Another week where it is going to be tough to figure out how much progress the Buckeyes have made. UNLV made a lot of noise in Week 1, for the wrong reason. They were on the wrong end of the biggest upset in college football history, as far as point spreads go, losing to FCS bottom feeder Howard. Remember how bad Rutgers was last year? They beat Howard 52-14. The Bison followed the upset of UNLV by losing to Kent State, and getting pounded 68-21 by Richmond, so it's not like that program has turned some corner. But then much more quietly UNLV went on the road and blew out an Idaho team coming off a bowl bid, 44-16. The same Idaho team that followed that by playing even with Western Michigan for 3 quarters. So UNLV probably isn't as terrible as that Howard loss would suggest. But that Howard loss is as unforgivable as it gets. The Rebels got national pub when they hired former national high school power Bishop Gorman's head coach, Tony Sanchez in 2015. He seemed to generate at least a little renewed energy, but it hasn't translated to the field, where he is 8-18 in three seasons. Armani Rogers should at least test the Buckeye back seven that Baker Mayfield ripped apart. He's an exciting quarterback, who turned down Pac 12 offers from Washington, UCLA, Cal and Utah, to head to Vegas. But he's also a redshirt freshman with 2 games under his belt. He's averaging over 200 yards per game passing, and 84 rushing. But they haven't asked him to do too much either. Your stats can be helped by a catch and run 94 yard touchdown, as he had last week. That might be what the Buckeye defense needs though. A quarterback who can challenge you (as opposed to preparing for the triple option last week), but probably isn't going to be any sort of threat to win. Granted, with Rutgers and Nebraska in the next three weeks, around perhaps a sneaky test against Maryland, it's not as though the excuse against Penn State can be lack of prep time.
OHIO STATE 52, UNLV 10
