Drive-Thru: First Fiesta Bowl win

In anticipation of yet another trip to the desert for the Buckeyes… this one hopefully better than the most recent trip… I’ve uploaded the first Fiesta Bowl win for the Buckeyes.  It was only the Buckeyes’ second trip to the Fiesta Bowl, with the first a loss to Penn State in 1980 in the only neutral-site matchup in the OSU-PSU series.  The 1984 Fiesta Bowl, however, proved to be much more celebrated in Ohio State lore.  In spite of starting off sluggish, and in accord with any Midwestern smashmouth matchup you would expect, the 4th quarter saw an explosion of points as the Buckeyes pulled away with seconds to spare to win 28-23.  Thad Jemison, who hauled in the gamewinning score, tied a Fiesta Bowl record (since surpassed) with 8 catches.

Ohio State — who entered the game with, yes, an 8-3 record — drew the Pitt Panthers.  Coached by Foge Fazio, the Panthers started 2-2 before rattling off 6 straight wins and finishing with a draw against Paterno’s Nittany Lions.  Accordingly, the Fiesta Bowl was a let down for Ohio State and a reward for Pitt.  Ohio State was approximately 13 points and maybe 10 minutes away from being undefeated in the 1983 season.  The Buckeyes let a 14-13 lead get away against Iowa late in the 4th quarter for Iowa’s first victory over the Buckeyes in 21 years.  Later, a 13-10 lead against Illinois evaporated in 37 seconds as Illinois won 17-13, when Ohio State only needed 1:43 and a first down to ice away a win.  The season ended with a 24-21 loss against Michigan.  The season started with an upset win, on the road, in the sweltering heat of Owen Field over the no. 2 ranked Oklahoma Sooners¹.  It ended without a Rose Bowl, without a Big Ten trophy and with Ohio State in the desert.

In spite of the disappointment, Ohio State was fairly imposing on the Pitt Panthers for the first 3 quarters.  Of course, the 30 4th Quarter points belies the nature of the 3 quarters before it.  Ohio State took the opening kickoff and rammed it right down the field.  A Thad Jemison reception put the Buckeyes from midfield to within the Pitt 5.  Mike Tomczak, professional mainstay, took the option keeper on the next play for a quick 7-0 first quarter lead.  Pitt, for all it could muster, was only able to doink a field goal on its first possession in the first quarter.  Pitt placekicker Snuffy Everett (yes… that’s his name) would have brighter moments this game.  Pitt’s next possession ended on 4th down, with Pitt electing to go for the first down in 4th down territory.  A ferocious pass rush from down linemen Dave Crecelius, Spencer Nelms and Dave Morrill made sure that didn’t work.

In spite of the hot start, Ohio State momentarily shot itself in the foot after the turnover on downs.  Tomczak botched the center exchange from Joe Dooley, turning the ball over.  John Congemi, the successor to Dan Marino at the quarterback position, soon found Joe McCall to pin the Buckeye defense deep in their own 10.  Pitt eventually found paydirt to knot the game at 7 in the second quarter.  Ohio State’s next possession ended with a Rich Spangler missed field goal.  However, the Buckeyes responded on its next possession after the missed field goal.  Keith Byars, who by that time established himself as otherworldly in the Big Ten, plowed through for six after Tomczak’s aerial assault through Cedric Anderson, Thad Jemison and John Frank had set up the goalline run.  The 14-7 margin carried into intermission.

The third quarter was one of the screwier in any Ohio State game I’ve watched, and was perhaps a prelude to the chaos that followed in the 4th quarter.  Pitt received the opening kickoff, only to fumble it and turn it over to Ohio State in Pitt territory.  Ohio State’s offense, was unable to move the ball and elected to go for a first down on 4th down, only to turn it over.  After both teams exchanged ugly displays of offense, Mike Tomczak almost courted disaster near the end of the 3rd period.  A Tomczak interception toss was returned by Pitt into Ohio State territory.  Kelvin Bell, starting strong safety from Richmond, VA, saved the day with an interception in the end zone.  Ohio State, unable (again) to do anything with the break, punted and set up Pitt for the Panthers’ next drive.  This drive carried the game into the 4th quarter, where all hell broke loose.

On the second play of the 4th quarter at Ohio State’s 13yd line, Pitt’s tailback Joe McCall caught a break.  A pitch right to McCall was fumbled after McCall had picked up the first down, though the fumble bounced into the end zone and was recovered by Clint Wilson for a game-tying touchdown.  With momentum now on its side, the Panthers kicked off to the Buckeyes to an all-too-eager Keith Byars.  As Byars recalled later:

“They were kicking off, and I was like, ‘I hope they kick it to me, so I can make something big happen,” says Byars.

Byars made something huge happen, returning Snuffy Everett’s kickoff 99 yards for the touchdown.

“You don’t forget things like that run,” says Byars. “I’ll be telling my grandkids about that play 40 years from now. You live for those kind of moments.”

…

“I’ve always had speed, it was just deceptive,” insists Byars. “Guys didn’t realize it until they started chasing me. Pittsburgh found out the hard way.”

The Buckeyes pulled ahead on the heels of the Byars’ touchdown, putting the Buckeyes ahead 21-14.

Pitt’s offense, behind John Congemi’s 31/44 341 yard MVP performance, was clearly in the groove, however.  On Pitt’s next drive, Congemi marched Pitt down the field, finding Dwight Collins in the endzone for 6.  However, that was all Pitt would get out of that touchdown.  Down 21-20, Pitt elected to go for 2 but was unsuccessful.

Pitt would get another crack, though, as Ohio State’s offense sputtered on the next drive.  Snuffy Everett (yes, that’s his name… stop laughing), proud native of Meridian, MS (yes, that’s where he’s from… I said stop laughing already) redeemed his earlier miss in the first quarter.  His clutch field goal, after Congemi led the Panthers from their own 12 yard line, put the Buckeyes down 23-20 to the resurgent Pitt Panthers for the first time with 2:39 left to play.  Worse yet, John Wooldridge inadvertantly touched his knee down at the Buckeyes’ own 11 yard line on the ensuing kickoff.

It was 89 yards to the endzone, with two timeouts, 2:39 remaining and the Buckeye offense had been woeful all second half.

Hit it.

What followed is one of the most celebrated drives in Ohio State football history.  The Buckeye offense finally found their groove.  3 plays into the drive, on 3rd down and 10, Keith Byars extended the down and distance with a 14 yard reception… only his second catch of the game.  Two rush plays later, the Buckeyes had another first down.  However, 3 straight incompletions, with two of those incompletions almost being intercepted, the Buckeyes found themselves at 4th down with 1:21 left.  Earle Bruce called a timeout to devise a play, which everyone knew was for all-Big Ten tight end John Frank.

