Here are my top things to watch (in no particularly order):

1.) Beanie Wells at 100%. After much stalling from Tressel, the word on the grapevine (from Beanie's mom), is that he had turf toe.   At first glance, one would conclude that this would be a season ending injury for Beanie.   But after googling turf toe, I learned that there are 3 degrees of this particular injury.  In the case of a first degree turf toe, X-rays are negative and one needs to immobilize the toe with a boot.  The injury is minor and one can recover from it at their own pace.   This most certainly seems to be what happened to Beanie based upon everything we've been hearing.   In the 2nd and 3rd degree cases, one has partially or fully torn ligaments on the big toe.  They wouldn't be able to walk without crutches and something would show up on X-rays.   Given that Beanie has been reported as walking without his cast as early as today.   I think everything will be OK.

That in mind, it may be a good idea to sit him for this next game.  That was a scary situation for all Buckeye Faithful!   Herron looked good in his backup role and InSaine was still nursing a sore hamstring.   Maurice Wells had some nifty runs mainly as a decoy for Pryor, which I thought went really well.  I expected more of a Pryor/InSaine interaction, but this will do.

2) Don't Bend It Like Boeckman. Early on in the game, I felt Boeckman was checking down and hitting his underneath receivers.  I got the sense that later in the game he started to force the old deep ball down the middle of the field.  While this technique will work most of the time against lesser opponents, if he tries this against USC, he will get burned.  They will have the best D we face all year and have an even better secondary then we do.

To make matters worse, the P factor looked great for a freshman debut and I know for sure that there is a large OSU contingency already calling for Boeckman to step down.   I still think mixing Pryor in for few series/game is the best option we have right now.

3. Who'll emerge as the next deep pass threat? Hartline looked even better then last year.   He is definitely our clutch receiver.   Everything sticks to him.   Robo was brilliant down the line as well.  From what Small and Posey showed, I think we have answered our deep ball threat question.   Posey had some nice catches and moves which distinguish him from the other receivers.  He'll be an excellent target for Pryor moving forward.

4. Will the D line step it up? Can't say anything bad about the Defenses performance.   They seemed more focus then last year.   Wilson was a menace coming around from the outside and YSU was stymied all day.   Pretty nice considering we were short on DB's.

5. The P factor. My first impression of Pryor was "Wow he is special".   He audibled out of his first snap and just showed tremendous poise.   If he was nervous or doubting what to do, he never showed it.   He made moving with the ball look effortless and dragged defenders trying to tackle him.   We didn't really get to see him throw the deep ball and he doesn't seem to have much of a touch with the ball.  This may change, but I feel he needs s few more snaps before denoting him to first string.   Bottom line is that he has to be in a few series per game.  We will need both him and Beanie on the field for the SC game.  They will be the best 2 athletes from either team on the field by far.

Technorati Tags: Backup Role, Beanie Mom, Big Game, Big Toe, Crutches, Decoy, First Degree, First Game, First Glance, Grapevine, Herron, Interaction, Maurice Wells, National Championship, Own Pace, Receivers, Scary Situation, Torn Ligaments, Turf Toe, X Rays

Technorati Tags: Backup Role, Big Game, Big Toe, Championship Games, Consecutive National Championship, Crutches, D Line, Decoy, Devier Posey, Double Coverage, First Degree, First Game, First Glance, Game 1, Grapevine, Hasn, Health, Herron, Interaction, Job, Joe Bauserman, Losses, Lsu, Maurice Wells, National Championship, Nfl Draft, Own Pace, Possession, Receivers, Scary Situation, Shutter, Spring Game, Terrelle Pryor, Torn Ligaments, Turf Toe, Usc Game, X Rays