PSU was just demolished by USC in the Rose Bowl a few moments ago.   The alleged second best Bowl Game was a joke.   SC showed itself to be the best team in the country.   I don't think anyone out ther could have beat them today.  Shocking that Oregon State was able to pull it off.   In general, the PAC 10 is looking stronger than expected.

Big12 has been struggling so far and it just appears that nobody in the Big12 can play any defense.   With each Big10 team playing tough in the other Bowl games, I still see Ohio State as an excellent matchup with Texas.   I have a feeling that if we can punch them hard with our "D", the game will work itself out for us.   The Defense has been playing well of late.  

Rumor has it that both Boeckman and Pryor will be in the backfield at the same time.  That should be enough to throw any Defense off tilt.  Considering Boeckman plays well with Robo and Hartline and Pryor has eyes for Sanzenbacher, somebody should be open.   A nearly healthy Wells will add to the confusion.

I envision another close low scoring contest here.   I've been watching the Big12 all year and they just don't play defense.

I just don't see Chohklahoma doing well against Florida, meaning we are stuck with that arrogant son of a gun Urban Meyer winning it again.  This will also leave us with the UT/OSU Bowl game as the best one of the season.  Hopefully we break this 2 year drought of not showing up for the bowl game.

Technorati Tags: Backfield, Big12, Boeckman, Bowl Game, Bowl Games, Confusion, Few Moments, Final Game, Hartline, Joke, Matchup With Texas, Ohio State, Oregon State, Pac 10, Psu, Rose Bowl, Son Of A Gun, Tilt, Urban Meyer, Year Drought

Well folks its the halfway mark for this season and so far the Buckeyes haven't lived up to their potential!   This last game against Purdue just emphasized what we've been discussing this whole year.

1. Offensive Line was offensive.   Granted their were some plays where I saw holes big enough for a Mack truck to drive through (and Pryor optioned not to give Wells the ball), but there were too many missed blocks.   Rehring in particular looked bad.   The line has been shifted around a lot this year due to poor play and the lack of cohesion is evident from these switches.   To make matters worse, super freshmen Shugarts and Brewster are out for the next few games at least (Shugarts for the year probably). 
2. No spark in the offense.   Neither Pryor or Wells had good games.   We're basically down to Wells as the only productive back.   Please keep Mo Wells out of any more games.   He is worthless.   Hopefullty Saine (hamstring) and Herron (concussion) are able to come back.   But neither back has wowed me this year.   Pryor is showing that he is a true freshman.   I was hoodwinked into thinking he was Superman, but he is Superman with a conscious.   He's just thinking too much on the field.  He's a perfectionist and that has kept him from being anything but perfect.   He just needs to commit and not second guess it.  If he continues to play this way the next few games, we'll be stuck with Boeckman (and he has no problem chucking the ball into double coverage).  I swear I saw the slightest smirk on Boeckman's face when they pained to him during Pryor's troubles against Purdue.   I'm still waiting for the spark from a speedy receiver.  Bottom line is either you have speed or you dont and, folks, we ain't got it.
3. Defense finally played like the defense we've been expecting all year.   Maybe the light finally turned on for the D Line and we have turned the corner.   If so, then we will have a good couple of games.   Unfortunately, I think it's not.   We lost Wilson for the season.   With Rose filling in the gap, you can expect that light to dim significantly.  We'll need the same performances out of the secondary we just saw for the remainder if the year to have any hope of coming out of the next 2 games alive.   We also need to hear more from Lauranitis.  He has to show he is top 5 draft pick in these next few games.

This is the hump.   Our last two ranked opponents are before us and if destiny has us repeating for a third consecutive National Championship loss, then we have to rise against MSU and PSU.   If, somehow, we beat MSU convincingly and beat the media favorite Penn State, then the country will once again be forced to acknowlege us.   It makes no sense that we are consistently top 5 recruiting class year in and year out and not have the ability to simply reload.

Technorati Tags: Boeckman, Bottom Line, Buckeyes, Cohesion, Concussion, D Line, Double Coverage, Freshmen, Good Games, Holes, Last Game, Mack Truck, Offensive Line, Perfectionist, Purdue, Shugarts, Smirk, Superman, Switches, True Freshman

I've been reluctant to blog anything after last week's abysmal performance.   Many questions have now been answered for us concerning this years team.   This game was like the other 2 National Championship losses.   We don't have our explosive player, we make stupid mistakes, both our Lines don't show up to play and our QB performs poorly.

Beanie Wells was all we had going for us coming into this game.   While I believe he wouldn't have made a difference, just his presence would have helped to keep them honest on the defensive side.  The whole soap opera before the game really helped to pin USC's ears back and drill us.

While it appeared that at least the officials were making bad calls equally between the 2 teams, out penalties always appeared at critical times.   Just scoring an initial TD would have lifted the team.

Face it our lines on both sides of the ball have let us down the last 3 years.   We've looked slow and overpowered in each of these 3 games.   I strongly think we need to make some changes in the line.  

Boeckman looked out of place the entire game.   He is definitely a pocket passer and looked awkward and confused when moving out of the pocket.   Sure he made some bad decisions, but it wasn't like he had anytime to throw.   Pryor was the better option here because of his elusiveness.   I am amazed at how poised he looks in the pocket and he literally glides when he runs the ball. 

The coaching let us down once again.   I remember when we first got Tressel, i was so relieved to see half time adjustments on both sides of the ball.  This is something Cooper couldn't do to save his life.  Now it just seems that Tressel is duped by these other coaches and refuses to change his game plan.   This also goes for Heacock on the Defensive side.   The Oline play disturbs me so much that we really need to make a change on the top.

Now we face a national bias against both the Buckeyes and the Big Ten.   Nearly everyone outside of Big 10 country doesn't even think we belong in a BCS game.   This, of course, is ludicrous.  However, this might as well have been 2 losses for us.   We face an upward battle.

How do we get back into the good graces of the National media?   We have to change something up and be a power house on offense.   We have to be making sick plays which get shown on sports center every week.   We can do this by inserting Pryor, getting Beanie back and shaking up the starters at other positions.   If Pryor looks as good as advertised, there isn't a Defense in the country which could stop a Wells/Pryor backfield.  

I think Tressel has lost this team and needs to re-establish their respect.   Without some swagger, we'll continue to lose the big game.   There is so much talent on this team, we ave to find a way to get back into it.   It's still September, so an awful lot can happen.  

GO Bucks!

Technorati Tags: 3 Years, Abysmal Performance, Bad Decisions, Boeckman, Buckeyes, Critical Times, Ears, Game Plan, Games, Heacock, Losses, National Bias, National Championship, Presence, Qb, Soap Opera, Stupid Mistakes, Td, Time Adjustments