Undaunted, John Frank delivered on 4th down to set up the Buckeyes with a new set of downs.  However, John Wooldridge was tackled in bounds on a 2nd down play, setting up a 3rd and 4 with the clock running.  Bruce put in the call for Split Louie Zoom Pass Left.  If you watched the 1983 Oklahoma clip from Keith that I linked to earlier, you might remember seeing that play.  As OSU’s 25 Greatest Drives explains:

Coach Bruce decided to go with Split Louie Zoom Pass Left. Thad Jemison would be split left, with John Frank lined up next to the guard on the same side and both tackles together on the right side. Keith Byars would streak for the goal line between Jemison and Frank, while flanker Cedric Anderson would work from the right side. Byars had caught two passes for 70 yards in the Oklahoma game using the play, but Tomczak had decided to look for Anderson to try and get the first down. As he rolled right, Mike saw everyone covered- except Jemison. With Byars and Frank flooding the area, Jemison had gotten a step on cornerback Melvin Dean and Tomczak let fly. Jemison, who had waited three years behind Gary Williams for his chance to play as a senior, gathered in the pass for a 39-yard touchdown with only 39 seconds left, giving OSU a 28-23 lead.

The Buckeyes pulled ahead 28-23, eventually stuffing Pitt’s pass attack in the final seconds to hold on to the victory.

Without any further ado, you can watch the game below.

Miscellaneous Observations

• If you’re interested, here’s the starting lineups:
  • Offense: QB: Mike Tomczak, FB: Vaughn Broadnax, HB: Keith Byars, SE: Thad Jemison, FL: Cedric Anderson, TE: John Frank, LT: Bill Roberts, LG: Kirk Lowdermilk, C: Joe Dooley, RG: Scott Zalenski, RT: Mark Krerowicz
  • Defense: DE: Dave Crecelius, NT: Spencer Nelms, DE: Dave Morrill, OLB: Orlando Lowry, ILB: Clark Backus, ILB: Rowland Tatum, OLB: Byron Lee, CB: Garcia Lane, CB: Shaun Gayle, SS: Kelvin Bell, FS: Doug Hill
• Thumbing through those starting lineups, it’s amazing to see how many of those guys are not from Ohio.  My knowledge here is incomplete, but there’s a few names that stick out.  Bill Roberts (LT) is from Miami, FL.  So is Doug Hill.  Kelvin Bell and Shaun Gayle are both from Virginia.  Rowland Tatum is from Inglewood, CA.  Spencer Nelms is from Decatur, GA.  John Frank and Mike Tomczak are from Pennsylvania and Illinois respectively, though the regional difference aren’t as big of a deal.
• Foge Fazio was Pitt’s head coach for this… and some of his reactions during this game were absolutely classic.
• Someone still has to explain to me why Pitt decided to shy away from its distinct mustard yellow and royal blue looks in lieu of something that makes them look indistinguishable from Notre Dame or Navy.
• If anyone has the 1983 Oklahoma game on DVD from this same season, please let me know.  Please for the love of God let me know.

1. Suck it, 1977.  Just, suck it.

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Buckeyes make it 5 straight over TTUN

The Seniors have had some ups and downs this season. That said, they are now the first class to play part to beat Michigan 5 consecutive times… a feat heretofore unaccomplished.  Further, they left no doubt by turning 4 unanswered touchdowns to blast Michigan en route to the 3rd biggest margin of victory for the Buckeyes in the series’ history.  The 35 point difference in the 42-7 victory surpasses the 1934 result for third all-time (behind 38pts in 1935 (38-0) and 36pts in 1968 (50-14)).  While Michigan State did us no favor in helping secure the Buckeyes the automatic bid from the Big Ten to the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes may be in a good position for an at-large berth in the BCS.

The game didn’t exactly play out like I had anticipated a Buckeye rout being.  Indeed, Ohio State’s offense had been unable to sustain drives in the first half.  Beanie kicked off the scoring with a 59 yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter on a 1 play drive.  On Ohio State’s next drive, Beanie converted a 3rd and 1 and Jake Ballard caught a ball on 3rd and 4 to give the Buckeyes a new set of downs.  After Ballard’s catch, and with the Buckeyes behind down and distance at 2nd and 12, Pryor found Brian Hartline deep for a 53 yard touchdown pass.  Two Michigan drives later, Brandon Minor and company had thrashed through our defense on a 14 play 65 yard drive to cut the margin to a single touchdown.  That’s how it stood at intermission with Michigan receiving the ball.  The Wolverines, 20.5 point dogs entering the game, couldn’t feasibly ask for more going to intermission against a team that outmatched them badly at every position.  Even better yet, they would be getting the ball to start the second half.

Fortunately, the second half is where the rout kicked into full gear.  Though the Wolverines’ first drive of the second half moved the chains 4 times, the offense stalled and a Zoltan Mesko punt eventually pinned the Buckeyes within their own 10.  The Buckeyes wasted no time in getting out of the shadow of their own end zone.  A pitch left to Beanie moved the Buckeyes 42 yards to near midfield.  The next play, a Boom Herron scamper, principally behind Alex Boone, put the Buckeyes in the end zone.  The two big plays were shade of Beanie and Pittman in 2006.  A Nathan Williams’ penalty was pivotal on Michigan’s next drive.  Though the roughing the kicker penalty extended Michigan’s drive, it appears that Nathan Williams actually succeeded in roughing up the punter.  Hell, if you’re going to get the penalty, it’s best to do some damage… in for a penny, in for a pound.  After exchanging punts, Michigan’s next drive ended with a low, line drive punt from Mesko that was returned 80 yards by the recently reinstated Ray Small to the Michigan 8 yard line.  Terrelle Pryor found Brian Robiskie in the end zone on the first play from scrimmage for a 28-7 lead.  After a 4 and out and short punt, Dane Sanzenbacher’s 35 yard catch and Boom Herron’s 19 yard touchdown run eventually pushed the lead to 35-7.  Michigan fumbled the kickoff return, allowing The Todd some playing time.  The Todd wasted little time, finding Brian Hartline in the end zone, setting up the final margin at 42-7.

The regular season fell short of expectations, but the Buckeyes did finish out strong.  The 42-7 demolition of Michigan gives the graduating redshirt seniors like Marcus Freeman and Nader Abdallah 5 gold pants over the Wolvereenies and a share of a Big Ten title, their 4th straight.  It also guarantees the Buckeyes their 4th straight 10 win season.  Empirically, this senior class will go down as one of the most successful in program history.

