I had to wait to watch the game on Saturday because of various personal conflicts.  I have a DVR, so it was no big deal to sit down and watch it later.  I made sure to tell everyone I saw to not tell me the score as the first thing I said to them.  The looks I received were quite comical.

In any event I sat down to watch the game and yada yada yada it was halftime and we were up 7-0.  My point is that the first half of the game was basically more of the same.  No real offensive explosion.  Pryor make a mix of good and bad plays and nothing to write home about, except for the one nice 18 play drive we had which failed with our missed field goal.  The lack of emotion from the offense was apparent and I thought Oh boy here we go again....

The short kickoff got Minnesota off guard and actually provided the spark we needed in the second half to dominate and win.  Both the running game (even with our 3rd and 4th RB's) and Pryor's overall play worked for us (granted we were playing the 9th best defense in the Big 11).  Two things really stood out in the game for me:  Posey has emerged as a big play maker and Martin was bowling people over up the middle).   I was shocked to see that an Ohio State offensive player was in the top 10 for any good category.  Posey finished with 161 yards which would have been more if he hadn't had a sure touchdown catch knocked away from him as he was turning.  Again Minnesota's defense ain't that good, but it was nice to see a RB running up the middle and taking people with him.  My feeling is this type of change of pace is necessary for us since the other 3 RB's we have are much better at moving on the edges.  Hopefully, Martin will continue to produce as we need some running help.  Kudos do go out to the O-line for not being the ole line from the prior two weeks. 

I am still more than a bit concerned about Terrelle Pryor.  Late last week he mentioned that the Purdue loss humbled him and that he was a new man.  What about the PSU loss last year or the USC loss earlier this year?  Why would it take last week's loss to change him?  In addition, after Jordan Hall scored a touchdown, Pryor looked to the sideline and Tressel pointed toward the endzone.  Pryor then sprinted down the field to congratulate Hall (who, by the way, was a highschool teammate of his).  The fact that Tressel had to prompt him to go down field shows you Pryor's attitude, me first.  I really hope that Tress can bring him around to being team first because that is what the team sorely lacks, an offensive leader who can hold players accountable. 

I do think that Pryor will ive up to his potential at OSU, but it may take 2 years to get there.  I don't see him as anything other then a QB and Tressel can be the best thing to happen to his career in the long run.  It's obvious that being a prima dona isn't going to get him where he needs to be at the college level and humility and hard work are the only routes to salvage his career.

Looking forward, things were incrementally better on offense this game and we need to make many more strides forward.  PSU remains the biggest challenge on our schedule.  Playing in Happy Valley will not be good for our offense and we will need some special plays to pull out a victory there.  I actually think Iowa will be a winnable game as they are not explosive on offense.  We have to be careful or yada yada yada the season will be over and we are at the Outback Bowl.

Technorati Tags: Change Of Pace, Dvr, Field Goal, Hadn, Kickoff, Kudos, Lack Of Emotion, New Man, Offensive Explosion, Offensive Player, Ohio State, Personal Conflicts, Posey, Psu, Purdue, Rb, Running Game, Second Half, Terrelle Pryor, Touchdown

Well, the season is officially over for most Buckeye fans.  We still have the Big11 to play for and it somehow seems hollow.  Most people thought we would reload like USC or Florida does and the way the Defense was playing early on, it appeared to be so.  After last weekends complete and utter collapse, its now a Rebuilding cause for next year.  If Gibson (big if) stays, we'll have 18 returning starters next year and may be back in the hunt.

We'll start with the biggest surprise, the defense didn't come to play.  Hand it to Purdue, they had a quarterback who could throw on the run and they spread the offense out.  Our defense just looke tired and couldn't close on the Purdue play makers.   Make no mistake, every remaining foe will try to do the same thing to us and some might suceed.

The offensive line might have well not even taking the field, they were letting everything get by them.  Our running game never really got off the ground (Purdue was daring us to pass) and Pryor made some bad decisions.  Until Pryor can learn to throw and make good choices, we will face this against every team we play.  Every ome thought we were getting an improved version of Troy Smith and so far all we got is another Steve Bellisari. 

Tressel's refusal to bench Pryor for even a series and unwillingness to say anything negative about Pryor suggests that kid gloves need to be used when addressing him.  He's more a prima dona than a player and that is apparent.  We can't light a fire under him to motivate and have to wait for him to develop.  The biggest question is do we have the patience and the answer is we have to.  Tressel has thrown his lot with this kid and we have to take it for the next 2 years.   He does have the potential to be something special and we have to wait for it.

