Gleitman’s Gameday Guide: Maryland Week

[B]Gleitman’s Gameday Guide is now presented by Steamboat Dry Goods, a fully Buckeye-owned business! [/B][URL=’https://t.co/zBN9RgnZKi?amp=1′][B]CLICK HERE[/B][/URL][B] to start shopping for all your needs and get 20% off a purchase of $25 or more at checkout using the code FIRE.[/B]

Welcome to Gleitman’s Gameday Guide, presented by [URL=’https://t.co/zBN9RgnZKi?amp=1′][B]Steamboat Dry Goods[/B][/URL], a quick-hitting resource for fans on Buckeye Scoop as they prepare for the upcoming Ohio State game and the national slate of college football each week.

This guide will include my five players who must step up each week for the Buckeyes to win, score prediction and how it plays out, and “brave and bold” predictions for the upcoming contest. Additionally, I’ll take a look at the national and Big Ten games to let you know my picks (straight up and vs. the spread), as well as who I am picking as my four teams to advance to the College Football Playoff each week.

This week, Gleitman’s Gameday Guide takes a look at the Buckeyes next game against Maryland following an impressive performance against Rutgers, as well as the rest of college football in week six.

[B]FIVE PLAYERS WHO MUST STEP UP FOR OHIO STATE TO WIN[/B]

The Buckeyes are a 21-point favorites= in this one, but Maryland will be looking to bounce back after losing in a blowout to Iowa. Here are five players that need to step up to ensure Ohio State avoids the letdown game following two blowout wins:

[LIST]
[*][B]DE Zach Harrison[/B]: Iowa showed what happens when you can put some heat on Taulia Tagovailoa. Even if you don’t sack him, but are able to force him to get rid of the ball quicker than he’d like, he, nor any other QB, is not as effective. Zach Harrison has had an OK season but this is a guy who was supposed to breakout and be the next top 10 pick produced by Larry Johnson. No better time for Zach to play like it.
[*][B]CB Denzel Burke[/B]:With Dontay Demus out for the year, that puts sophomore Rakim Jarrett, a former Ohio State recruiting target, as the top playmaker for the Terps. It will be on the true freshman to keep up his stellar play and ensure that Jarrett doesn’t break open for big plays in this one.
[*][B]QB CJ Stroud: [/B]If Stroud plays like he did last week in Piscataway, I’m not sure anyone, let alone Maryland, will be able to stop him the rest of the year. Turnovers and missed opportunities (along with penalties) should be the only way this one is close.
[*][B]RB TreVeyon Henderson:[/B] He makes the offense go at another gear. His potential to take it to the house every time he touches it makes everyone else’s lives easier on the offense.
[*][B]LB/DB Craig Young: [/B]If Ross Fulton is correct, Maryland will look at the film and see Rutgers having success attacking Cam Martinez and other DBs in the slot with the run and passes to the flat. The Buckeyes have moved Craig Young to a SAM LB type role to negate that and it will be imperative he makes plays to take that option away from the Maryland offense.
[/LIST]

[B]GAME PREDICTION[/B]

This will be covered in our weekly staff picks, but I want to provide it here as well:

[I]I think this is a game that has me a bit more worried than the general public.

First off, I think Maryland’s ability to pass the ball is a better match-up for them against the work-in-progress Ohio State defense. While I do think the Silver Bullets have taken great steps to improve, I don’t think they are “fixed” just yet and I could see Taulia & co. executing on some big plays against the back seven. Rutgers and Akron couldn’t throw the ball and that played into OSU’s strengths. I think UMD matches up better there.

Second, I think way too much is being made of Ohio State blowing out Rutgers and Maryland getting blown out by Iowa. Do I think Ohio State should win comfortably against Maryland? Yes. But do I think maybe there is somewhat of a false lack of security about his game due to OSU beating down bad opponents the last two weeks and UMD getting stomped by a good Iowa team? Yes.

With that said, I do think the Buckeyes will be too much for the Terps. On offense, I see OSU building off their momentum and having another great day on offense, scoring at least 42 in this one. On defense, even without Demus, I think Maryland will bust a couple big plays and be able to move it between the 20s, but perhaps not finish drives—similar to what we saw against Tulsa. I think the OSU defense will “look better” than they did against Tulsa, but I see a similar output on the scoreboard for the Terps, if that makes sense. We’ll come away from this game very confident in what the offense can do, but I also think it will be clear the defense still has some steps to take to get where they need to go (and that’s OK).

