Are you getting excited yet? My sense is that Ohio State really wants to finish the season well and show everyone the last game of the year was not what this team was about. But to do it in the 108th edition of the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes will have to fight through some disappointment and player opt-outs, but most importantly, one whale of a team in the Utah Utes.
Don’t kid yourselves. Utah deserves to be in usually sunny (but damp and gray so far this week) Pasadena. The Utes have gotten better as the season has gone on and did so by turning into a physical bunch that likes to get after things at the point of attack.
Just ask Oregon, a team Utah beat twice, that made life difficult on Ohio State earlier in the year.
The Buckeyes are clearly the more explosive team on offense, at least from a potential standpoint, but will have to play up to that seemingly limitless ceiling (even with Olave and Wilson not playing), to maximize possessions and get Utah backed in a corner game-plan wise.
Still, it’s going to be a donnybrook and OSU will have its hands full with Utah on Saturday. Here are three reasons why the Utes could pose some issues for the Buckeyes on New Year’s Day.