is ranked in the top ten in total defense.

There’s a chip on their shoulder

Of course we know that there were huge expectations for OSU this season. They were the unanimous number one ranked team at the beginning of the season. They were the early favorites to win, not only the Big Ten championship but the national championship. Yet, there hasn’t been a lack of interest from the Buckeyes leading up to the Fiesta Bowl. Raekwon McMillan said that he has worked harder in the practices leading up to the bowl game than any of the practices in the regular season. The Buckeyes have been loose yet focused. At every opportunity the players have denied talking about their own futures and have always shifted focus back to this game against Notre Dame.

Ohio State has one of the best defenses in college football as well as one of the best running offenses in college football. This is a hyperfocused and angry football team with a lot to prove. Ohio State is going to be extremely dangerous tomorrow,  regardless of who they are playing. This game just happens to be against Notre Dame.

This afternoon, college football returns for its annual post-season extravaganza of bowl games, including the second edition of the College Football Playoff. Neither Ohio State nor Michigan will have a shot at the title this year, but both teams are favored to win in rematches of games from nearly a decade ago.

A lot has changed in Ann Arbor since their Capital One Bowl win over Florida, a team that had won the national title the previous year and would win it again the next. It was a bittersweet cap on longtime coach Lloyd Carr’s Michigan career, as the pre-season #5 Wolverines had their high hopes immediately crushed in a shocking loss to then-FCS Appalachian State. As much as that game stung, the seven years that followed were much more damaging.

Things are also quite a bit different in Columbus since the Buckeyes speedboated the Fighting Irish in the Fiesta Bowl to wrap up the 2005 season. Unlike Michigan, Ohio State hasn’t suffered much on the field in that time, but it certainly has not been smooth sailing.

Michigan replaced Carr with spread guru Rich Rodriguez, who was coming off of three consecutive 10+ win season at West Virginia. Those three great seasons came after four rocky ones, however, including a three-win campaign in year one. Rodriguez would repeat the 3-win debacle at Michigan, and he followed that up with just 12 more victories in two years. While there was some improvement, the Wolverines weren’t willing to wait the way West Virginia was and Rodriguez was canned after year three, leading Michigan to just one bowl game, which they lost 52-14.

Following the win over Notre Dame, Ohio State proceeded to lose two consecutive national title games and a Fiesta Bowl. In 2009, the Buckeyes upset the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl and then beat the SEC’s Arkansas in a Sugar Bowl to finish off a successful 2010 season that would later be vacated for reasons that don’t need to be rehashed here. Coach Tressel was out, and interim coach Luke Fickell did as good a job as could be expected under the circumstances, getting the Buckeyes to the Gator Bowl, which they would lose to Florida.

After the failed Rodriguez experiment, Michigan returned to the “Michigan Man” well and hired former Carr assistant Brady Hoke, whose mediocre overall records at Ball State and San Diego State did not inspire much confidence. Still, Hoke delivered a surprising 11-2 first season, beating that Fickell-coached Ohio State team and winning the Sugar Bowl. The future was suddenly bright again for the Wolverines. Unfortunately, Hoke’s teams would regress each year, until he was finally let go after a 5-7 season in 2014.

Urban Meyer’s 2014 went considerably better. Despite leading a postseason-ineligible Ohio State to a 12-0 season in his first year, Meyer was feeling some heat after a second undefeated regular season fell apart with back-to-back losses in the Big Ten Championship game and the Orange Bowl. A dismal early-season performance against Virginia Tech had fans on edge. But that loss sparked something in the team, who steamrolled their way through the rest of the season and the first-ever playoff to stun the nation and steal the title.

With Hoke—and, more importantly, terrible AD Dave Brandon—gone, Michigan was finally able to lure long-time coaching target Jim Harbaugh back home, and he did not disappoint. Despite an ugly loss to Ohio State at the end of the season, Wolverine fans can hardly complain about the ride Harbaugh gave them this year. They now face Florida in the Citrus Bowl, with the Gators coming off of two straight losses. Michigan is 2-0 all-time against Florida.

