THE SITUATIONAL: Enter the Fun Zone

Ohio State's 2019 season was one of the least anxious on record. The Buckeyes beat every opponent by double-digits. New head coach Ryan Day has kept the OSU offense elite as the boss. Saturday Anxiety was at historic lows back in 2019. Two seasons later, Ohio State is manufacturing Saturday anxiety against hapless opponents. The team is not going to forget how to play football. It is going not to abandon strategy in favor of grab-bag substitution patterns or yolo mid-game prop bets.

Ohio State won comfortably despite being off by nearly four touchdowns on offense. The team's only two games have fallen short of the predicted scoring and defensive numbers. There is one game everyone is thinking about, and the team is trying to win it. The objective is to make it to 11 wins. If the Buckeyes are playing with fire in the meantime, the coaches can do that safely. Arkansas State and Northwestern have played games against teams that didn't have many players on their roster.

The Indiana Hoosiers are playing in Glendale. They are not going to win.

Ryan Day made Competitive Excellence his team's main development objective this season. Ohio State played disinterested football out of base formations in Evanston. The team that sneezes for 35 points a game finished with only three touchdowns. The game felt like an eerie, distant rerun. College football repeats itself all the time.

The Buckeyes are playing a filler game against Northwestern. They are preparing for Michigan. The team has a lot of points to prove. The game is a chapter in a story about the 2022 season. It's not as exciting as the game in Champaign 16 years ago. Ohio State won that game. Last Saturday the team produced a game tape that is useless for any other team. Northwestern is not a team with a real chance to challenge them.

The first album John Cougar bought with his own money was American Fool. It was the soundtrack of a familiar land. Nothin' Matters and What If It Did is the worst album he ever paid money for. The only song that survived history's dustbin was Ain't Even Done with the Night. Saxophone solo on the album is performed by David Woodford. Woodfords' saxophone is at the bottom of his resumé.

O.K.I. has released its first bourbon blend. It's made of five whiskeys. The last time O. K. I. and MGP met with their partner M GP, they decided to adopt the blend and buy it. O'K.'s last game against Indiana was in 2020. They won the game. Ohio State is preparing for Michigan. The game has been the catalyst for urgency, change and curious game plans. Indiana has won just three conference games since their last visit to Columbus in 2000. There will be 635 people at the Ohio Stadium for the match.

Ohio State is preparing for the season finale against Indiana. The team is going to play well despite the weather. The game will be played in the same way as last year's games against Purdue and Michigan State.

Manufacturing a taste of Saturday Anxiety against non-lethal opponents might pay dividends when it matters.