SB Nation - Jake Ballard

If College Football Had a Playoff: #9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets @ #8 Ohio State Buckeyes

Jeremy Mauss — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:00:19 -0000

Continue the new break out hit of the season "What if College Football had a Playoff' returns for game two of the playoff. Before we get to game two the winner of game one was an expected blowout by Alabama soundly defeating Troy to move on to host the winner of this game.

Now this matchup features two completely different styles with Georgia Tech who runs a triple option and is taking that game to the 'Shoe in Columbus to face the 'we wanna be spread but really a smash mouth football team' Ohio State.

The Ohio State defense is very good but the question has always been the speed of their defense (or lack of speed). Speed and assignment defense is what Ohio State would need to do to try to stop the Georgia Tech option. Last year LSU shut down the Tech option with their speed and Ohio State is a bit behind in their speed then LSU.

Ohio State really wants to pound the ball has the wild card in Terrelle Pryor who is a so-so passer but if the Buckeyes use roll outs and move the pocket that will help use his abilities rather then to just drop back and throw.

Just because of the contrasting styles this should be a very good game. To give some help to those who are not sure who would win I turned to What if Sports to simulate this game.

What if Sports has Ohio State winning a close game 35-31, but Georgia Tech had a 31-20 lead going into the fourth quarter before allowing the Buckeyes to score 15 points to their zero to loss the game. The decision here is for the fans to vote to see who moves on.

Check back daily at 12 PM eastern time to vote for the next matchup, and voting is only for 24 hours. As they say in Chicago vote early and vote often.

Ohio State Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Joe Bauserman	5	30.0	6	19	31.6	124	24.8	6.5	0	0	9	10	2	1.1	0	-	-
Terrelle Pryor	12	93.0	144	258	55.8	1828	152.3	7.1	16	10	142	707	58.9	5	7	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Joe Bauserman	5	9	10	2	1.1	0	0	0	0	0	0
K.C. Christian	2	5	14	7	2.8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bo DeLande	1	3	5	5	1.7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Joe Gantz	2	4	6	3	1.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Daniel Herron	9	139	558	62	4	7	8	48	5.3	6	1
Jermil Martin	3	11	84	28	7.6	1	0	0	0	0	0
DeVier Posey	12	2	19	1.6	9.5	0	52	727	60.6	14	7
Terrelle Pryor	12	142	707	58.9	5	7	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon Saine	12	131	694	57.8	5.3	4	15	165	13.8	11	1
Dane Sanzenbacher	11	2	8	.700	4	0	27	506	46	18.7	6
Ray Small	11	4	40	3.6	10	0	15	175	15.9	11.7	0
Lamaar Thomas	9	1	6	.700	6	0	1	10	1.1	10	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Jake Ballard	9	13	126	14	9.7	0
Zach Boren	3	4	23	7.7	5.8	1
Duron Carter	6	13	176	29.3	13.5	1
Daniel Herron	9	8	48	5.3	6	1
DeVier Posey	12	52	727	60.6	14	7
Brandon Saine	12	15	165	13.8	11	1
Dane Sanzenbacher	11	27	506	46	18.7	6
Ray Small	11	15	175	15.9	11.7	0
Jake Stoneburner	2	2	30	15	15	0
Lamaar Thomas	9	1	10	1.1	10	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Devin Barclay	4	-	-	-	-	-	4	7	60.0%	12	12	100.0%	24
Aaron Pettrey	9	-	-	-	-	-	13	19	70.0%	28	29	100.0%	67

Georgia Tech Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Josh Nesbitt	13	83.0	73	153	47.7	1689	129.9	11	10	4	259	991	76.2	3.8	18	-	-
Jaybo Shaw	4	-50.0	1	2	50	18	4.5	9	0	1	12	51	12.8	4.3	0	-	-
Tevin Washington	1	100.0	1	1	100	21	21	21	0	0	6	40	40	6.7	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Anthony Allen	13	61	597	45.9	9.8	5	5	112	8.6	22.4	1
Lucas Cox	3	9	31	10.3	3.4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jonathan Dwyer	13	221	1346	103.5	6.1	14	3	25	1.9	8.3	0
Stephen HIll	8	5	84	10.5	16.8	1	6	137	17.1	22.8	1
Roddy Jones	11	53	345	31.4	6.5	3	0	0	0	0	0
Preston Lyons	11	30	139	12.6	4.6	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jonathan Malone	1	1	5	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Josh Nesbitt	13	259	991	76.2	3.8	18	0	0	0	0	0
Embry Peeples	11	28	143	13	5.1	0	8	244	22.2	30.5	1
Jaybo Shaw	4	12	51	12.8	4.3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Quentin Sims	1	2	19	19	9.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Orwin Smith	11	5	26	2.4	5.2	0	2	26	2.4	13	0
Demaryius Thomas	13	1	3	.200	3	0	46	1154	88.8	25.1	8
Tevin Washington	1	6	40	40	6.7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Richard Watson	4	9	37	9.3	4.1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Marcus Wright	11	32	190	17.3	5.9	3	0	0	0	0	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Anthony Allen	13	5	112	8.6	22.4	1
Jonathan Dwyer	13	3	25	1.9	8.3	0
Stephen HIll	8	6	137	17.1	22.8	1
Daniel McKayhan	2	1	18	9	18	0
Tyler Melton	4	5	46	11.5	9.2	0
Embry Peeples	11	8	244	22.2	30.5	1
Orwin Smith	11	2	26	2.4	13	0
Demaryius Thomas	13	46	1154	88.8	25.1	8

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Scott Blair	11	-	-	-	-	-	14	19	70.0%	43	44	100.0%	85
Chris Tanner	3	-	-	-	-	-	0	1	0	14	14	100.0%	14

via l.yimg.com

Poll

Who wins the matchup?

Georgia Tech

120 votes

Ohio State

62 votes

182 votes | Poll has closed

Happy Valley indeed

Sam @ WWAHT — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:41:18 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

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Mea culpa: I didn't really think we had much of a chance. The mismatches seemed to be few and far between, but the one that seemed to matter most - the Buckeye offense versus Penn State's defense - was in Penn State's favor by such a wide margin, I thought it invalidated the overall evenness of the two teams.

I was wrong. And I couldn't be happier about it.

There's so much credit to give to so many different people, I'm not sure where to begin. Who thought we wouldn't turn the ball over once, against one of the ballhawkin'est defenses in the country? Who thought we'd total 200 yards rushing against far and away the best rushing defense we've played all year? Who thought we'd have any sort of passing game whatsoever?

I imagine a few of you über-homers out there thought we did, but going into this game, what exactly did you base that on, you mad bastards? I submit that it was absolutely nothing, other than mindless faith in your team. Well, you were right this time.