Ohio State is 3-2 all-time against Notre Dame, but the Irish’s last win was in 1936. In case you aren’t sure how long ago that was, here are some things invented since: seat belts for cars, the transistor radio, microwave ovens, and photocopying. Four months before the game, “Gone With the Wind” came out. Not the movie, the book.

If you have not listened to this week’s Men Of The Scarlet And Gray Podcast, shame on you. I will remember you during The Airing Of Grievances when I celebrate Festivus next week with my family.

Bowl season is upon us. Just like the college football season itself, bowl season seems to come and go far too fast for my liking. Below are some quick thoughts about how The B1G will be represented this bowl season…

12/26 at 3:30pm EST on ABC, in The New Era Pinstripe Bowl ~ Indiana vs Duke. Admit it – after a couple days of family time, won’t you be anxious to see some college football? Personally, I think Indiana has too much offensively for Duke, but maybe I am mistaken.

12/26 at 9:15pm EST on ESPN, in The Foster Farms Bowl ~ Nebraska vs UCLA. To say that Huskers Head Coach Mike Riley had a rough year in 2015 would be an understatement. While I would like to see Nebraska finish out 2015 on a positive note against UCLA, my feeling is UCLA has too much, especially with budding superstar quarterback Josh Rosen at the helm for the Bruins.

12/28 at 5pm EST on ESPN2, in The Quick Lane Bowl ~ Minnesota vs Central Michigan. Quite commonly in bowl games, it comes down to which team is happiest to be there. After losing their head coach midseason unexpectedly, I believe the Golden Gophers are going to make the most out of their bowl experience.

12/30 at 10:30pm EST on ESPN, in The National Funding Holiday Bowl ~ Wisconsin vs USC. Some things never change. Among them, the idea that kicking off a football game at 10:30pm EST, even during bowl season, is a good idea. Wisconsin seemed to falter down the stretch; I like USC under their recently named head coach Clay Helton here.

12/31 at 8pm EST on ESPN, in The Goodyear Cotton Bowl (CFP Semi-Final) ~ Michigan State vs Alabama. First off, do not be surprised if this does not kick off at 8pm; the other semi-final game is scheduled to start at 4pm, but that could always run over. Anyway, this is a tough one to call, but I am leaning with Michigan State, if, and this is a big if, Spartan quarterback Connor Cook’s shoulder is healthy. Remember I wrote “big if”.

01/01 at 12pm EST on ESPN2, in The Outback Bowl ~ Northwestern vs Tennessee. Northwestern has had a solid year, but has really struggled offensively. While I do not believe Tennessee is an upper echelon SEC team, I believe the Volunteers will have too much speed for the Wildcats in this one.

01/01 at 1pm EST on ABC, in The Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl ~ That Team Up North vs Florida. Personally, whenever I go to Buffalo Wild Wings, the last thing in the world I think of is “citrus”, but I digress. Buckeye fans will be focused upon what the Buckeyes will be doing at this time. Do not be surprised if Jim Harbaugh earns a win over an offensively challenged Gators squad.

01/01 at 5pm EST on ESPN, in The Rose Bowl Game Presented By Northwestern Mutual ~ Iowa vs Stanford. “The Granddaddy Of Them All”. Yes, I would have loved to have seen the Buckeyes in this one, but that is a separate conversation. Iowa is to be congratulated upon a fine 2015 season, but I like Stanford in this game.

01/02 at 12pm EST on ESPN, in The TaxSlayer Bowl ~ Penn State vs Georgia. As I stated up above, bowl season will go fast. Here will be one of your last chances to watch live college football for several months. Maybe your last time to watch Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg running for his life in a Penn State uniform. I like Georgia here, despite all of their coaching turnover.

Bowl season is something to be cherished. Here is to hoping The B1G will give us fans something worthwhile to watch over the next couple of weeks.