The offensive line is as much to blame as Pryor is for our 92/119 offensive ranking.  Adams and Shugarts don't appear to have a grasp on the basics of blocking.  I'm tired of ranting about how Bollman needs to go, but whatever he is teaching them isn't working and something has to change.  We are getting 4 star recruits every year on the Oline and have little to show for it. 

Finally, there is no chemistry or emotion on the offense.  I don't see Pryor as a leader (to much into himself) .  Theres no decision to suceed at any cost and we are not imrpoving (regressing actually) on offense,

There's too much to fix in order for us to have an offense which even resembles Northwestern's.

Technorati Tags: Bad Decisions, Bench, Buckeye Fans, Foe, Gibson, Grasp, Kid Gloves, Offensive Line, Ome, Patience, Prima Dona, Purdue, Running Game, Shugarts, Starters, Steve Bellisari, Tressel, Troy Smith, Usc, Utter Collapse

The game against Illinois was impressive because of two items:  the shutout on the defensive side and the apparent emergence of a running game with excellent blocking by the offensive line.  Prior to the start of the season, pundits were citing the explosiveness of the Illinois offense and how they could be the sleeper team in the Big 10.  They were a sleeper team, the played like they were asleep.  I think the overall performance was more indicative of the play of an obviously lost team.  They played mistake proned uninspired ball on both sides. 

If the defense continues to play as it has,  we have a chance of going far for the rest of the season and actually making a BCS bowl as Big Ten Champions.  If the offensive line continues to block as it did last weekend, we could make a lot of noise nationally.   There were a lot of good things that happened especially considering everyone in the stadium knew we were going to run the ball in that inclimate weather and Illinois couldn't stop us from doing it.  The execution was there even if it probably had more to do with Illinois not showing up to play.  Pryor did what he had to in those conditions and didn't make too many mistakes.  It was a good building opportunity for his confidence.

In mainstream TV, a colloquialism has been coined, "jump the shark",  when a TV series has some event which occurs where the show loses its novelty or intrigue and takes a turn for the worse never to be the same.  It was originally coined in reference to the Happy Days episode where Fonze jumped a shark while on water skis (www.jumptheshark.com).  Happy Days was never the same again.

I really have begun to wonder  whether OSU football is past it prime and we have "jumped the shark" and taken a turn for the worse?  Prior to the 2OT victory over Miami for the National Championship in 2002,  I never dreamed of going to the Natty.  My main concern was winning the Big 10 and beating Michigan.  I was content with the latter more then the former.  I guess all those years of being really really good under Cooper only to have it viciously taken away from me at the hands of UM jaded me into this.  Even going into the National Championship Game, I was convinced we didn't stand a chance and was content with the victory over hated UM.  When we won the Natty in the fashion that we did, it awoke something more monstrous in me, a will to win it every year.  That became the expectation especially considering Tress' great success over UM.  We need to keep it in perspective on how hard it is to actually make it to the National Championship and how special it is that we are winning as many games/year as we are.   The novelty of getting there and enjoying has rubbed off for most fans (including myself) and we need to realize what we have at this moment since we may not have it any longer.

As far as the point where we "jumped the shark", it has to be immediately after that touchdown run of Ted Ginn's in the National Championship game against Florida in 2007 where he was jumped on by a teammate and twisted his ankle while celebrating his score, we basically "twisted the Ginn".  Up to that point, OSU football was respected, expected and did win.  Tressel was the "best big game" coach in the country.   OSU fans were in seventh heaven and expected this year in and year out.  Six more big game losses to top 5 opponents and we are not the same by any means.  Nationally the Big 10 is the laughing stock of all college football and Tress is under fire because of his ultraconservative ways.   The program appears to be on the decline and is at greater risk of being canceled.  For now, suffice it say we've twisted the Ginn.

Technorati Tags: Array, Bcs Bowl, Colloquialism, Confidence, Emergence, Execution, Football Game, Ginn, Happy Days, Inclimate Weather, Intrigue, Jump The Shark, Jumped The Shark, Mainstream Tv, National Championship, Offensive Line, Pundits, Running Game, Shark, Shutout, Tv Series, Victory, Water Skis