Last Saturday, Ohio State outperformed its archrival in total yards, yards-per-play, first downs, and third-down conversions. Yet it still fell short in the metric that mattered most.
Despite what you may have read or heard, the outcome of this game was not decided by physical toughness or one program taking the rivalry more seriously. The difference, rather, was one team's ability to avoid mistakes while the other did not.
Unlike 2021, in which a core element of the OSU defense - an utter inability to stop the run - was exposed over and over again, the Buckeyes did not lose to That Team Up North last Saturday because of any foundational flaws.