Offense

Terrelle Pryor clearly didn’t have his best game, and this was most evident in the first half.  Pryor began the game with a nice 3rd down conversion, but threw a very errant pass to Stevie Brown that was almost returned for six.  As it was, the Buckeye defense held and KC Lopata missed a field goal.  Curiously enough, I think that very same exchange is from the game script last week for the Wolvereenies against Northwestern.

Pryor struggled with making pre-snap reads.  On one 3rd down play in particular, Pryor failed to even acknowledge a defender who was lined up on the line of scrimmage pre-snap.  As it unfolded, said defender — name escapes me — came from Pryor’s blindside unimpeded and sacked Pryor.  3 of Ohio State’s 8 first half drives ended in Pryor sacks by Brandon Graham, Brandon Harrison and Tim Jamison respectively.  The first drive was Pryor’s interception and the last of those 8 drives was a QB sneak to take the Bucks into the intermission.  2 of the remaining drives were touchdown scores.  Naturally, the number of sacks Pryor took this game — a staggering total of 8, 3 by Tim Jamison — showed up in Pryor’s rushing total for the game.  He finished with -7 rushing yards total for the game.

Elsewhere, Pryor struggled with putting the right amount of air on his passes.  With the way that the Buckeyes’ pass protection held up and with how open our receivers were getting against a not-so-good secondary, it was clear that Todd Boeckman would’ve thrived in this year’s Ohio State-Michigan matchup where he struggled so mightily last year.  More than a few passes looked like wounded ducks; more than a few where misthrown, costing the Buckeyes a deep gain and probable touchdown.  The Buckeyes have the benefit of playing in a January bowl game this year and I’m hopeful that this can get ironed out before then.

Beanie and Boom Herron played a leading role in opening things up for the Buckeyes offense this game.  Indeed, with Headcase Pryor on display as opposed to Road Game Warrior Pryor, their performance was necessary.  Beanie ran for 134 yards on just 15 carries, having been sidelined early in the second half for an undisclosed injury probably related to being upended on a rushing play in the first half.  That said, his 134 yards was good enough to make him just the sixth Buckeye to have back-to-back 1000 yard rushing seasons in the program’s history.  Further, it’s his 3rd straight Michigan game where he had a long touchdown scamper, no doubt etching his place in Buckeye lore as one of the all-time great Wolverine killers.  Beanie also passed Keith Byars for 4th all-time in Buckeye rushing on the touchdown play in question.  Boom may have just announced himself and his intentions to be the next great Buckeye back this game as well, shades of Beanie in 2006.  Boom finished the game with two touchdowns and 80 yards on 8 carries.  Should Beanie go pro after this season, the Buckeye ground game looks to be just fine.  Elsewhere, the rout got so bad that the Buckeyes put in Marcus Williams, a walk-on from Ironton, OH, at the end of the game.  He is, by my account, the Buckeyes’ 5th string tailback and proof positive that the Buckeye staff really did their best to empty their bench and spread around some playing time.

Pryor didn’t exactly have the greatest day passing (5/13, 120 yards, 2 TDs 1 INT), but I thought the receiver corp — to a man — played outstanding this game.  Jake Ballard’s drop of what should’ve been a touchdown that was, by the grace of God, not ruled an interception is the only chink in what was otherwise a stellar performance all around.  Brian Hartline led all performers with 2 catches for 71 yards.  Both of his catches were touchdowns.  Brian Robiskie got on the scoreboard in 10 minutes into the third quarter, finishing with 2 catches and 54 yards.  Dane Sanzenbacher (2/49) had two memorable grabs, his first good for a first down and his second coming on the play that Pryor miraculously kept alive.  It eventually resulted in Boom Herron’s second touchdown run.  Jake Ballard had one grab, which set up a first down and, two plays later, Hartline was in the end zone.  Maurice Wells rounds out the performance of the receivers, catching a screen from The Todd for no gain in garbage time.

I’d be remiss without mentioning the offensive line, but their performance was streaky.  Bryant Browning didn’t help things any.  Michael Brewster didn’t have a much better game than he had against Illinois.  They were facing the strength of Michigan’s defense and were eaten up on some plays.  Beanie’s touchdown run came from some good blocking, but even better playcalling to catch Michigan overloading on Alex Boone.  Boone, to his credit, was the best player on the line today.  Jim Cordle was responsible in large part for Beanie and Boom’s big gains on the Buckeyes’ first drive of the second half.  Fortunately, the Buckeyes have a month and a half to smooth out whatever needs fixin’ on their unit.  I don’t know who we’ll get in a bowl game (likely candidates include: Alabama, Florida, Georgia Tech, Georgia, among others…), but whoever it is will probably eat up our offensive line if they don’t improve over the break.

Defense

There are lots of superlative to spread around for this defense.  Minus one drive, and the early stretches of the second half, the Buckeye defense absolutely dominated the Wolverines offense.  Granted, the Wolverines offense isn’t very good… at all… but a domination is always nice.  Michigan’s first 5 drives were 3 and outs.  It didn’t get too much better as Michigan finished an absolutely obscene 1-17… let me repeat that: 1-17 on 3rd down conversions this game.  Yes, that’s a 3rd down conversion rate of ~6%.  Michigan finished with 198 yards of total offense, though most of it came in the second and third quarters.  Michigan had only 28 first quarter yards and 17 fourth quarter yards.  That’s domination, holmes.  Michigan did thrive in the second and third quarters, largely because of two factors.  First, Nick Sheridan, for a stretch, made the Buckeyes pay for selling out on the screen.   Sheridan’s pump fakes drew the defense to the screen, opening up the deep option for some big gains.  Second, Brandon Minor pounded the Buckeyes for a period, finishing with over 77 yards on 14 carries and Michigan’s lone touchdown.  Curiously enough, I don’t remember Minor’s number being called after Michigan’s second drive of the second half.  In lieu of the punishing Minor, Rodriguez went with freshman Michael Shaw.  I was more than happy he did, but still don’t know why he did.  If it was an injury to Minor, I don’t remember seeing it.

Most of my remarks will be glowing accordingly.  The defensive line shined today.  The trio of Heyward, Abdallah and Worthington rocked Michigan’s offensive line, creating all sorts of havoc for Nick Sheridan.  The trio finished with 17 tackles and 4 TFLs.  Heyward (6 tackles, 1 solo) tallied the lone sack of the group.  Abdallah (5 tackles, 1 solo) had two TFLs on the game.  It seems like this group — and Abdallah in particular — have really put it together in recent weeks.  The coming out party seems to have been the Purdue game.  Granted, this unit did wear out in the final minutes against Penn State, but they seem to be playing at a much better level than they were to begin the season.  Abdallah, of course, gets to take 5 gold pants with him as he finishes his Buckeye career.  Nathan Williams also almost had a safety in the 4th quarter.

