Is Ohio State the best team in the country?
Editor's note: After each Ohio State football game, beat reporters Joey Kaufman and Bill Rabinowitz discuss the lasting storylines and other key developments.
Ohio State is at the midpoint of the regular season.
After handling Michigan State on Saturday, leaving its first road trip with a 49-20 victory, it moved to 6-0 overall.
The Buckeyes have moved through the schedule with relative ease.
All of their wins have been by double digits. They're beating teams by nearly five touchdowns per game with a combined margin of 293-94. Outside of the first quarter, they have not trailed in Big Ten play.
Kaufman: Is it much surprise the Buckeyes continued their dominance? The Spartans have not been competitive against Ohio State since Mark Dantonio's retirement, and the matchup especially favors the Buckeyes considering the state of Michigan State's pass defense. Few secondaries in the conference seem as overwhelmed going up against C.J. Stroud. The wind gusts reached 26 mph in East Lansing, but they likely needed more severe weather to stop Stroud's passes from flying through the autumn air.
Rabinowitz: The wind didn't seem to affect Stroud at all. Then again, nothing affects the OSU quarterback too much. He seems pretty unfazed about most things. Of course, it helps to have the receivers he has as well as the protection and running game. Marvin Harrison Jr. made a couple of highlight-reel catches. On defense, Buckeye starters allowed only one touchdown, and that was aided by penalties. Ohio State's run defense is particularly stout. MSU gained 7 yards on the ground.
Kaufman: The offense just hums along. Even after the early pick-six, one of the few moments in which the possibility existed for the Buckeyes to get any sort of a scare, Stroud kept his composure and connected with Emeka Egbuka for a 69-yard touchdown on the following series. That's the sign of a confident passer who trusts his receiving corps, one that was without Jaxon Smith-njigba for a third straight week. Considering the health of him and some other skill players, the off week times out well.
Rabinowitz: I agree that it's welltimed. It'll give running backs Miyan Williams and Treveyon Henderson more time to heal. As the weather turns colder, the run game will become more important. On defense, every unit is playing well except the cornerbacks. Denzel Burke and Cam Brown have dealt with injuries that have set them back, but I think their issues are more mental at this point. Cornerbacks need to play with confidence, and that seems to be lacking right now. Perhaps they'll be able to use the short break to start getting that back.
Kaufman: That's one of the few recourses for the position. The Buckeyes are low on scholarship numbers at the position to begin with. If Brown and Burke are unable to return to form, they'll either need Jordan Hancock to get back to fill strength or for freshmen JK Johnson and Jyaire Brown to continue their development. For a team with aspirations of winning a national championship, this is their biggest issue to sort out in the second half of the season. Potential College Football Playoff teams are going to take advantage. Michigan too.
Rabinowitz: Fortunately for Ohio State, not many of their Big Ten opponents can, other than Michigan. Maybe Penn State and Maryland. That's the thing about this year's Buckeyes. It's clear that they're good. Really good. A strong case can be made that they should be ranked No. 1. Every other topranked team has had a close call and looked shaky. But Ohio State hasn't been tested at all since the opener against Notre Dame. Are the Buckeyes truly the best team in the country? The eye test says they might be. But we won't truly know until their mettle is really tested.
Kaufman: The holdup among some voters from putting them No. 1 on their ballots is the absence of a high-profile win. Had Notre Dame not stumbled the following week against Marshall, it might be in the top 25. Instead, Ohio State is without any win over a ranked team, and only two of the six teams it's beaten have winning records. That makes the Halloween weekend trip to unbeaten Penn State especially spicy. The Nittany Lions are No. 10 in the polls. Georgia's season-opening beatdown of Oregon remains the best win of any of the top contenders. Thus, the Bulldogs are No. 1, at least in the AP poll.