Buckeye Outpost

It really seems like last Fall when expectations were so high for the Buckeyes and everyone was convinced that Terrelle Pryor had progressed over the offseason to become that special player everyone thinks he is.  We thought that Tressel could work his magic like he did with Troy Smith and we'd all be toasting another Natty.  We quickly learned that Pryor had regressed and appeared robotic and clouded with too much thought in both the USC and Purdue games.  The national media all cites the "special" performance Pryor had in the Rose Bowl and how that can only bring him to greener pastures this year.  Unfortunately, it may have all gone to his head (as it did last year).  Read my last posting, if you want my impressions on the Rose Bowl.  It looks like there's too much hype again this year behind Pryor.

That said, this year's team my actually be slightly worse then last year's.  We've lost defensive linemen as well as our safeties.  Our receiving corp is depleted with the surprising losses of Carter and Thomas and our running game has depth, but no special backs.  The strength of the team will remain the defense and all of our hopes on offense lie with Pryor.

The problem and solution is that all of our hopes lie in the mind and ability of Pryor.   I'm guessing that we lose one game this year because of lack of discipline on offense.  He'll have another Purdue game and, since our backs are average, we'll have no one to bail him out on offense.  Therein lies the problem when all of our offense really keys on Pryor.  

There does appear to be some encouraging (or discouraging) news in the announced two deeps for Thursday night's game.  Many freshman are showing up.  This bodes well for our future, but doesn't say much for some of our middle classmen. 

In any event, my gues is we go 11-1 (with a silly loss to someone like Purdue) and are on the outside looking in again on the Natty.  I also think Pryor will have another disappointing season making him one of the biggest busts in OSU history.  Here's hoping I'll be eating some crow in 4 months....

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Technorati Tags: Bigg, Buckeyes, Deeps, Defensive Linemen, Discipline, Freshman, Greener Pastures, Gues, Hype, Impressions, Offseason, Purdue Game, Purdue Games, Rose Bowl, Running Game, Safeties, Terrelle Pryor, Thursday Night, Troy Smith, Usc

Tags: Announcements by swjessen
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This was a  quality victory over a good Wisconsin opponent and goes some way to regaining some respect nationally.  Most pundits had Wisconsin as being the team to beat in the Big 10.   Of course, Penn State is now the national media darling (more on that later).   In spite of this victory, there still remains a few glaring issues which will keep us from reaching and/or winning the National Championship.

Pryor is the real deal.   He has so much upside, its scary.   The poise he showed in crunch time showed should send fear to the rest of the Big 10.   He is a freshman after all.   Granted he made some mistakes, but the fact he drove us down the field with the game on the line and won it on the road in Wisconsin  is quite impressive. 

Seeing Beanie run as he did is quite encouraging as well.   One does have to worry about his overall health.  He does seem to get beat up and have to play through a lot of pain.

The offensive line played better than I have seen them play all year.   Still not as dominate as they should be, but better.   That in itself is encouraging and hopefully the trend will continue.

Our main problem is the lack of a D line.   They haven't shown any improvement and seem to be dominated by whomever we are playing.   The line was a sieve through most of the game, allowing Wisconsin to move the ball at will.   We won't stand a chance against a better team (such as Penn State) or any of the top 5 teams in the country.   It appears that Gholstein was much more of an impact then we gave him credit.   Wilson was supposed to be a worthy replacement, but hasn't seem to fill the role yet.

In addition, our receiving corp is average at best without a true burner.   We have our great route runners (Robo and Hartline) and our clutch guy (Hartline), but no speedster to clear the DB's.   In every game, the opposing DB's seem to have no problem staying step for step with our guys.  

I just don't see us being able to keep pace with a top team.   It appears more and more that the media has been correct in their assessment of the Big 10 being down the last few years and that OSU have been the recipients of this down time.   Some people have said this is the best team Tressel has ever had, but it appears more and more that the 2002 team may be his best team.   We just seem to be missing the hunger that that team had back then.

With any luck, Penn State will stay undefeated and we can secure a victory over them.   The national media absolutely loves this team and beating them would definitely restore us to some prominence.   It probably won't be enough for this year, but at least get us going in the rght direction.

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Technorati Tags: Clutch, Crunch Time, D Line, Freshman, Hartline, Hasn, Media Darling, National Championship, Offensive Line, Opponent, Penn State, Poise, Pundits, Real Deal, Runners, Sieve, Speedster, Spite, Wit, Worthy Replacement

Tags: Announcements by swjessen
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