James Laurinaitis had your usual ho-hum 10+ tackle day, finishing with 12 tackles (4 solo).  It was just another day at the office for the former Butkus and Nagurski Award winner.  He also had one sack on the day, good for a 4 yard loss.  Marcus Freeman joined Laurinaitis in the party, contributing 7 assisted tackles.  Further, he also registered 2.5 TFLs and had a fumble recovery on the Odoms special teams boner in the first quarter.  Both Laurinaitis and Freeman were everywhere today.  With only so much tackles to go around, Ross Homan was the odd man out.  He only had 2 tackles on the day.

The secondary is crucial to stopping a spread offense team.  Often times, they find themselves isolated, in space, and being responsible for a play from the offense going for no gain, or for 40 yards.  They were up to the task today, though.  Kurt Coleman led all players in the secondary (and was 2nd on the team for the day) with 10 tackles (5 solo).  1.5 of those were TFLs good for a loss of -7 yards.  Malcolm Jenkins contributed 5 tackles (1 solo).  His one pass break-up, pictured to the right, was a necessary one.  It came on a 3rd and 7 on the Wolverines’ 2nd drive of the 3rd quarter.  Jenkins was actually beat on this play (zone coverage that Mathews outran) and had to make up ground to prevent what would’ve been a big gain, a certain first down and probable touchdown.  A lot of the tackles were taken up by the front 7, but a few other notables got in on the action.  With Jermale Hines sidelined this game, Tyler Moeller saw plenty of action at the “star” position, viz, nickelback.  He had 3 assisted tackles, with one of those being a TFL.  Donald Washington and Anderson Russell both had 3 tackles.  Shaun Lane had two tackles and forced a fumble on special teams.  Chimdi Chekwa had 2 solo tackles.  Again, kudos all around.

Miscellany

• The Buckeyes win 5 straight in this series for the first time ever.  The longest consecutive win streak for either side is Michigan’s 9 consecutive victories (1901-09).  I think we can pull that off.
• I’m not a fan at all of either team, anywhere, allowing its players to go to midfield and jaw and shove the opposing team.  As Gabby noted, it wasn’t that ridiculous this game, but it did get a little bit nasty in Louisville.  These things are tinderboxes, so why risk getting a player suspended?
• On a similar note, the chippiness this game was something I haven’t seen since 1997.  Laurinaitis got into it with Michigan’s center in the second half.  Malcolm Jenkins threw down a guy on Michigan’s first drive.  Again: this was really, really tense.
• The margin of victory for Ohio State was third best in series’ history.  There was a point in the game when The Todd was in there where I thought we could set the record.
• The pushing and shoving by one of those Michigan players (Charles Stewart) and the coaching staff was an absolutely strange sight to see.  Just surreal, I don’t recall ever seeing that before.
• The attendance was 4th largest in Ohio Stadium history.

• This senior class has won 43 games and lost only 7.  The 43 victories is tied for most over a 4 year stretch.  A victory in the Bowl Game would make them, empirically, the best senior class in program history.
• The tone for this game was set in a place where I wouldn’t have thought to predict it: special teams.  Every hit on special teams for Michigan’s hapless return team seemed to be bone-jarring.  Further, Nathan Williams’ roughing the punter penalty seemed to do damage to Michigan’s best offensive player.  It may have been responsible for the usually outstanding Mesko’s low, line-drive punt to Ray Small, which set up the 80 yard return.
• Bucknuts has pictures… lotsandlotsa pictures.  A lot of them are from the Senior Day festivities and are worth looking at.

• William Gholston, cousin of Vernon Gholston, was apparently in attendance.  I’m still trying to gather information about what other recruits were in attendance.
• It’s fun to pick on Michigan now, but I still think Rodriguez will get Michigan back to some kind of national prominence.  I’ve been saying that all along, though I definitely won’t go so far as to EEEEEE BARWIS and predict offenses consecutive national championships and offenses that score 50pts a game.  That said, this game showed to me how really behind the curve Michigan is.  They’re further behind the curve than I could’ve imagined.  They’ll get better next year — they almost have to by default — but there’s still a long way to go.  As we saw today, getting the right quarterback for Michigan, and one that they’re expecting to get, is necessary.  But it’s going to be hard.  Michigan fans are expecting that Michigan’s lore will get them a better recruit at the position, that is: a Pat White without the noodle arm.  Yet, a Pat White w/o the noodle arm might be hard to get as he might be wanting a more conventional offense so he can end up in the NFL… and might end up going to a place like Ohio State and becoming the first freshman quarterback to beat Michigan in the program’s history.  I’m sure when Rodriguez finally gets that quarterback, he’ll work wonders with him.  That said, it’s going to be a hard get for Michigan on the recruiting trail.
• JB Shugarts saw the field at right tackle.  Andrew Sweat also saw some action at linebacker.
• The nature of the blowout allowed the seniors to go out on top with token gestures.  Laurinaitis led the team in tackles, Boone was the best lineman on the day, Todd got a touchdown pass, and Robiskie had a touchdown grab.  The only thing missing in terms of the symbolic-ness was a Maurice Wells touchdown.
• Yes, this is a rebuilding year for Michigan, but at least this game went a long way in telling those 1991 and 1993 games to suck it.  Welcome to the 1990s, Michigan.

Fun w/ Pictures: How Firm Thy Friendship…

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It’s officially Michigan Week

Bring it on, bitches!

Ohio State, fresh off a 30-20 win at Illinois, now gets to focus on That Team Up North without looking past anybody. The Buckeyes return home for their final regular season game at 9-2, while TTUN comes to Columbus at 3-8.

Today’s game was rather anti-climactic, but any fan of the Buckeyes could see that coming. Ohio State has a long, storied tradition of underachieving in the game before The Game. For example;

• 2007 – Ohio State never got their game plan working, as Illinois tole a big win away from the #1 Buckeyes, 28-21
• 2006 – Ohio State 17, Illinois 10. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Prior to that game, OSU had 7 games of scoring 35 or more points. It was a win, but not at all pretty
• 2004 – A 24-17 loss to Purdue in the final two minutes, one of only two regular-season losses for Troy Smith
• 2003 – A scary overtime win at home against Purdue, 16-13. A missed Purdue FG saved the day.
• 2002 – Overtime win against Illinois (and a serious nail-biter)
• 2001 – A 34-22 loss to Illinois at home, secured by a late INT return for the Illini

Need I go on? We just rarely play well before The Game. The only exception to the rule in Tressel’s tenure is a 48-10 pasting of Northwestern in 2005.

So I expected revenge, but I didn’t think it would be pretty. Still, we looked good enough and got the job done.