[B]Ohio State 45 Maryland 24[/B][/I]

[IMG alt=”This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is SBDG.jpg”]https://buckeyescoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SBDG.jpg[/IMG]
[B]BRAVE AND BOLD PREDICTIONS[/B]

While the score prediction is pretty straight forward, here are three “brave and bold” predictions each week that I’ll make about things that happen in the game:

[LIST]
[*]This will be the JT Tuimoloau game. The star freshman has been coming on strong the last couple of weeks and I think he has a breakout game of sorts. Let’s say 6 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 sacks, and 1 forced fumble.
[*]Last week we saw a strong game from tight end Jeremy Ruckert. The senior tight end caught 4 passes for 40 yards and 1 TD after recording just 6 catches for 81 yards with 0 TDs the first 4 games of the season. I think you’re going to get another big game from Ruckert with a final stat line of 5 catches for 62 yards and 1 TD
[*]I think you are going to see a bounce back game from Taulia Tagovailoa. He had 10 TDs and 1 INT coming into last week before Iowa forced him into a 2 TD 5 INT day. I think against a work-in-progress OSU secondary that he will have a strong day. Let’s call it 300 yards+ passing with 3 TD and 0 INT.
[/LIST]

[B]THE PICKS[/B]

Every week I will pick every Big Ten game and a few select national games both straight up and against the spread (LW SU: 11-4; LW ATS: 10-5; TOTAL SU: 49-27; TOTAL ATS: 41-35)

[LIST]
[*]Maryland at Ohio State (-21): Ohio State SU & ATS
[*]Michigan State at Rutgers (+5.5): Rutgers SU & ATS
[*]Wisconsin at Illinois (+10): Wisconsin SU & Illinois ATS
[*]Penn State at Iowa (-1.5): Penn State SU & ATS
[*]Michigan at Nebraska (+3.5): Michigan SU & ATS
[*]Oklahoma vs. Texas (+3.5; in Dallas): Texas SU & ATS
[*]Arkansas at Ole Miss (-6): Ole Miss SU & ATS
[*]Georgia at Auburn (+15): UGA SU & Auburn ATS
[*]Notre Dame at VaTech (+1): VT SU & ATS
[*]Alabama at Texas A&M (+17.5): Alabama SU & TAMU ATS
[*]Stanford at Arizona State (-12.5): ASU SU & ATS
[*]LSU at Kentucky (-3.5): LSU SU & ATS
[/LIST]

[B]COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PICKS[/B]

Here are my weekly picks for the CFP (top 4 and first 2 out) every week heading into the slate of games:

[LIST=1]
[*][B]Alabama:[/B] Dominating win against Ole Miss in a contest that was supposed to be close. They stay here for now. (Last Week: 1)
[*][B]Georgia:[/B] Best defense in America and had an easy time beating a top 10 Arkansas 37-0. (Last Week: 2)
[*][B]Iowa:[/B] Moving on up with an Oregon loss and a blowout win against Maryland. Elimination game vs. Penn State this week (Last Week: 4)
[*][B]Penn State:[/B] The offense is still suspect but the defense is dominant and showed that in a 24-0 win over Indiana. Elimination game against another great defense in Iowa this week. (Last Week: 5)
[*][B]Oklahoma:[/B] Keep winning and if they do that they stay here but they have not looked good. Can they turn it around before Texas gets them this week?
[*][B]Cincinnati: [/B]They have wins over Indiana and now at Notre Dame, so that keeps them here. But their schedule is going to be weak moving forward, so even if they win out, no guarantee they’re in the playoffs. The Buckeyes and Ducks (no particular order) are behind them and breathing down their necks. Michigan and BYU would probably be my picks for 9 and 10 right now. (Last Week: NR)
[/LIST]

[B]Be sure to check out the Buckeye Scoop Staff Picks feature this week to learn how you can win a prize pack giveaway from Steamboat Dry Goods by predicting the score of the Ohio State game!

[URL=’https://steamboatdrygoods.com/’]CLICK HERE[/URL] to shop Steamboat Dry Goods and get 20% off a purchase of $25+ using the code FIRE

Follow Steamboat Dry Goods on [URL=’https://twitter.com/MTsteamboat’]Twitter[/URL], [URL=’https://www.facebook.com/steamboatdrygoods’]Facebook[/URL], [URL=’https://www.instagram.com/steamboatdrygoods/’]Instagram[/URL], and [URL=’https://urlebird.com/user/sdg6182/’]TikTok[/URL][/B]

[QUOTE=”ChrisTravers, post: 335623, member: 1053″]
I hope your JT Tuimoloau prediction comes true more than anything. It’s honestly impressive that he’s gotten this many snaps up to this point. Even after many people thought we should stop recruiting him in July since he wouldn’t be able to contribute at all his freshman year LMAO. The light is going to come on for him and Jack Sawyer eventually. The sooner the better.
[/QUOTE]
Both have been improving with every rep IMO

[QUOTE=”OSUBuckeye1991, post: 336330, member: 1774″]
Nice write up!

I am rooting for pandemonium this weekend

Auburn to outlast UGA
A&M to pull the major upset over Bama
Texas to blow out OU
UC to look past Temple

Iowa by a TD over PSU
Nebraska crush TTUN

and Ohio State to rise up and knock out MD 49-10.

Next week
1. Iowa
2. OSU
3. Bama
4. UGA
5. Oregon
[/QUOTE]
Haha there was no shot at UC losing. Temple gave up 61 to Rutgers