COLUMBUS — Ohio State (2-1) opens Big Ten play against Illinois on Saturday in Ohio Stadium. The Illini come to The Shoe with a 2-1 record, having beaten UAB and Southern Illinois and losing to Duke. The Illibuck is on the line. Remarkably, this is Illinois’ first trip to Columbus since a 52-14 OSU win in 2017.
Here are five late-week thoughts about the Buckeyes …
1. What will Ohio State do with its offensive line once tackle Phillip Daniels is healthy?
Daniels exited the loss to Texas late in the fourth quarter with an apparent leg injury. He didn’t play last week against Kent State. He’s questionable on the availability report for this week’s game, but Ryan Day strongly suggested that Daniels will miss at least one more game.
When Daniels has been off the field — whether that was for a few drives against Ball State, the end of the Texas game, or the entire Kent State game — Austin Siereveld has moved to right tackle and Gab VanSickle has played right guard. When Daniels returns, OSU will need to decide which configuration works best: Siereveld at right guard with Daniels at right tackle; or VanSickle at right guard with Siereveld at right tackle.
I tried to crunch some numbers to see if there’s an obvious answer.