Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway break down Michigan-Ohio State

On the College Football Playoff Top 25 Show, two former Buckeyes gave their thoughts on Michigan at Ohio State.

Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway may both have Columbus roots, but they both gave Michigan the credit they deserve in their analysis of the matchup.

Herbstreit:

“This game typically is a line of scrimmage game like most rivalry games are, especially in this region. And the line of scrimmage has been very favorable to (defensive coordinator) Don Brown and Michigan it has been somewhat of a question mark for Ohio State. I think that Ohio State, how they come up with a plan, Urban Meyer and Ryan Day to try and neutralize that pass-rush and get the ball where Dwayne Haskins has a chance, because if he does have time I think we would all agree he’s gonna see a ton of man-to-man. You can just see rub-routes, crossers, and mesh and all these different things that they’re gonna be trying to do. But will he have time David to throw the football is the big question going into this game because (Rashan) Gary, (Chase) Winovich, (Josh) Uche, that Michigan front gets after a quarterback.”

Galloway:

“Ohio State’s gonna have to do something we haven’t seen ‘em do, and we keep assuming that Ohio State is a good football team just not playing really good football. But they’re more and more starting to look like that’s who they are. Defensively, they’re not dominating, Nick Bosa is gone. So there’s not another Nick Bosa out there, there’s not another dominating player on this defense. And so as we’re asking them do something different here comes a Michigan team that has now won ten in a row, is playing really good football and very confident. This’ll be the first time in a long time, especially under Jim Harbaugh, that Michigan walks into Ohio Stadium feeling like they are the better football team and should win this game.”

Are they right?

Galloway and Herbstreit are spot on.

Ohio State has been bad on defense, they haven’t been winning in the trenches, they’ve been getting thrown around. Their secondary hasn’t been tackling well, and they give up big chunk passing plays.

But Dwayne Haskins is the best quarterback Michigan has faced, the game is being played in Columbus, Urban Meyer is still an excellent coach that can come up with a winning gameplan.

But when teams know each other so well, you can only gameplan so much, what matters most are the players who execute better on the field, who don’t have mental lapses, who are the more physical and technically sound bunch.

It boils down to what Herbstreit said, the line of scrimmage battle. If Michigan can win that on both sides of the football, they will win the game.