The Good

- First things first: I have to give it up for the playcalling, but can I at least only do it in isolated instances? It's not like anything between the field goal drive and Pryor's first passing TD was revolutionary. What was new and interesting wasn't executed right in the first place. Didn't even look practiced. But outside of that? It was the best-called offensive gameplan since.... Happy Valley 2007. Hey, Penn State, can we trade stadiums?

- This is Terrelle Pryor's signature "Terrelle Pryor" win. He was not amazing. For an entire half, he wasn't even particularly good. But on two out of three instances when Ohio State badly, badly needed him to just be a competent quarterback, he actually did it. Against an excellent defense, no less. He nailed that bomb to Posey perfectly, did an excellent job of hitting his checkdown on Brandon Saine's receiving TD, and he juuuust overshot Sanzenbacher before the half. There were arm punts here and there, but the fact that they didn't land in the hands of some greedy DB has to count as some bit of progress. Overall, I don't think you can deny that he did the best job yet in his young career of "managing the game", as the cliché goes. For once, he didn't force anything. Had those first down drops been brought in by usually-surehanded Devier Posey and Duron Carter, it might have been considered the unquestioned best performance of his career.

- I thought the Ohio State offensive line did an excellent job, considering, in both pass and run pro. Even without JB Shugarts, they made the Penn State front four largely irrelevant for much of the game. I was not expecting Ohio State to gash PSU like they did, and the line played the biggest part. It's not like Herron was having the greatest day seeing the holes that developed, but the Buckeyes were still able to pick up 4-5 yards on the ground consistently enough to take pressure off of Pryor. These guys deserve all the crap they've gotten these past few years, just as much as they deserve the bulk of the credit for today's offensive success.

- The defensive line has completely recovered from the Purdue loss. Cameron Heyward might have made himself a 1st round pick this year with the job he did today. That sucks, but it's tough to deny that he looked like the best player on either team today. I feel like a complete jackass for suggesting he move back to DT over the summer. He's an excellent strongside DE.

- I thought Herron and Saine both finally lived up to the hype, even if it was only in fits and starts. Both looked far quicker against Penn State than they have at any time this year. Hope Herron can get healthy in time for Iowa, but I wouldn't count on it.

- I think it's safe to say Ray Small, while not living up to expectations by any stretch, isn't quite a bust. First, he saves our bacon against Ohio U, and today, his punt returns changed the dynamic of the whole game. I can't help but wonder what might have been if the dude had kept his head straight for his first three years in Columbus.

- I thought Devin Barclay looked calm, cool and collected in such a raucous environment. He's no Mike Nugent, and probably not even Josh Huston, but he came up pretty big in his first road start.

The Bad

I can't believe this, but this is going to be rather short.

- Let's not make Jake Ballard block anybody the rest of the season. Dude just can't do it. Relying on him to stop a DE is like asking a paraplegic to stop a freight train. It's just not fair.

- Graham Zug getting loose in the secondary so consistently was worrisome. Seemed like he was the only reason Penn State was driving most of the time. Luckily, this was mostly a first half problem, and seemed to get sewn up fine after that.

- I still consider anything-and-short automatic for most teams against our defensive interior. Our DTs are good, but they just can't push the opposing interior back in these critical situations. Not with any consistency anyway.

The Downright Confusing

- The Wildcat was deployed in the first half at the most confusing time possible, and was appropriately stuffed. It was deployed in the second half, and worked. What? Did Jim Tressel really wait nine games to use this? I suppose this is more ammo for the "he's holding stuff back" crowd, but man, this was shocking. If we're going to use it again, let's put someone back there who might actually be a threat to pass at some point (Posey? Some former high school QB?)

- I don't think Penn State fans repped particularly well at all. Booing their own team, leaving early when the game was still technically in doubt.... not pretty. I'm not enough of a jackass to make any grand proclamations about their "classlessness" or something, but... I was disappointed. For the record, I don't think any fan should ever boo their own team.

- I guess we didn't need it that much in the end, but the lack of play-action is perplexing. Especially when we're running on almost every first down.

If you read the live thread, you'll remember me saying that Purdue changed my entire perspective on this season. Well, this is just as much of a gamechanger. While it doesn't wholly make up for the Purdue loss, it shows us definitively that things are actually trending up, the offense is getting better, and this defense is more than a beneficiary of having played bad offensive teams. Remember that one maxim about Jim Tressel teams always getting better? I'm close to rechristening it The Grand Theory of Ohio State Football in post-Cooper Era. Today was about as much proof as one will ever need. Still, Iowa, even without Ricky Stanzi, will be no slouch, and Michigan is Michigan. Ohio State will have to guard against a letdown in both games. The road to Pasadena is winding, if not particularly long. I guess I can't blame you for smelling roses after today's game. Let's just hope the team isn't quite yet.

Halfway Home: Wisconsin fails to upset Ohio State, 31-13

hmlee — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Terry Gilliam - AP

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The word of the day, readers, is "half." Half is the word for two reasons - after this week we are halfway through the season, and, also, the Badgers managed to play only half a decent game against Ohio State. It's hard to believe, but we have been through six games already. The halfway mark in College Football always sneaks up on me. The non-con games that load up the first half are usually against teams that I've either never heard of or heard of but don't care about. Ideally my team knocks off the cupcakes in games that were never in doubt. Then come a few conference games and, before you know it, the back end of the schedule has snuck right on up.

Even when your team goes six and.. er... ahem... five and one, the first half of the schedule always feels unsatisfying because of the dearth of conference action. The second half is always better, though, as teams shake out in the conference standings and bowl bids begin to take shape. And, frankly, after yesterday's loss, the second half can't come soon enough.

I had the (dubious) pleasure of watching this game on Wisconsin soil. I spent my afternoon on the way to my cousin's wedding in a sports bar in Milwaukee. The place was thick with fans in the right type of red shirts enjoying spotted cows and fried things. A good environment, I thought, to watch the Badgers upset the class of the Big 10.

Yeah, that didn't go so well.

To be fair, the Badgers had half of a good game yesterday. I didn't really expect a win - but I thought there was a chance of one if they came into the 'Shoe and played their best game. The Buckeyes are always tough opponents, but when the Badgers roster is largely comprised of, as it is this year, younger players, it requires even more than good play to beat them.

Unfortunately, Bucky only managed stellar play for 30 minutes on Saturday...

Graham offers his own thoughts on the Week 6 action in the conference...

I take a look at Wisconsin's thrilling road win at The Bank in week 5...

The Milwaukee Brewers Sausages at my cousin's wedding were certainly happier than I was...

Despite one large mistake in the last minute of the first half, Wisconsin played pretty well for the start of this game. The defense came out ready to go, and managed to force 3 and outs or only short gains for the first four Buckeye drives. The offense wasn't nearly as consistent.