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Beanie Wells moved into the #5 slot of all-time rushing leaders at Ohio State, sliding past Pepe Pearson. He cracked the 3,000 yard mark on his first carry, and kept moving all day long. Here’s the current standings;

• #1 – Archie Griffin – 5,529 yards (2,386)
• #2 – Eddie George – 3,768 yards (625)
• #3 – Tim Spencer – 3,553 yards (410)
• #4 – Keith Byars – 3,200 yards (57)
• #5 – Beanie Wells – 3,143 yards

Wells will top 1,000 yards for the season, and move past the legendary Keith Byars against TTUN at home on Saturday, barring injury and any other natural disaster.  Odds are good that he’ll stay at #4 even adding in the bowl game.  Getting another 410 yards against TTUN and a bowl opponent seems unlikely, even if you factor in Wells’ proven ability to rush for over 220 yards against the Wolverines.

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Speaking of Wells, holy f-ing poopbags, did you see him leap four feet in the air to clear an Illinois tackler?  I’ve gotta get video of that posted.  Best hurdle I’ve ever seen.

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Sweet Jesus, are Illinois fans the biggest WATBs you’ve ever seen?  Have you ever heard ANYBODY whine about the refs in a game where they only get flagged four times?  They were still moaning at the end of the game (those that hadn’t abandoned their seats before the game ended, that is).

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Penn State struggled for a half against Indiana, but pulled away in the second half and won 34-7.  This means that their home game next week against Michigan State will determine half of the Big Ten Championship.  Ohio State plays Michigan at Noon, and if the Buckeyes win, they clinch a share of the title.  PSU-MSU is at 330, and if the Bucks win, the Spartans and Lions will do battle for the other share.

Let’s speak hypothetically.

• If Ohio State wins and Michigan State wins, Ohio State goes to the Rose Bowl.
• If Ohio State wins and Penn State wins, Penn State goes to the Rose Bowl
• If Ohio State loses, the winner between MSU and PSU is the outright winner of the Big Ten and goes to the Rose Bowl.

Penn State controls their own destiny.  Both Sparty and the Buckeyes need help.

However, I do believe that Ohio State will secure a BCS Bowl with a win.  More on that after the jump.

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Ohio State stands at #11 in the current BCS Standings.  Ten teams make BCS Bowls. but there are tie-ins involved that could hurt us.

Six teams will guarantee themselves BCS Bowls by winning their conferences.  Let’s make some assumptions here;

• Championship Game – #1 Alabama – #2 Texas Tech
• Big 12 representative – #3 Texas
• Big 10 Representative – #8 Penn State
• SEC representative – #4 Florida
• Pac-10 representative – #6 USC
• Big East representative – #22 Cincinnati
• ACC representative – #24 Wake Forest

This leaves two at-large bids open.  The remaining schools in the Top 14 of the BCS Rankings are;

• #5 Oklahoma
• #7 Utah
• #9 Boise State
• #10 Georgia
• #11 Ohio State
• #12 Missouri
• #13 Oklahoma State
• #14 Ball State

Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma State are ineligible for the BCS, because of the rule only allowing two teams from each conference to play in the big 5 bowl games.  That leaves Utah, Boise State, Ohio State and Ball State as the only possible teams able to get those final two bids.

Utah and Boise State have won BCS bowl games before and will use that in their lobbying efforts.  Ball State can forget it.  No MAC school is getting in, especially in a year when the #5 school will get left out.

If we don’t secure the Rose Bowl, we are left to the mercy of the selection committee.  We’ll need to hope that the Fiesta Bowl remembers our massive numbers at previous bowls and how we travel better than any other team, during bowl season.  But if BYU can do us a favor and knock off Utah, we can consider ourselves in.  Maybe Fresno State can help out more and beat Boise State on November 28th?

So, in this order, let me just say….

1. Go Buckeyes
2. Go Spartans
3. Go…..whatever BYU’s mascot is
4. Go Bulldogs

And yes, I know it’s the BYU Cougars.  Did you?

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Drive-Thru: EDDIE EDDIE EDDIE

Consistent with my stated aims to upload a YouTube relevant to the foe at hand this season, I went with a very obvious candidate.  Yet perhaps subconsciously I also went with an option that underscores my preferred outcome of the upcoming Illinois game this Saturday in Champaign.  Indeed: I want total humiliation.  Accordingly, I went with the 1995 matchup between Ohio State and Illinois.  This game is an obvious staple in Buckeye lore for the exceptional performance of Eddie George.  In this game, he cemented his Heisman credentials by surpassing Keith Byars’ single game rushing record (coincidentally also against Illinois) and became the first, and so far only, Buckeye back to total 300 yards in a single game.

Yet, Eddie George wasn’t the story entering this game.  It was November 11, 1995 and there were several developments brewing at the start of this game.  In the bigger picture, Ohio State was undefeated and even the no. 2 ranked team in the country on the heels of their domination of Notre Dame in a highly anticipated match, their victory over the previous year’s undefeated (and should’ve-been national champion) conference champion Penn State in Happy Valley, and their thorough routing of most opponents that season.  They even boasted the nation’s best tailback (eventual Heisman winner Eddie George), the nation’s best lineman (Orlando Pace), the nation’s best wide receiver (Terry Glenn, eventual Biletnikoff winner) and one of the better quarterbacks in the country (Bobby Hoying).  Yet they weren’t even the story of their own conference that year.  Curiously enough, Northwestern — who was cycled off Ohio State’s schedule for 1995 and 1996 — was undefeated in conference.  Yes: that Northwestern.  Its only loss was an inexplicable post-Notre Dame letdown against Miami of Ohio.  Ohio State’s perfect record was the only tiebreaker the Buckeyes had keeping them on top of the Big Ten.  Further, Ohio State had two conference games left to Northwestern’s one.  Northwestern had beaten eventual 8-4 team Iowa earlier in the day.  All it had to do was beat sub-.500 Purdue while Ohio State had to take care of Illinois later that same day, Indiana and Michigan¹.

In the micro view, Illinois had been an achilles heel for John Cooper his entire career at Ohio State.  Entering this game, Cooper was only 1-6 against Illinois and was almost single-handedly closing² the otherwise wide margin between the two schools in the series (now 56-23-2 Ohio State).  Further, Ohio State was going to play its first game of the season without Terry Glenn, the future Biletnikoff winner and — far and away — the best receiver in college football for the 1995 season.  As you’ll see in the YouTube clip, he injured himself making an impeccable dive and catch of a Hoying pass against Minnesota the week earlier.  Glenn would return later in the season, but he was never really better than 70 percent.

