Ohio State takes a Big Ten break to prepare for Kent State’s visit

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Big Ten race is just starting to get interesting — and now No. 3 Ohio State has to take a break.

Kent State, fifth in its division of the Mid-American Conference, gets $650,000 to travel the two hours down I-71 to come to Ohio Stadium this Saturday while the Buckeyes pass the time until a difficult stretch run in the Big Ten.

Meeting the Golden Flashes (3-3) might not have all the allure of playing Penn State or Michigan State, but coach Jim Tressel believes there are advantages to playing the game.

“What do they say, when you rest you rust?” coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday.

The Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0) are unbeaten in the Big Ten, just like Illinois and Michigan. Indiana, Wisconsin and Purdue each have one loss.

After the Kent State game, the Buckeyes have games against Michigan State, at Penn State, home with Wisconsin and Illinois and then close out the regular season at Michigan.

The winning percentage of Ohio State’s first seven opponents is just above .500. For those last five, it’s .733.

On a roll and itching to stay there, the Buckeyes must downshift for a game that adds to the athletic department’s bank account but doesn’t do much for the team’s momentum.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Tressel said. “We have 11 teams in our league, so someone’s always going to have either a bye or [playing] someone other than a Big Ten team. That’s just the way it is … we can’t spend any time worrying about we’d rather have it the other way.”

Wide receiver Brian Hartline acknowledged it’s difficult to play a game that’s meaningless in the conference standings. At the same time, he sees it can be a trap game.

“It’s different, obviously. Non-conference games, they’re supposed to be weaker than us or whatever they say, but if you start thinking like that that’s when you trip up,” he said. “That’s exactly one reason why Stanford might have beaten USC, or Illinois beat Wisconsin. You can’t look at teams as second-tier teams anymore because everyone still has talent and if you downgrade them, it’s on the bulletin board or you hurt yourself.”

Despite the weird happenings in college football this season — also see Appalachian State-Michigan, Syracuse-Louisville, etc. — no one is making the case that the Buckeyes’ string of 24 consecutive regular season wins is in jeopardy.

The game is still a big deal for the Golden Flashes, in particular.

“I’m sure all of our in-state players — every kid probably in Ohio — dreams of playing in the Horseshoe at one time or another,” Kent State coach Doug Martin said. “This is their opportunity to go there and line up against Ohio State and prove that they can play.”