Coming into this game, I thought that the Badgers would have to be worried about Terrelle Pryor. Turns out, Pryor wasn't really a factor in this game, throwing for only 85 yards and 1 TD. Rather, the real trouble for the Badgers were the offensive forces of Kurt Coleman, Jermale Hines, and WR / kick returner Ray Small. Er... what? That's right, 21 of the Buckeye's 31 points were scored by players from the defensive or special teams squads. Yikes. So, if the Badgers hadn't managed to shoot themselves in the foot, they would have won this game 13-10.

The biggest of the foot shooters was one Scott Tolzien. Sigh. Tolzien Tolzien Tolzien... I've sung his praises more times than I can recall on this site, but yesterday was just not good. He made two horrid decisions during this game that resulted in 14 points for OSU. On both occasions he attempted to force passes into areas of the field that were completely dominated by red jerseys. He really had no business making throws on both of these plays. At the same time, as frustrated as I am with his poor decision making, it's not entirely his fault. All of the Wisconsin receviers - Isaac Anderson, Nick Toon, David Gilreath, and Garrett Graham - dropped passes that they easily should have caught. Those are the plays that need to get made to beat a good team. If the receivers are dropping easy balls, can you really blame Tolzien for trying to force plays in response?

The Good:

Gilreath actually had a relatively good game, as he was part of several early end-around plays run by the Wisconsin offense that seemed to catch OSU off guard. John Clay, the ever dependable back, was another bright spot on the offense yesterday. He continued to bulldoze his way through defensive lineman and, while not as dominating as against Minnesota, showed why he is a huge key for Wisconsin this season. The only problem with Clay was one of playcalling. Why did he not make an appearance until the final few minutes of the first quarter? Why did Zach Brown get all of the early carries, even though he couldn't make any headway? Clay is a great offensive weapon for Wisconisn, and he needs to be used early and often. Also, special recognition should go to Culmer St. Jean who (along with the rest of the young Bucky D) continued his stellar play from the last few weeks with a 2nd quarter interception of Pryror that set up Wisconsin's first TD.

About that first TD... Chris Maragos made an amazing leap into the end zone on that play. The leap came on a fake FG try towards the end of the second quarter. The ball was snapped and Maragos took the hand off and ran towards the left side of the end zone. A timely block and an acrobatic leap allowed Maragos to stretch the ball just inside the pylon and put six on the board. The play came out of nowhere and after it I felt the best that I have about Wisconsin football all season. Thank you Chris Maragos!

The Bad:

As for the bad... beyond Tolzien and the WRs, a few other culprits contributed to this ugly loss. First off, where on earth was the kick return coverage on Ray Small? It's bad enough when you get burned by an opposing kick return for a TD - it's even worse when that kick return was for 96 yards and largely straight up the middle. The missed tackles on that play were simply inexcusable. I hope that Coach Bielema makes the ST have extra practices or run laps this week in response.

Also, the coaching. It seemed that the coaches upstairs were either asleep or taking a bathroom break during the second quarter, as they missed an easy challenge that could have led to the Badgers heading into halftime with the lead. With just under two minutes left in the half, Pryor threw to TE Jake Ballard for a first down. The only problem was, Jake Ballard did not catch the throw. Rather, he caught on a hop after the nose of the ball grazed the field. Had Wisconsin been paying attention, a challenge would have overturned the call and perhaps the next several incompletes thrown by Pryor would have ended the OSU drive with a punt instead of a TD.

Looking ahead...

As painful as the second half of this game was to watch, it's only one game and one game in which I expected the Badgers to lose. Next week Wisconsin gets an undefeated Hawkeye team at Camp Randall. As good as the Hawkeyes have been this year, their two past wins against Michigan and Arkansas State both came down to the final minutes, and that's in front of a home crowd. The Badgers will certainly have their hands full, but hopefully the more forgiving confines of Camp Randall can help them pull off the upset. Tolzien seems to be more consistent at home, so I have high hopes for this game. In fact, I'm going to call it right now. I say Wisconsin hands the Hawkeyes their first defeat next week and wins by a TD. Hopefully, I'm right.

So...

On to week 7, On to the second half, and ON WISCONSIN!!

Oh noes, the flu!

Sam @ WWAHT — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:00:40 -0000

It appears that the dreaded flu going around the college football landscape (and landscape in general, I guess) has finally hit our beloved Buckeyes, and it couldn't come at worse time. According to the internets, at least the following players are known to have, or have had the flu:

Mike Adams

Jake Ballard

Andy Miller

Michael Brewster

and Jon Thoma, of course, started it all off the week after the USC game. All in all, "five or six" players are sick, and it may result in JB "False Starts" Shugarts as your starting LT. Shugarts will be working against Badger pass-rushing terror O'Brien Scofield, so this should give pause to any blowout thoughts you might be having. Brewster and Ballard are apparently healthy enough to play, but I'd expect them to be getting spelled more often than usual. Fortunately, most of the attrition outside of the tackle spot is happening at positions at which we can afford a temporary loss or two, and even at tackle, Marcus Hall can provide competent depth if and when Shugarts gets winded. But even with everyone healthy, Wisconsin was going to be a tough game. Now, missing the top two left tackles as well as the injured Dexter Larimore, it's positively scary.

Pride And Dignity

Sam @ WWAHT — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:18:51 -0000

More photos » by Terry Gilliam - AP

3 months ago: Ohio State wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher (12) runs for a 56-yard gain after a reception, between Southern California defenders Malcolm Smith (6) and Josh Pinkard (36) during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

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Alright, we didn't pull it out. We dominated the proceedings for about three quarters. We didn't quite choke, but we didn't win. I'm not pissed. I'm not calling for anyone's head. For the most part, Jim Tressel called an excellent ballgame. Congratulations to the Trojans. Outside of some early chippiness, they were all class.

Still, we're left with basically what we had entering the game: a prolonged losing streak to the best of the best. What's worse, it's not like USC played the game of their lives. Barkley was far from perfect, it took McKnight three quarters and ten minutes to wake up, and Damian Williams was mostly pulling a disappearing act in between the occasional jaw-dropping catch. But we had a whole freaking lot to do with all that.

The Good

- Let's start with the obvious: the defensive line. On every USC drive but the two most critical ones (the field goal before the half and the TD at the end), they were phenomenal. Lights out. That USC line is still a collection of five first rounders, and Thaddeus Gibson, Nathan Williams, Cameron Heyward, Dexter Larimore, even Rob Rose, all gave them everything they could handle. For an extended period of time, USC's makeshift strategy to slow them down was to just hold them. The Trojan running game never got untracked, and Barkley never got comfortable. Simply the best performance I've seen out of the front four since 2002, hands down.

- The secondary. Yes, there were big plays here and there, but Damian Williams never went ape like I thought he would. I think a lot of this had to do with the presence of Jermale Hines, and the non-presence, outside of some nickel packages, of Anderson Russell. Big ups to Chimdi Chekwa for locking down Williams most of the night.