Naturally, the view of analysts entering this game was of a true dilemma for the no. 2 ranked Buckeyes.  It had the nerds breathing down its neck in the Big Ten and had no head-to-head matchup in the season to serve as tiebreaker.  It needed to be perfect in order to go to the Rose Bowl because Northwestern was probably not going to lose to Purdue the next week.  Moreover, it needed to start with a victory over Illinois — against whom Cooper had only one win in 7 tries — and it needed to be accomplished without the home run threat of Terry Glenn.

To make matters worse: Illinois, in spite of its record and its crappy offense, had one of the best defensive units in the country (especially in containing opposing team’s ground attacks), led by future Pro-Bowlers Kevin Hardy and Simeon Rice.  Antwoine Patton, a safety for Illinois, was no slouch either.  After two disasters to begin the season against Michigan and Oregon, Illinois had been holding their opponents to just over 11 points a game.  Surely these two studs in Illinois’ front seven, with the assistance of a run-stopping secondary, would complicate things for Eddie George as it did last year against the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium.  After all, Tepper was probably the road warrior of the Big Ten.  Illinois was 10-3-1 in road games under his tutelage coming into this game.

In spite of the odds against the Buckeyes entering this game, the end result was total domination of the Fighting Illini.  The Buckeyes began the game with the ball, which ended in a quickie interception thrown by Hoying — shades of the 3 interceptions he threw in the 1994 matchup.  After the following Illinois punt that pinned the Buckeyes within their own one yard line, Eddie George just… well… went nuts.  Hoying, rather than throwing interceptions, just handed off to Eddie, who almost made up the entire length of the field by himself before Pepe Pearson turned in the ball to the end zone for a quick 7-0 lead.  After another Illinois punt, Eddie again led the charge for another Buckeyes touchdown — this one to Dimitrious Stanley.  By the end of the first quarter, Eddie George was already safely over 130 yards.

He, and the Buckeyes offense, wouldn’t let up either.  The Buckeyes never punted in this game, with the only 3 drives not ending scores coming from Bobby Hoying’s opening interception and Josh Jackson’s two missed field goals.  Further, save for Hoying’s interception, every single one of Ohio State’s drives ended deep in Illinois’ red zone or with a touchdown.  The two times the Buckeyes had to rely on field goals from Jackson came with the Buckeye offense stalling within the Illinois’ 5 yard line.  5 touchdowns and 2 field goals later, the Buckeyes offense had thoroughly flattened one of the better defenses in the country en route to a 41-3 victory.

Lest we forget about the performance of the defense, who dominated Illinois’ fragile offense the year after most of the same players had led a stirring second half comeback the year earlier in Ohio Stadium.  Illinois’ only points in the game came off a field goal to open the first drive of the second half.  Indeed, the plan was at the half that if Illinois could start the second half with a scoring drive to cut into the Buckeyes 17-0 halftime lead, it would be able to haunt Ohio State with visions of last year’s game.  However, after that drive, Eddie George took the first play from scrimmage after kickoff for his Heisman reel touchdown run.  In spite of a dominating first half, Eddie George had been kept out of the end zone in the first half.  In the second half, he poured in 3 touchdowns, with one coming as a receiver after Illinois’ lone turnover in the game.

With all said and done, Ohio State had won 41-3 and Eddie George had the best single performance of any Buckeye tailback in the program’s history.  It was a game that cemented Eddie George’s Heisman credentials, thus making Tommie Frazier the most horrifying college football player in history without a Heisman Trophy.

For the purposes of this exercise, though, it serves a point of reference for the type of humiliation that I think is the only just result for last season’s game against Illinois.  I can handle losing to Illinois since I don’t particularly value that rivalry.  Indeed, only those clowns in the Bucket & Dipper honorary care about the rivalry among Buckeye fans.  But getting Zooked? On Senior Day? And to snap our Big Ten record undefeated streak?  Now I want blood.

That said, I can wish all I want for a similar performance from Beanie, but there’s just no Orlando Pace or Rickey Dudley on the roster currently to create havoc.  There’s not even an Eric Gohlstin on the team..

Ohhh well.

Without further ado, you can watch my compilation of the 1995 Illinois game below.  In the interest of brevity, I don’t show much of the defensive highlights since it was kind of your garden variety total annihilation of an opposing offense.

1. we’re not talking about this game…
2. okay, that’s an exaggeration, to be fair to John Cooper.

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Penn State folds, Buckeyes on track for 4th straight Big Ten title

Unreal.  Not only did the Buckeyes have a game in which SO many things went their way, but the chips kept falling into place well after their Noon game ended.

Ohio State’s complete destruction of 24th-ranked Northwestern wasn’t the end of the day’s joy.  The 45-10 win was a constant afternoon of “did you SEE that?” moments, and then the truly unexpected happened when Penn State was defeated by Iowa 24-23 (seriously?  Iowa?  No, seriously?).

The BBC wanted to see Penn State go all the way after they upended us two weeks ago, but the Lions couldn’t handle the success.  Now the Big Ten (and the automatic BCS bowl bid) are up for grabs.

Michigan State stands alone at the top of the conference with a 6-1 record.  Sparty is off next week before traveling to Penn State in two weeks.

Ohio State and Penn State are now tied for second place at 5-1 each.  The Buckeyes play Illinois next week before coming home to face Michigan.  Both teams are sad sacks right now, as Michigan is 3-7 and Illinois just lost to Western Freaking Michigan.  Penn State goes home for their final two games Indiana and MSU.

The Buckeyes should (I said should, not will, in case karma is listening) win out, which will automatically give them a share of the Big Ten title.  But who will they share it with?  The winner of the Michigan State-PSU game will tell us.  If PSU wins, the Lions get the Rose Bowl bid.  If MSU wins, the Buckeyes go west.

It’s that simple.

But we get nothing if we don’t beat Illinois and Michigan.

By the way, the only path for the Buckeyes to outright win the conference is for Indiana to beat PSU in Happy Valley.  Not.  Gonna.  Happen.

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The Big Ten now has six teams eligible for bowl games with a possible 8 teams getting in.  Illinois and Wisconsin have two games each to win one and get in.  Illinois has Ohio State and Northwestern.  I think they blew their bowl bid by losing to a MAC school yesterday.  Wisconsin has Minnesota and Cal Poly left.  Barring another collapse like mid-season, they should get one win there.

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Beanie Wells rushed for 140 yards yesterday, giving him 2,999 yards in his career.  He also went from the 9th-leading rusher in OSU history to the 6th-leading rusher, all in one game.  He passes Antonio Pittman, Michael Wiley and Carlos Snow and looks to move up again at Illinois.

