7 takeaways from college football week 9: Woody was right about passing

1. Ohio State’s 24-20 victory over Northwestern on Saturday was the kind of game it’s easy to forget ever happens.

We get caught up in the Big Games between ranked teams, the Big Upsets to unranked teams and the Blowouts of bad teams. They all create more vivid memories.

But there are always a few Ohio State-Northwestern games on the docket, too.

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The Wildcats are an above-average team, though not nearly as talented as Ohio State. The Buckeyes are talented, but not nearly a finished product. The convergence of those situations create surprising results all the time, but the bottom line is Ohio State won. That’s all the Buckeyes have to do. For now.

2. What was it Woody Hayes said about passing?

Something about more bad things can happen than good.

Sure enough, many of the issues the Buckeyes need to work out revolve around the forward pass -- whether Ohio State or its opponent has the ball.

Northwestern was able to do what recent OSU opponents have done and force the Buckeyes to be methodical by playing conservative pass defense, and the Wildcats had a lot of success attacking Ohio State’s weakest link in pass defense.

Regarding the latter, sometimes that was the nickel back, and sometimes it was the weakside safety or a linebacker.

Neither outcome is new this season, so they bear watching as the season progresses whether they requires changes in personnel, strategy or both.

Credit: Jamie Sabau

Credit: Jamie Sabau

3. J.T. Barrett came up with some big plays when needed, per usual.

First he hit K.J. Hill for a 34-yard pass that set up the eventual winning touchdown and then running 35 yards on a key third down to allow the Buckeyes to run out the clock. Both of these plays were smart designs that took advantage of vulnerabilities in the defense. Take that as you like….

RELATED: 5 ways Ohio State’s offense can be more productive

4. Clemson and Louisville both escaped road upset bids.

And their Heisman Trophy candidate quarterbacks rallied them late on the road at Virginia and Florida State, respectively.

Guess it pays to have those types of guys.

5. Michigan State can tell you all about that quarterback thing, too. 

The Spartans were beaten much worse than the 32-23 final score against Michigan.

MSU is in decline for the third year in a row, but last year Connor Cook made up for some shortcomings on the offensive line while outscoring ongoing defensive issues.

Mark Dantonio’s team has been recruiting better and better, but no one who looks like the potential answer has taken a snap in a game at quarterback this season. Is Wayne graduate Messiah deWeaver on deck next season?

Credit: Brad Mills, USA TODAY Sports

Credit: Brad Mills, USA TODAY Sports

6. The quarterback play was also pretty bad in Wisconsin’s 23-17 win over Nebraska.

Two Badger quarterbacks combined to go 14 for 23 for 114 yards with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions that kept the Cornhuskers in the game.

Tommy Armstrong Jr. was his usual maddening self for Nebraska, completing only 12 of 31 passes for 153 yards with a pair of interceptions. The talented but inconsistent senior also ran for a touchdown and continues to remind me of a right-handed Steve Bellisari.

7. So our projected College Football Playoff field remains the same: Alabama, Clemson, Washington and Michigan.

Those teams all control their own destiny, and with the Big 12 pretty much out of the conversation could probably still absorb a regular season loss as long as it doesn’t keep them out of their conference championship game.

The latter is no sure thing with the end-of-season rivalry games for the Crimson Tide, Wolverines and Huskies all potentially having major impact on the final standings.