Buckeyes unbeaten, but still need help

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Heading into their final three games of the season, the fourth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes go into an off week with almost all of their highest goals still within reach.

The thing is, they also need some help.

No wonder coach Urban Meyer will be watching TV closely.

“I’ve been there before a couple of times where some things had to happen right,” Meyer said after Wednesday’s rain-soaked practice. “For us to waste energy on that, that’s not fair to the players we coach. But we’ll certainly be watching.”

Meyer planned to watch Thursday night’s games with his son, Nathan. He had plenty to watch, that night and Saturday.

No. 6 Stanford knocked off No. 2 Oregon, 26-20, a result sure to shake up the BCS standings. No. 5 Baylor stayed unbeaten with a 41-12 win over No. 12 Oklahoma.

Baylor is breathing down the Buckeyes’ neck in the Bowl Championship Series rankings, while Oregon was one of the three teams ahead of the Buckeyes.

“I’ll watch them both. Obviously I’ve got a lot of interest,” Meyer said during the Big Ten coaches’ call this week. “Oregon, the style of play that they have — we try to use some of their stuff, as much as we can, because I just think they’re really good. But I’m going to watch Baylor; they’ve got an exciting program too.”

Even though Ohio State (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) is rolling through its schedule, the Buckeyes need some more help to play for the title. At No. 4 in the BCS rankings, they’d need two of the three teams ahead of them to lose or drop behind them in order to be among the top two teams.

On Saturday, another game with huge ramifications for Ohio State takes place when No. 10 LSU plays at top-ranked Alabama.

Meyer said he will be measuring his own team by what he sees on the flat screen.

“That’s natural. I probably will,” he said. “I’ve done that with our staff. Is so-and-so a better coach than we are? Does so-and-so have better players than we do? Why? This is Ohio State, our expectations are the best in the country.

“Obviously we’re not there yet or we’d be the best in the country. So we’re fighting that right now.”

It’s a good time for Ohio State to take a break. The Buckeyes are a little bruised and battered and need to take a breather before embarking on their stretch run.

When they return to action on Nov. 16 at Illinois, they’ll be in the driver’s seat of the Leaders Division. They close out the regular season by hosting Indiana on Nov. 23 and then playing at rival Michigan at The Big House on Nov. 30.

If things work out, they’ll clinch the Leaders Division crown along the way — they’re up by a game on Wisconsin and also own the tiebreaker thanks to their 31-24 win Sept. 28.

They would then take on Michigan State — the Legends Division front-runner — in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Dec. 7.

Defensive tackle Michael Bennett isn’t losing much sleep over the BCS.

“All we can control is how we beat the teams we’re playing. First it’s Illinois, then so on,” he said. “I don’t stress over the things we don’t control.”