• #1 – Archie Griffin – 5,529 yards (2,530)
• #2 – Eddie George – 3,768 yards (769)
• #3 – Tim Spencer – 3,553 yards (554)
• #4 – Keith Byars – 3,200 yards (201)
• #5 – Pepe Pearson – 3,121 yards (122)
• #6 – Beanie Wells – 2,999 yards

All signs point towards Wells cracking the top 4 by the end of November, should he stay healthy.  Illinois’ defense is average, but Wells should be able to get the 122 yards he needs to take over the #5 slot.  201 total yards in 2 games will put him at #4 over the legendary Keith Byars.  Keep in mind that Wells ran for 229 against Michigan alone last year.

Even with the bowl game, it’d be incredible if he cracked the top 3.  He needs 554 yards to do it.  That’s 185 yards per game.  Possible, but not likely.

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The Roots of Ohio State’s Problems, Part Four: Stale Is the Beginning of Death

We’ve seen this far too many times—but oh, how the mind lets the minuscule details pass us by.

Before I continue my thoughts, I’d like to give a pre-warning before the scarlet and gray fanatics come from all directions of this great nation seeking my severed head upon a silver platter: THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL PROGRAM IS NOT ERODING. OHIO STATE FOOTBALL IS AT A ZENITH OF COMPETITIVE EXCELLENCE.

I’m in no way saying that Ohio State football is on the decline, but there is a very pulling fear in the pit of my stomach that if things don’t change soon, we could be headed that direction as a program. So that said, ah, where was I…ah yes, the mind passing up small telltale signs…

Nebraska…Michigan…Notre Dame…Miami…Alabama…teams that have been to the top of the mountain in the college football world in glorious past. But what do they all have in common? They have all in recent years fallen completely off the mountain, banging their heads violently on the way down until they hit the bottom of the valley with a complete thud.

Presently, none of these teams have come close (other than possibly Michigan in ‘06) to achieving the elite and dominant status they once had at their pinnacle.

But what happened to these powerhouses? Where did the cracks form in the blocks of the foundations that brought these programs off their pedestals and back to the world of ordinary in college football? Well, it varies with each program.

Nebraska lost a legend to retirement and never had the same level of coaching afterwards, and locale has also been a recent issue. Michigan fell to old training, old traditions, and an old coaching regime. Notre Dame’s elitist thought from board of trustees, alumni, and fans alike has arguably caused their current problems.

Miami has just been in the headlines for everything but football, and its perception as a “renegade program” has hurt the program. Alabama, meanwhile, has been looking into the past ever since Bear Bryant, and a combination of bad coaching regimes and NCAA infractions have eroded them as well.

As you can see from these programs, any multitude of things can drag a program from the peaks of national and conference championship glory to struggling to rekindle past glories. But it’s not those universities that I want to draw my comparison from.

Today I look at the current states of Penn State and Florida State: two more programs that in their prime were perennial national championship contenders and forces to be reckoned with; two teams that I can see Ohio State following down a path of stale mediocrity if they don’t realize that a program needs fresh approaches from time to time.

At present, The Ohio State University is riding a crest of success this program hasn’t experienced annually since Woody Hayes ran the program: BCS Championship appearances three of the last six years, a national championship in 2002, and two consecutive outright Big Ten championships, with the Buckeyes currently in pursuit of a third straight, which has NEVER been done in Big Ten history.

It is indeed a good time to be a Buckeye, as the phrase is so commonly uttered amongst fans.

But the numbers don’t go away…41-14, 28-21, 38-24, 35-3…all lopsided, all embarrassing, ALL connected. I want you to think back into the banks of your memory, as painful as it may be…and recall the games against Florida, Illinois, LSU, and USC.

Those games had two commonalities: Florida and Illinois both effectively ran versions of the spread, and LSU and USC were had DECIDEDLY better talent. All of these games had one thing in common…OSU wasn’t prepared to play any of those games.

Who is to blame when a team is repeatedly not prepared to perform during a big game? Is it the players who lack the dedication to be ready for every and all angles you might encounter during a contest? Is it a team that isn’t quite as good as they are reported to be from a talent perspective?

Is it the mental approach that the team takes? What about the heart and fire of the team collaborated together?

Or is it a coaching staff that doesn’t trust its talent, doesn’t make appropriate adjustments, plays not to lose instead of playing to win, and doesn’t prepare for the team for every possible occurrence that it can think of happening during the game?

What’s the answer? Everyone is and has been asking Ohio State that question for going on two years now!

What’s the answer…? Probably a little of everything. But what is at the root of these questions, and what is the problem? I think the root of it runs to a stale atmosphere.

Riddle me this, Batman…tell me how a team with 20 returning starters from a National Championship runner-up, a team with as many as four to five first round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, and a team with as much big game experience can be as uninspired at times and be performing as poorly as this 2008 edition of Ohio State football has been?!?!

I can already hear the comments on the board…”We just beat Michigan State 45-7!” “We are changing offensive philosophies midseason!” “We’re 7-1 Zuke!” Blah…blah…blah…

THOSE ARE EXCUSES, SOFT STATS, AND I’M TIRED OF LISTENING TO THEM. There are no excuses for the lack of passion this football team has played with at points this season. There’s no excuse for the absolute egg we laid in Los Angeles earlier this year, and most of all, the fashion with which we laid that turd egg!

Whether you like it or not, fellow Buckeye fan, USC was our chance to prove that we were a legitimate national contender, that the two national championships were wrong place, wrong time freak occurrences…Ohio State should have come out with a fire that would set the Coliseum ablaze, prepared for the challenge, and gone out there to win and not lose.

But we did none of those things. We looked overmatched, unprepared, and dispassionate, and we wilted under the pressure of the situation.

Regardless of what we do the rest of this season, the program needs to REALLY start looking for the missing pieces of the puzzle. What is the missing link in this team as it is currently constructed? How can we take this program to the next level and keep it there?

It’s clear to me that there is a staleness to the program. The players aren’t getting the message of what these coaches are trying to convey to them.

Look, I respect the hell out of this coaching staff. As a unit they have achieved many wonderful things and should be proud of all they have accomplished together. But there comes a point where you are at a particular place and the message gets repetitive, the voice gets drowned out, and the lessons don’t sink in with the same effect.

Whether the coaches are good coaches is regardless. The changes are needed to get fresh air into the program—to put the veterans on their heels a little bit, to give a new direction if needed, to hear a new voice of reasoning. Those are just the facts of life, and the Ohio State football program needs refreshment of that fact.

Where have the Silver Bullets gone? The defense that blitzed, took risks, attacked, and took the fight to the offense? The defense I’ve sat and watched most Saturdays over the last few years looks more like the “Silver Bend But Don’t Breaks.”

Has anyone else noticed that this defense doesn’t seem to play as fast as they used to? It’s not that this team isn’t fast, because they are actually probably one of the fastest, if not the fastest, defenses Ohio State has ever had. But they are in a READ AND REACT system. Let me say that again…READ…THEN…REACT.

