Twenty-two thoughts on an incredible Week 2:
1. Not good, Ohio State. Not good, Oregon. Not good, Illinois and Minnesota. And Purdue, for that matter.
2. Not good, Sark. (We’ll get to you later.)
3. Was Saturday the worst day for the Big Ten since New Year’s Eve 2022? That night, Michigan lost to TCU and Ohio State lost to Georgia in the CFP semifinals. Michigan was heavily favored. Ohio State was up 14 entering the fourth quarter. Instead of a rematch of The Game in the national title game, we got a Georgia streamrolling of TCU. The Big Ten has obviously recovered since then, winning three straight national titles with three different programs, but Saturday will sting for a bit. Tony Petitti, hired in the spring of 2023, couldn’t win forever, could he?
4. Saturday was trending bad enough for the Big Ten before Ohio State’s collapse at Texas. Oregon’s loss at Oklahoma State was inexplicable. And the middle — and bottom — class of the conference fell flat in key nonconference games against fellow Power 4 leagues. But the Buckeyes’ 20-point blown fourth-quarter lead takes the cake.
5. Ryan Day has lost nine games in the last five seasons (2022-26). Is it fair to say that his kicker is primarily responsible for four of them? (2022 UGA, 2024 Michigan, 2025 Indiana, 2026 Texas). That may be putting too much blame on one position, but missed field goals have become all too common in these big games for the Buckeyes.
