Ohio State-Eastern Michigan: Buckeyes to Use Eagles Game as Warmup to Big Ten

Ohio State has just one more game before it begins Big Ten Conference play in two weeks.

The Buckeyes will take on Eastern Michigan this Saturday, which is their last chance to work out any problems on the field before taking on Illinois on Oct. 2.

Eastern Michigan won’t be a problem for the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes. So far this season Eastern Michigan is 0-3 against teams that are decent but in no way compare to a Big Ten team like OSU.

This should be another blowout game like the Ohio University game last weekend. These two teams are very poorly matched, and the Buckeyes should have no problem out-running, out-tackling, and generally out-scoring Eastern Michigan.

While this may turn out to be a boring game for those watching, it is an important warmup game for the Buckeyes.

With just two weeks left before OSU begins playing against other Big Ten Teams, there are several areas the Buckeyes need to fine-tune if they want to succeed in winning the Big Ten this season.

The most important, and obvious, of these is the special teams. So far OSU has given up three touchdowns on kick returns between the Miami and OU games.

Between practice and the game on Saturday, OSU needs to buckle down and focus on keeping the other teams they are going up against from having a free run down the field, like they have in the past several games.

If OSU continues to struggle with special teams once they begin Big Ten Conference play, they are going to have a very hard time keeping the other teams from running all over them on the field, especially teams like Wisconsin and Iowa.

In addition to sloppy special teams play, OSU seemed to have a little trouble with a blocked punt last game. That’s not something the Buckeyes usually miss, so this game on Saturday will be a good chance for them to tighten up in that area as well.

No matter how mismatched these two teams are there could be one or two plays by Eastern Michigan that expose problem areas in the Buckeyes offense or defense. The Buckeyes should use that opportunity to go back to practice next week and work out any problems they have left before taking on Illinois in two weeks.

From reports, it seems that OSU is going into this game on Saturday with the right attitude and will use this game to its full potential as its last warmup game before important Big Ten Conference play begins in October.