After a banner season opener in Blacksburg against the Virginia Tech Hokies, the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes head home to The Horseshoe for a date against the Mountain West's Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. How do we see this one shaking out. Here's our preview and prediction for Saturday's Ohio Stadium clash.
Hawaii Outlook:
Despite coming into last Thursday's season opener as one of the nation's most shallow overall rosters from a two-deep depth perspective, Hawaii did just enough on both sides of the ball (including WR Marcus Kemp's stellar six-catch, 116-yard performance) to take down the Pac-12's Colorado Buffaloes 28-20 on the islands.
The problem here is that Hawaii's lack of depth across the board won't play well in Columbus against one of the most well-constructed blue chip rosters, not only of this year's college football crop, but of the past decade or so.
Ohio State Outlook:
The defending champs allowed Virginia Tech to hang around for half of the season opener, but that was it. Ohio State rattled off 28 of the game's final 35 points despite playing in hostile territory in an undermanned capacity, riding big plays from newly-minted wide receiver Braxton Miller and current Heisman frontrunner Ezekiel Elliott to a 42-24 victory going away.
With Joey Bosa and a cadre of elite talent returning from a one-game suspension, both the defense and the offense will be even deeper and even more ears-pinned-back focused in Saturday's season opener. Whether Cardale Jones and JT Barrett are legitimately co-starting quarterbacks or not heading into this game, it shouldn't matter in the slightest when it comes to the final outcome.
What To Watch:
The Rainbow Warriors gave up 215 yards to the multi-faceted Colorado rushing attack on Thursday. We'd be surprised if Ezekiel Elliott doesn't approach that total or even eclipse it as Urban Meyer looks to exploit a thin Hawaii front seven. Saturday's game will be yet another feather in Elliott's Heisman cap going forward. We'll just have to see how colorful that feather will be when this game ends.
Prediction: Ohio State wins 55-10
Is there really a doubt here? The biggest drama of this one will be the Buckeyes' 41-point spread as favorites. We're pretty sure they'll cash in on that, but it could be dicey if they calm the jets late.
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