Road to redemption: Ohio State’s first test awaits at Michigan State

After a dominant three games, the Ohio State Buckeyes are riding high with an undefeated record and a top three ranking as they prepare to hit the road for the first time this season and open conference play against 3-1 Michigan State in East Lansing.

Saturday’s matchup will test the foundation of the Buckeyes’ road to redemption, as they look to exorcize the demons of last November’s season-defining defeat 65 miles southeast in Ann Arbor.

“We understand what’s happened these past couple years and all the things we haven’t done, so I think this year is definitely a redemption year for that,” linebacker Mitchell Melton said.

With the road ahead looking both challenging and promising, Ohio State’s performance against the Spartans could define the trajectory of their season on and off the field.

Gearing up for a week of practice, head coach Ryan Day stressed the urgency “for everything to ramp up” as the Scarlet and Gray start their journey towards more competitive opponents.

Despite losing to Boston College last week, Michigan State is off to a solid start. The Spartans have opened their campaign with three straight wins for the first time since 2021, most notably shutting out Prairie View A&M 40-0 in Week 3 and beating Maryland 27-24 on Jonathan Kim’s late field goal in Week 2.
Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith is walking into this matchup confident, all while knowing the challenge his squad faces and intensity needed to perform against Ohio State. That starts with supporting dual-threat sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles.

“Help him out a ton by running the ball more effectively, more efficiently, not getting in some of these situations where it’s third and 10 again and asking him to get us out of that,” Smith said.

Now, facing a ranked opponent for the first time this season, Smith and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/road-redemption-ohio-state-first-142806321.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-27 14:28:06

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