- Brian Rolle. Brian freaking Rolle. Studmundus. Plays with speed simply unheard of the past few years at OSU at the LB position, and hits like a ton of bricks. He's already the next great Ohio State LB.

- Daniel Herron. USC's defensive front was swarming, but when there was a hole, Herron found it. No, his stats aren't eye-opening, but if you watched the game, you know he ran with vision and toughness, especially on 3rd down.

- Brandon Saine. While the FB looks seemed to go away after a while, when it was deployed, it worked beautifully. Saine just has excellent hands and will be a bona fide weapon at the end of the season.

- The playcalling. Let me explain myself: much of what Jim Tressel did broke all sorts of tendencies, and consistently kept the USC defense off balance. It was aggressive, it was varied, and in general, it was far from the vanilla stuff we're used to seeing. More on this later.

The Bad

- The execution. This isn't just coach-speak. This is also why the offense's numbers aren't the sexiest. Pryor was staring down receivers, Bryant Browning still cannot pull to save his life, and the downfield blocking was non-existent. This makes Herron's day all the more commendable, but makes Tressel's playcalling, which I thought was mostly great, look a whole lot worse than it actually was.

- One really, really bad defensive playcall - putting Ross Homan one-on-one with Joe McKnight. This single brainfart basically cost us the game. I hope Heacock isn't given too hard a time for it, because it was one missed note in what was otherwise a symphony of aggressive looks, blitzing and stunting.

- Towards the end of the game, I noticed OSU reverting to some softer looks on the outside, which made some of USC's shorter stuff work. The press had been excellent up to that point, but I imagine Heacock made this decision because he didn't want that fullback wheel burning us again.

- Settling for a field goal in the 2nd quarter. God almighty, our QB is 6'6", 240 pounds, and on the one-yard line we're taking a five step drop and handing it off to a 190-lb tailback? Cue my smarmy Denis Leary-from-the-Direct-TV-commercials incredulous face. I love Boom and all, but I'm never going to rely on him to pick THAT up against THAT defense.

The Downright Confusing

- Uh, Pryor? Dude, you got off to such a hot start. I mean, after that pick and everything, but... settle down, man. There were times when he wasn't even getting pressured and the Todd Boeckman Happy Feet came out. I give him a solid B-minus on the day - that 3rd down conversion on the ground was magnificent, as were his passes to Dane Sanzenbacher, DeVier Posey and Brand: Insaine. But he's just not a consistent quarterback right now. The arm-punts have mostly gone away, but he's still overthrowing 6'7" guys like Jake Ballard and tossing prayers off his back foot. He's just a sophomore, so I'm not even close to worried about his progress yet, but seeing such greatness trammeling itself with boneheaded mistakes is heartwrenching.

- The offensive line. Periods of surprising dominance interspersed with "here we go again" flopping and lollygagging. Overall, I think they did well too; it's USC, and that they didn't have 7 sacks at the end of the day is partially a testament to both Cordle and Miller for limiting the Trojans' bevy of pass rushers just enough to keep the offense intermittently functional. However, a lot of their success can also be attributed to Pryor's ability to scoot once he feels pressure. As surprisingly decent as the pass-blocking was, the run blocking was tough. They simply could not move the Trojans backward, and really, most teams can't, but tonight was especially brutal. The defense gave these guys all sorts of chances to score, and they just couldn't do it.

- This isn't an Ohio State thing, but where was the fullback wheel for USC? The way OSU was loading up against the run, it would have worked for at least a good 15 yards. Instead, Havili got one touch on the night that I can remember off the top of my head.

All in all, I'm proud of this team. They came out and fought. They didn't lie down and take it like many in the media wanted them to. For those of you out there currently in despair at what you'll hear from Cowherd, Mark May et al. this week: calm down. Turn the radio off. Turn the TV off. Read a few blogs where people usually know what they're talking about. Anyone who watched this game tonight will know that it was an epic battle between two talent-stacked teams. USC preserved their OOC win streak. Ohio State preserved something else, even if no one outside of Ohio is willing to admit it: its pride. Its dignity. It played with a passion and a fire I haven't seen from this team in years. It actually looked like it wanted to be on the field. Like it wanted to prove its detractors wrong. The knowledgeable detractors will probably look at this game and at least make some changes to their criticisms. The idiots... well, they'll always be there. Screw 'em.

I'm not "settling" for keeping it close. I'm frustrated and tired. I've got a headache that probably won't go away for a few days. But I simply won't deny that I'm glad we made them earn every single yard.

Our boys fought. Like fucking warrior poets. That's more than can be said for what we saw in Glendale, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. I am damn proud of my football team tonight.

Go Bucks.

Ohio State Struggles - Is it the End of the World?

Law Buckeye — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:08:35 -0000

With the 3:30 games finished, and a half hour until Saturday Night Football, I'm taking a quick break from the action and thought I'd go on the record with a few thoughts about No. 6 Ohio State's narrow escape from Navy.

It almost goes without saying that this was a disappointing showing. The Buckeyes were tepid on offense, and surprisingly inconsistent on the defensive side of the ball. Today's struggles will inevitably re-frame next week's contest with USC. Especially, since (by the final score) the Trojans didn't appear to miss a beat, rolling San Jose State 56-3 with a true freshman behind center.

Does this scenario sound familiar? The scarlet struggles to put away a lower tier opponent (Ohio) a week before an epic collision with an elite power. Meanwhile, Pete Carroll's guys play fast and loose.

Should Columbus be concerned? Yes. But this afternoon's performance isn't the end of the world. Here's a bullet point summary of what I saw from the South Stands.

Offense:

The Good:

Terrelle Pryor looks a little more comfortable with his reads, connecting with a host of targets.
The offense appears to be moving towards a better run/pass balance.
The offense finally appears to be ready to use tight ends.

The Bad:

Pryor's talented receivers covered up for a number of aerial miscues. How many times did Jake Ballard have to jump to bring down the ball?
The Buckeyes failed to establish a run game (usually a stable of Tressel ball).

The Ugly:

The line continues to struggle to both pass and run block. I'm particularly concerned about our failure to establish a north/south ground game against a mediocre defensive line, especially with the grit and power Michael Brewster and Justin Boren were supposed to contribute.

Defense

The Good

The new crop of linebackers looked aggressive, particularly Brian Rolle. The Buckeyes arguably haven't had a hard hitter behind the line since A.J. Hawk.
Led by punishing tackles, the Buckeyes forced two (ultimately critical) fumbles.

The Bad

Ohio State struggled to keep up with the triple option -- supposedly superior athletes were consistently beat on the pitch.

The Ugly

Ohio State gave up a big play (an 85-yard touchdown turn and burn pass from Ricky Dobbs to Marcus Curry) for the first time in as long as I can remember.
Our worst fears have been realized in the defensive backfield. Our secondary didn't appear disciplined enough to play man to man with Navy's mid-level receiver crops.

