Mickey Joseph isn’t shying away from Grambling State’s chances against the Ohio State Buckeyes this week in Columbus
The Buckeyes are big favorites in Week 2.
Business was taken care of by the Ohio State Buckeyes in their season-opening win over the Texas Longhorns. It was a tough battle right out of the gates, but the Buckeyes held on for a 14-7 victory. After such a difficult Week 1 test, Week 2 will be a much different challenge as Ohio State hosts Grambling State.
The Buckeyes enter as heavy favorites over Grambling, who is coming off a blowout win against Langston, an NAIA program. Ohio State is paying Grambling $1 million this week and the Ohio Bobcats $1.9 million next week to come to Columbus for their non-conference slate. Saturday’s game, set for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff, is widely expected to be lopsided—even Grambling’s head coach acknowledged as much.
Grambling head coach Mickey Joseph admitted the uphill battle his team faces against Ohio State
“We understand what we’re getting into,” Joseph said this week. “We understand what’s gonna happen. We understand there’s not balance in the scholarship, there’s not balance in what they have resources wise and what we have resources wise. We all know why we’re playing the game.”
I spoke to the coaches today and said, ‘The game better be clean. It better be clean.’ Clean to me is that we don’t have nine people on the field, we don’t have 13 people on the field. It’s clean. We play within the system, and we swing. We swing. We fight every play.”
Like any coach, Joseph just wants his team to go out and compete. Grambling finished 5-7 last season and 2-6 in the SWAC in Joseph’s first year leading the program. They did not face a Power Four opponent in 2023, and the Buckeyes will be the only one on their schedule this year. Grambling State, an HBCU, is located in Grambling, Louisiana.
Most sportsbooks aren’t carrying lines for the matchup, another sign of how lopsided it’s expected to be. Ohio State’s offense managed just 206 yards against Texas, and they’ll surely want to open things up more this week. The game should provide opportunities for backups to rotate in and gain early-season reps, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see all three Buckeye quarterbacks get action.
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