While this defense is trying to read…good opposing offense have already reacted to the Buckeye defense.

Jim Heacock (the Ohio State DC) has two options left to me: A) stay and change the philosophy, or B) look for new work.

I know it’s heartless of me to say. I know that this defense plays lights-out football against the Purdues, Minnesotas, and Indianas of the world—which, by the way, is why Ohio State’s defensive statistics are annually inflated—but this defense doesn’t work against the Floridas, USCs, and LSUs of the world.

It gets exposed when it counts—and that’s the bottom line.

I love Jim Tressel, think he is a great coach and an even better man, and am in no way advocating he be fired. That would be ignorant on my part considering Ohio State’s success under his tenure.

But the time has come for the Board of Trustees, AD Gene Smith, and more pressure from the fans to see a bright, young, energetic, and innovative OC come onto this staff and work hand in hand with Jim Tressel in developing a new plan with this offense. Not only would it give a new, fresh offensive outlook for the players and the opposition, it would help recruiting exponentially.

Enough is enough with “Tresselball” at Ohio State. We’re Ohio freaking State…we’ve had the likes of Terry Glenn, David Boston, Joey Galloway, Eddie George, Keith Byars, Robert Smith, Orlando Pace, Troy Smith, Ted Ginn Jr., Cris Carter…and on and on and on…There is absolutely NO REASON that we shouldn’t be able to throw a pass on first down!

There is no reason that we should be 109th in the nation in total offense going into MSU last week! No way…not with Terrelle Pryor and Beanie Wells in your backfield, not with young receivers like DeVier Posey and Lamarr Thomas paired with at least solid veterans Hartline and Robiskie. There are no excuses.

What happened to Michigan? They got old and stale in philosophies and the coaching staff. Lloyd Carr was at his last stop, as was the majority of his staff. At the very least they weren’t going to advance their careers as head coaches.

What about Ohio State? Where has the transition in coaches been the last few years? Other than Darell Hazel and Luke Fickell, this staff is very established (aged). While having an established core group is nice, wouldn’t it be nice to have that established corps blended with fresh young minds using Ohio State as an audition to get head coaching gigs for themselves? What’s so wrong with that?

Dantonio did that. Snyder did that. Mel Tucker did that. But in recent years that progression of coaches has run dry. Now you have a team with far too many seniors who have been through the wars, having experienced far too many rough environments and team challenges together for them to look this uninspired, unprepared, and at times, inept.

You see it all the time when new college football head coaching jobs open up—all the hot young coordinators around the country who are up for the gigs…and where were a lot of them from? Texas, USC, Florida, even places like Oklahoma State, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

I think it’s a good thing to lose coordinators. It means they have done an outstanding job at your school. It means that they are creating explosive offenses and defenses. It shows that they’ve proven what it takes to go out on the road and pull in those big recruits that help their system excel—and their talents are now being rewarded with a chance for a program of their own.

Where has that gone at Ohio State?

I fear that Ohio State is ripe to fall into a stale state as a program if changes aren’t made and problems aren’t addressed moving forward. Sometimes those changes are not easy to make: They involve long-lasting relationships, they involve a working comfort level…and losing those things or change in them is very difficult.

But sometimes that difficult transition is exactly what is needed for personal growth, and growth from your program.

Never rest on your accomplishments and your past—or that’s exactly where you’ll be left.

 

Thanks for the ear guys. Please, as always, feel free to leave comments and thoughts. Also please spread the word about the series to others, and if you choose so become my fan! Hope you enjoyed the article, and sorry this installment took so long. Also look for the next installment coming soon…

* The Roots of Ohio State’s Problems, Part Five: Recruiting Is the Lifeblood (OSU from 2004-07)

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It’s a big, big week/Beanie Wells update

It’s officially Monday morning, which means Penn State week is upon us.

There will be a LOT to say about this week, and the mud will fly all over the place all week long.  For now, all we can say is that Saturday night will see the biggest game in the Shoe since Michigan visited in 2006.

Let me make a not-so-bold prediction right now.  I think the Buckeyes are headed to the Rose Bowl this year.  Here’s why;

• If Ohio State beats Penn State, they will run the table against Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan, sending them west with an 8-0 Big Ten record.  While they’ll climb the charts in the BCS, I do not believe that the BCS will fall our way enough to bypass the Rose and send us to the BCS National Championship.  Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com disagrees and says that back-to-back impressive wins against MSU and PSU would be a big boost to give the Bucks a fourth title shot in 7 years (he does have a point, considering that nobody from the SEC besides Florida looks even remotely like a world-beater this year)
• If Penn State wins this week, we’ll slip into second place in the Big Ten, but running the table will solidify that second-place slot.  Penn State does not have a tough road after the Buckeyes, and I believe a win at The Shoe will eventually boost them into the National Championship.  That sends us to the Rose Bowl (if we win out and stay in the top 14 of the BCS, which will happen at 10-2)

Later this week, we’ll do a trade-off with a PSU blog, and we’ll take a look at a very specific place on the turf at Ohio State.  But for now, this is a “let’s get ready” post.  Go Buckeyes!

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Beanie Wells rushed for 140 yards on Saturday, easily earning himself the MVP of the game (although a lot of players certainly did their part to earn the win).  Here’s his updated standings in the list of All-Time rushing greats at The Ohio State University

• #1 – Archie Griffin – 5,529 yards (2,725)
• #2 – Eddie George – 3,768 yards (964)
• #3 – Tim Spencer – 3,553 yards (749)
• #4 – Keith Byars – 3,200 yards (396)
• #5 – Pepe Pearson – 3,121 yards (317)
• #6 – Carlos Snow – 2,974 yards (170)
• #7 – Michael Wiley – 2,951 yards (147)
• #8 – Antonio Pittman – 2,945 yards (141)
• #9 – Beanie Wells – 2,784 yards

I don’t expect Beanie to crack the Top 8 against Penn State (but if he does, it’s a sure sign that we dominated the Lions), but the following week against Northwestern should send him past Pittman, Wiley and Snow in one fell swoop.  (Of course, provided he stays healthy, knock on wood).

With five games to play (4 regular season, plus the bowl game), an injury-free Wells should rush past Keith Byars into the #4 slot.  He needs a mere 80 yards per game to do that.  Unless he has a couple of games like he did against Michigan last year, he likely won’t see #3.  He needs 150 yards per game to pass Tim Spencer.

As for topping Eddie or Arch, he’ll need a senior season to get there, and I’m not so sure he’ll stick around for that.  If he does, Eddie’s #2 slot would be passed, but I doubt Archie will see his record broken.  151 yards per game for the rest of his career would be an amazing feat.

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