The 2009 Bam Childress Award: The Nominees - Offense

Sam @ WWAHT — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:00:12 -0000

Say what you will about Bam, dude can cut a rug

A question was posed to me the other day that got me thinking (never a good thing); all the hype heading into this season is about Terrelle Pryor, and little concern is devoted to the fact that most everyone else at an offensive skill position is a new, or relatively new face. The question was, outside of Daniel Herron, Pryor and DeVier Posey, who else is being hyped as someone poised for a huge year?

Then I started getting ideas (also never a good thing). I decided I'd come up with an award, based on preseason hype and overall expectations of individual players. I then decided I'd name the award for a guy who, for four straight years at Ohio State, overcame overwhelming preseason hype spurred by mesmerizing spring game and practice performances to.... do next to nothing in the regular season. I decided that this award would go to those "other", non-headliner guys at the skill positions - not Pryor, Herron, Posey etc. - who actually deliver on preseason hype, unlike the award's namesake.

My usual response to the question I was asked is to say - while providing all the necessary caveats about the evolution of the offensive line - watch the minor contributors to last year's team, because Tressel has always made playing time decisions based on experience than raw ability. What that means is that the person asking the question should look for guys like Dane Sanzenbacher, Ray Small, and perhaps even Jake Ballard, to become factors in the Ohio State offense. But those aren't the only guys up this year's Bammie award.

Dane Sanzenbacher

I have my concerns about Sanzenbacher - to wit, his size, and his penchant for exposing himself to the big hit - but I am still as high on him as I was when I wrote this back in May:

He doesn't have elite speed, but he's still dangerous in space with his athleticism and ability to make defenders miss (jukification?) and will eventually grow into the role of the reliable third down option for Terrelle Pryor.

Since then, opinions of Dane have gone through a bit of an evolution, with Kurt Coleman at one point considering him potentially the guy:

"Dane is the guy, any way he has to, he's going to get it done, he's going to get the first down," Coleman said. "I think Dane is coming in being the No. 1 receiver, but DeVier is definitely that deep threat, that guy you always have to have someone guarding."

In camp, "Sanzo" (or, as I call him, "Bloody Sanzio") has struggled with injury and hasn't made a massive dent in the depth chart, but most still consider him to be, at the very least, the probable number two behind Posey. What he brings to the game is not all the different from what Anthony Gonzales brought to the team in 2006: a player who's willing to go across the middle and make the tough catches in heavy traffic on passing downs, even with his lack of size. He will be critical to Pryor's development as a quarterback, and he just might be the most likely breakout player at his position this year.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 8 Bam Childresses out of 10

Brandon Saine

Probably the guy that most needs a breakout season, he's going to have to earn it while sharing duties with Boom Herron. Saine came to OSU as a football player who happened to play track, but has spent most of his time looking like a track guy who happened to play football; nursing injuries, avoiding hits, and generally struggling massively as a spell back behind Beanie Wells. This spring, I liked what I saw:

Saine has looked a bit more confident, abandoning his fear of hits and hitting the hole (TWSS) with tenacity, quickness and excellent vision.

Reports from practice on Saine are few and far between, but there was this from the jersey scrimmage:

Brandon Saine didn't get a lot of work, and was 5/20.

So the Saine Hype Train that was steaming along early in the spring appears to have slowed down just a bit, but last I checked, Tressel still plans on rotating Saine with Herron, and since the spring game was the closest thing he has seen to genuine game action since early last fall and he looked excellent in it, I'm not too worried. It's hard to have a "breakout" year as part of a rotation, but I think all the things he brings to the table as a runner are different enough from Herron that he'll continue getting reps throughout the season. 700 yards on the ground may not be out of the question.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 6 Bam Childresses out of 10

Ray Small

I know, I know: everyone says this is his year, ever year. This year might be the least likely year that the Motormouth will break out, in fact. But I'm still holding out hope. Tressel apparently is too:

Senior Ray Small, who started the month in Tressel's doghouse again, got plenty of time running routes and returning punts (his job a year ago) Wednesday. He appears to be back in the mix.

Small's recruiting numbers were not excellent without reason: the potential is still there. He has shown how dangerous he can be in space. He also knows that this is his last shot, and he hopefully knows that outside of that punt return, he will be most remembered for this:

Which is not ideal. If these facts, along with all the (somewhat deserved) hate from the fanbase, serve to motivate him just a bit, he might end up partially redeeming his checkered (to put it lightly) career.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 5 Bam Childresses out of 10

Taurian Washington

Deacon of the Church of Latter-day Bam himself, Washington has blown up in two straight spring games - catching 8 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns in the past two years. He would have 9 for 226 had a flag not taken away a 63-yarder in the 2008 edition of the game. Sounds like a star in the making right? I give you his career regular season stat line:

G	Rec.	Yards	Avg.	TD	Rec./G	Yards/G
6	3	46	15.33	1	0.5	7.7

Somewhere, Bam Childress knows that he still has a good man spreading the word and doing his work in Columbus. After this year's electrifying 92-yard spring game performance, Washington finds himself again down on the depth chart, presumably behind Posey and Sanzenbacher. There were previously rumblings that he may get looks in the slot should Ray Small find trouble yet again.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 5 Bam Childresses out of Ten

Duron Carter

Reports from practice and the scrimmage have been almost exclusively praise for the scion of Cris Carter. Assuming Ohio State mostly operates out of 3-wide sets this year, Posey, Sanzenbacher and Ray Small all have a considerable leg up on Carter when it comes to playing time. He's too big to play the slot and not quite a burner. One way I could see him having a breakout season is if he's deployed mostly in red zone situations, where defenses would have to work just a bit harder to cover him as they field as many linebackers as they can to stop the rushing attack. They just might not be able to cover someone with his size and speed.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 6 Bam Childresses out of 10

Honorable Mentions

There about five other guys on the depth chart who may come out of nowhere to have a big year. Here are the big two, both with Hype-O-Meter ratings of 4 or fewer:

Jake Stoneburner - A converted WR at TE is always an exciting prospect, but to buy the notion that 2009 is Stoney's breakout year is to buy that a) he'll make the transition gracefully as a redshirt-freshman, b) Ohio State starts making a serious effort at utilizing the tight end in the passing game and c) he actually catches anything as the second tight end provided that b) actually happens. Thus, he just remains a darkhorse.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 3 Bam Childresses out of 10

Jaamal Berry - Berry has bounced back excellently from his June marijuana arrest, impressing in camp before succumbing to injury and struggling in the scrimmage. He wasn't here for the spring, so it's safe to say he's a bit behind. Nevertheless, he's the fastest back on Ohio State's roster, and probably the most dangerous in space. But I have my doubts: see here and here on why I think he might struggle.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 4 Bam Childresses out of 10

So, there you have it, your 2009 Bammie candidates on the offensive side of the ball. I'll go over some of the defensive guys later in the week. Feel free to write in other darkhorse contenders below.

Bucknotes says goodbye to gravity and says goodbye to death

Sam @ WWAHT — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:00:48 -0000

Hello to an ankle sprain and Cards fans' bated breath

The Associated Press: Cardinals rookie RB Wells sprains right ankle
Well, I wish I could say that was surprising. The severity of the injury is unknown, but it "doesn't appear serious" and most seem to think he'll be fine for the season. It did, however, take place in a harmless drill, so the worries of Cardinals fans are well-placed. When I was asked to do an evaluation of Wells for the SBN Cards blog, I told them that he'll give you the world - as long if he stays healthy. Fortunately, before going down with the injury, he reportedly impressed the staff. Revenge of the Birds is, understandably, a bit concerned.

BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Positive signs
Apparently, Terrelle Pryor is a bit more humble, and a lot more coachable, this offseason. Good to hear.

Preseason predictions: Ohio State - Big Ten - ESPN
Rittenberg, who Ohio State makes the Rose Bowl; Pryor will kinda improve, and Gibson will again be beastly. He has Gibson returning for his senior year in 2010 after 2009, which to me implies a year of not-quite consistency. If that means he's a QB-killa for what I'm hoping is a title run in 2010, I'm alright with that.

Scout.com: 2009 CFN All-Redshirt Freshman Team
Stoneburner's the TE here; CFN has this to say:

Stoneburner thinks he’s a wide receiver. The scales beg to differ. As he’s grown to 6-5 and 243 pounds, he’s left no doubts where he’ll be lining up, though catching a bunch of passes remains firmly on the to-do list. Although the position has been somewhat marginalized in recent years, he has the athletic ability, speed, and soft hands to force a subtle change in philosophy, especially once starter Jake Ballard graduates this year.

... there's actually nothing incredibly stupid there. Good job, CFN.

Yes, We Know That Most of You Don't Want UConn. | mgoblog
Okay, UConn may not be that bad of an opponent, and by the time this game happens, they'll probably be a better game than Michigan - and at least their equal, but it's hardly the sexiest name the AD could schedule, if Brian's opinion of the likelies was to be believed. Michigan fans are, however, OUTRAGED - their only real mood lately - as the return trip goes to 40,000-seat Rentschler field. Boo-hoo.

The Associated Press: Jets' Gholston hopes to put dismal year behind him
Sorta-fluffy take on the Gun Show (credit for the nick to ElevenWarriors) Redemption Tour '09; Rex Ryan is really high on Gholston's attitude, but he's holding off on any evaluations until he actually sees him on the field for an extended period of time.

Slur will cost Hawaii coach $169,000 - College Football - Rivals.com
Whatever your politics, no place for hate-speech in sports.

Brian Robiskie is signed, excited to be a Cleveland Brown - cleveland.com
Robo is officially a Cleveland Brown, and he may be benefited by Braylon Edwards' mysterious injury, which kept the star receiver out of practice last week. Oh, and he's competing with an SEC boy, too - Mohamed Massaquoi.

Camp preview: Offensive line (Blogging the Buckeyes)
With camp coming up in less than a week, BTB gives a short overview of the OL situation. Two positions are "locked up" - Boren at LG and Brewster at C - with every other spot supposedly up for grabs. Either Cordle or Browning will end up being crowded out, and Adams is still having a hard time putting away Miller at the LT spot - which is a bit worrisome but, hey, play the best players, even if the one you're benching already had talk of retiring his jersey number when he hit campus as a freshman. Oh, and I guess Shugarts as an "edge" too. Lovely.

BuckeyeXtra - Rob Oller commentary: Oden knows this season could be boom or bust
Tough times ahead for Greggers; if he doesn't impress, the bust label is almost guaranteed. Shame, too, because he could go on, have a respectable career elsewhere, and still have that label following him until his retirement. That's how big the year is for him.

Time to Step Up: Five Buckeyes Expected To Be Strong in 2009 | Bleacher Report
Not a whole lot new here; just odd placement of Brian Rolle. I know the guy hits like a ton of bricks, but I just think he has been crowded out. The only way I see him getting the starting nod is through injuries, or if Moeller struggles mightily in the opening a few weeks (very possible against the likes of Navy and USC). Maybe I'm wrong; I'd like to see the kid do well, but I think people may be putting too much stock into those special teams hits (and they were nasty).

Recruit Marcus Rush Flies by Night to Michigan State for 11th Commit - The Only Colors
Dantonio is cleaning up at MSU this year; 11 commits is pretty commendable when you're typically a Big Ten also-ran. So much for him getting fired and rejoining the Ohio State staff, I guess. Damn you, Sparty!

toledoblade.com -- Time to change? Big Ten debates playing games in December

Okay, look, here's the deal: I am going to smack the next person who tells me Ohio State lost two straight championship games due to an "extended" layoff. I will find you, and I will smack you. And then I will mail you CDs comprised entirely of recordings of me laughing at you. This is the worst excuse in the history of excuses. As Coach Tressel has himself said; Ohio State had a similar 50+ day layoff before the Miami game in '02 (technically '03, but whatev), and damn it, if that wasn't the most fired up Ohio State team you've ever seen, I'd like some photographic evidence of it.

But, I am still of the opinion that division and a conference championship game will help make the conference "stronger"; it won't totally make up for the staid coaching philosophies, the talent differentials between the upper tier and the lower tier, or the poor OOC scheduling by a majority of Big Ten teams. But it'll help. Of course, I only want this should a round-robin setup somehow not work out.

Bucknotes rips stuff up, bro

Sam @ WWAHT — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:00:11 -0000

Could Jamie Foxx come to a University of Michigan football game? It's not impossible after Monday - AnnArbor.com
While you've probably already seen EDSBS's hilarious interpretation of RR hobnobbing with Jamie Foxx, it turns out Zoltan Mesko is really rather conceivable when it comes to movie stars:

"It was the fourth quarter of the Notre Dame game and we were winning 35-0, I think," Mesko said. "He's walking the sideline and usually I'm pretty focused but Russell Crowe, there's like four minutes to go in the game and I'm like 'Ahh, I'm probably not going to punt again.' I go up to him and thinking 'Russell, Russell' and Kurt Russell pops into my mind. "So I go 'What's up, Kurt?' So I called him Kurt. He's like 'What did you say?' I was like 'Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' I ended up chatting with him for a couple minutes. It was one of my more embarrassing moments."

Confusing the guy that was in Gladiator with the guy that was in Soldier puts you on my list, Mesko.

Penn St. takes top party school title in survey - Yahoo! News
But color university spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz unimpressed:

"It's a badge of honor at this point. Nationwide, kids want to pump their schools in these surveys," Mountz said. "It's not connected to reality."

What? This doesn't look like a party to you?!

Andrew WK just creamed his jorts, brah.

Buckeyes know their roles in repairing Big Ten
Players are apparently embracing the albatross/standard bearer of the conference label:

"We have a great deal on our shoulders," Buckeyes tight end Jake Ballard said. "You look at Ohio State and Penn State, two of the top teams the last couple of years, we've been falling short in bowl games. Us, personally, we've lost the last three, and there's not one day we don't think about that. "It has to start with us."

Again, allow me to rant: No, it doesn't start with us. I hate hate HATE this mentality. I could care less about the conference's perception if we're winning the games we schedule.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: NFL/Football
JL gettin' paid; 4-year contract with no financial details announced.

Scout.com: Ware Talks LSU Commitment
Cincinnati product chooses LSU over the Buckeyes. Not a particularly big surprise here, and I doubt the Rod Smith commitment helped matters. Ohio State still has offers out to Storm Johnson - another LSU lean - and Corey Brown.

Summer's heated workouts a good sign, says Buckeyes' Coleman: Ohio State Insider - cleveland.com
Get on the Sanzo bandwagon now?

While big things are expected from sophomore receiver DeVier Posey, Coleman insisted no one forget about junior Dane Sanzenbacher, the leading receiver back from last season. "Dane is the guy, any way he has to, he's going to get it done, he's going to get the first down," Coleman said.

But he's so damn small! That our best wide receiver will be hitting the field at 175 pounds is a bit worrisome, don't you think?

Atlantic's James Louis now headed to Ohio State, not Florida
Apparently Louis wanted to be a Gator, and Florida basically said "nothx" despite having the offer out. Urban Meyer is an asshole who happens to win championships, and don't you forget it.

BuckeyeXtra - OSU men will play three exhibition games in Canada
Thad Matta and the boys will play some exhibition games in Windsor in August. They play something called the "University of Windsor" twice, and Western Ontario University two days later.

BuckeyeXtra - New era, fresh air for OSU
Alright, I get that we need to put the championship losses and the USC game behind us. I get that the overall attitude of those teams is something we want to put behind this. And I understand the optimism for all the young talent at Ohio State, as we ride the wave of two-straight top-5 recruiting classes. I get all that. What I don't get is why James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins, et al. are going to have their legacies cast this way. I'd rather think of the good times - Iowa '06, Texas '06, Michigan '06 Michigan '07, Wisconsin '07, Penn State '07 Wisconsin '08, and, of course, Michigan '08, then the few-and-far-between losses that that set of seniors brought us. I don't care how ugly they were; this group left tied for the most wins by a senior class in the history of the school for a reason: they were damn good, and some of them were legends.

Big Ten position rankings: Defensive line - Big Ten - ESPN
Rittenberg ranks Ohio State's line ahead of Penn State's. While I like the praise, I'm not sure I agree with it all. Still have to find a consistent replacement for Nader Abdallah.

Know thy Opponent 2009: Ohio State Buckeyes

BoilerTMill — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:56:05 -0000

Every Big Ten team wants to be Ohio State. The Buckeyes have won at least a share of the last four Big Ten championships. They have played in a BCS bowl seven of the past eight seasons. They have also won 44 straight games against teams that did not finish in the BCS. Their last loss to a team that didn't play in a BCS bowl in the season of the loss came against Purdue in 2004. They are only 3-8 against BCS participants in that time, but no other program can boast their success against everyone but the best. For example: the sainted Florida Gators led by Christ Tebow have lost 3 games to teams that didn't play in the BCS, two of them at home, in Tebow's time alone. Ohio State gets the job done all while not throwing a fit about Terrelle Pryor not being a unanimous choice for first-team all-Big Ten.

It is not likely that we are going to break that streak. First of all, if we do beat Ohio State I'd like to think we are good enough to beat everyone else on the schedule and go to the BCS ourselves. Secondly, we're not that likely to beat Ohio State anyway. Of course, that was the general consensus last season. It was our only sure loss going into the year, but if we had any kind of an offense that day we probably would have won in Columbus.

2008 Record: (10-3, 7-1 Big Ten)

Bowl result: Lost to Texas 24-21 in Fiesta Bowl

Blog Representation: We Will Always Have Tempe, Buckeye Battle Cry, Eleven Warriors, Men of Scarlet & Gray, Buckeye Blog

Series with Purdue: Ohio State leads 37-12-2

Last Purdue win: 11/13/2004 at Purdue 24-17

Last Ohio State win: 10/11/08 at Ohio State 16-3

Unlike the SEC, the Big Ten doesn't throw a hissyfit when a very good player isn't a unanimous selection for something. God forbid people actually exhibit independent thought, especially when it comes to coaching and the SEC.

Last Season for the Buckeyes:

Ohio State was 10-3, played in a BCS bowl, and had a disappointing season. Very few schools can say that. They were 10-0 against teams that didn't play in the BCS, but 0-3 against those that did. It was supposed to be a national championship season. The defense was senior-dominated. Beanie Wells was one of the nation's best running backs. Terrelle Pryor came into his own as a true freshman quarterback. Instead of being a dominating force the Buckeyes were a little softer than expected. Ohio gave them a surprising scare in the non-conference season. USC won by a large margin. A 3-point escape from a night game in Madison wasn't a surprise, but scoring only 16 points with no offensive touchdowns against Purdue a week later was.

If you take away USC's return trip to Columbus, the non-conference schedule is pretty soft. Ohio State hosts New Mexico State and Navy and has a "road" game against Toledo that will be played in Cleveland. That game will likely be 80% Buckeye fans, but I am sure Toledo will enjoy the gate receipts. The Buckeyes get another virtual home game at Indiana in early October when thousands of Buckeye fans will sell out the renovated Memorial Stadium for IU's newest media guide aerial photo. At least the reconfigured stadium will have an early all-red look. Their first true road test will be their game with us at Ross-Ade. Judging by the number of sell out fans we had two years ago it could be another home away from home for them. I was embarrassed to years ago when we did nothing to stop them from doing O-H-I-O in the round, so hopefully Purdue fans won't sell out again.

It is very realistic to think that Ohio State could be in the driver's seat for the national championship game again if they beat USC September 12^th because only a road trip to Penn State will be extremely difficult from there.

Ohio State offense:

It is Terrelle Pryor's time to shine. He no longer has a 1,200 yard rusher in Beanie Wells to take the pressure off of him. He also lost his top two receivers, so he will be the most experienced player returning on offense. Of course, he is a great talent to build around. Pryor only started the final 10 games of the year, but ran for 631 yards and six touchdowns. He completed 100 passes for 1,311 yards and 12 touchdowns against four interceptions. The four interceptions is a very good number for a true freshman quarterback in this conference. If he can improve on his passing numbers and get them over 2,500 yards or so the Ohio State offense will be very good.

As Sam from We Will Always Have Tempe mentioned, the key to his success will be the offensive line. Sam mentioned how Ohio State's offensive line has lacked consistency, and last year's Purdue game was an example of that. I feared that the Buckeyes were going to run for 400 yards on us, yet Ryan Kerrigan had a career day and both Wells and Pryor struggled to find running lanes. That line gets an interesting upgrade at left guard in former Michigan player Justin Boren. Boren was at the center of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry when he left the Wolverines and stated that their values had eroded. Even at 6'3, 315 pounds I doubt he'll feel comfortable when Ohio State travels to Michigan in November. Michael Brewster, Bryant Browning, Mike Adams, and Jim Cordle are all linemen with great size, but all but Brewster will be playing in a different slot on the line. Things also could get worse with the loss of all-conference left tackle Alex Boone. The shifting along the line is supposed to generate more consistency, but there is no guarantee in that.

Dan Herron is the most experienced running back left. He ran for 439 yards and six scores despite missing three games a year ago. One of those missed games was the Purdue game. He is a quick running back that has made it a point to improve upon his between the tackles skills. Brandon Saine will also take on part of the load left by Wells' departure. He also missed the Purdue game last year, but had 20 yards on 6 carries two years ago against us. His freshman year in 2007 was easily his most productive season.

Much like us, there isn't a lot of returning experience among the receivers. Ohio State has more talent, however. Dane Sanzenbacher (21-272-1) has the most in game experience, but he may be passed over as a starter by DeVier Poser (11-117-1) and Ray Small (18-149-0). Ohio State does not use its tight end much, but Jake Ballard (5-73-0) is a reliable option. Taurian Washington, Lamaar Thomas, and Duron Carter (son of hall-of-famer Chris Carter) could all emerge as productive targets.

It seems to me that we can make Ohio State one-dimensional like we did last season when Pryor threw for just 97 yards against us. There isn't much proven production here, but there is plenty of raw talent. We have to maintain the same level of defensive intensity because points will once again be hard to come by against Ohio State.

Ohio State defense:

It really hasn't mattered who has played defense for Ohio State in the last two games against them. We only managed a late, meaningless touchdown in 2007 and a school-record 53-yard field goal last year as our only points in two games. Most of that defense is off to the NFL now, giving us some hope that we can score some meaningful points.

First, our offensive line has to keep a pretty good defensive line from getting to Joey Elliott. Thaddeus Gibson led the team with five sacks last season and should be even better this year. Cameron Heyward, son of former NFL-player Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, will play at the other defensive end position. He is decent, but hasn't been a pass-rushing terror. Tackles Dexter Larimore and Doug Worthington both have plenty of size to handle the running game by themselves. That will be critical, as the linebackers are not nearly as experienced as last season.

Ohio State has always had fantastic linebackers. James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman were the latest in a long line last season. Ross Homan is the only starting linebacker with much experience. He had 67 tackles with a sack and two fumble recoveries. Etienne Sabino, the player that returned a blocked for a punt for a touchdown in last year's game, could see time at linebacker along with Austin Spitler and Tyler Moeller. Brian Rolle will also factor into the rotation. It's Ohio State, so you know you're getting 220 pound linebackers that have tons of talent no matter who is in there. All this group truly lacks is experience.

The secondary lost a future NFL starter in Malcolm Jenkins, but it is still very good. Chimdi Chekwa had a career day in 2007 against us and he has now evolved into the top cover corner. Safety Kurt Coleman and his team high four interceptions returns as an anchor in the backfield. He also had 78 tackles and a sack to showcase his versatility. Andre Amos will likely man the other cornerback position, but freshman Corey Brown could factor in on nickel packages. Brown may also end up on offense as a wide receiver. Senior Anderson Russell is the likely starter at the other safety position and he has plenty of experience in nickel packages.

When I look at this defense I see that we might be able to have a bit of a running game against the Buckeyes for the first time in years. We have a maddening tendency to completely abandon the running game against them, yet Kory Sheets ran for 67 yards in last year's game. That was against a better defensive front seven as well. If we can be patient and generate something on the ground we could have a shot in this game.

Ohio State Special Teams:

Poor Chris Summers never had a chance at the 17 second mark here.

The Buckeyes consistently have some of the best placekickers in the conference and this year will be no different. Aaron Pettrey handles long field goals and was 7 of 8 with a long of 54. Ryan Pretorius handles the shorter kicks, but has 50 yard range. He was 15 of 19. Ohio State settled for 27 field goals against 38 offensive touchdowns. That shows they did have some trouble finishing drives off, so we can play this to our advantage.

We also must watch out for their punt return game. The block and score was a huge difference maker last year. Ray Small is also an excellent punt returner who took one back all the way and had a 15.2 yard average per return. Lamaar Thomas is the top kickoff returner at 21 yards per return. As bad as our coverage was last year our best bet is to kick away from Small.

Ohio State must find a new punter with the departure of A.J. Trapasso. John Thoma must replace a guy who downed 21 punts inside the 20 and had a better than 41 yards per kick average. Pettrey is known to use his big leg on kickoffs to force multiple touchbacks per game.

Intangibles:

I would honestly say the intangibles are in our favor. We have played Ohio State extremely well over the past decade given the circumstances. They have been the dominant team in the conference while we have seriously threatened for the conference crown just once since 2000. We didn't play Ohio State in four of coach Tiller's 12 seasons, but we won twice and lost twice in either the final two minutes or overtime. Only the 2001 game was really a blowout. I can't explain why we play them so well, but I will take it.

That certainly does not guarantee a win. This is likely the team with the most talent we will face all year. Only Oregon and possibly Notre Dame can match them on that level. Of course, we will have played both of those teams to this point. Because of that, we will have a good idea of how well this team reflects coach Hope's new attitude. We are getting a fair amount of respect in the Ohio State blog world. Eleven Warriors agrees that there are a lot of new faces, but things can't be much worse.

Game Outlook:

I still maintain that we are going to pull of one upset this year that few people expect. I have already predicted that it will be Oregon, but Ohio State or Notre Dame are much more likely. Notre Dame will not be a BCS team, contrary to what the media thinks, and Ohio State is a team that we played very well against last year. All we need is a similar defensive performance and for our offense to show up. By this point in the year we'll have a good idea of how well that offense is performing as well.

That being said, Ohio State is still a team that knows how to win no matter what. They take care of business against the bad, mediocre, and even the good, yet struggle against only the elite. We are not the elite. We will only win this game if we stay committed to the running game, our pass defense causes turnovers, and we contain Pryor. If Elliott throws 60 times it won't be pretty.

Prediction: This will likely be what we're used to with Ohio State. We keep it tantalizingly close, but fail to get enough offense mostly because of Ohio State's very good defense. The turnovers will likely be even, but Ohio State will do something with the ones they cause. I'll agree with Sam's prediction in his first look at us. Ohio State 23, Purdue 13