Buckeyes Roll Past Purdue

Ohio State made a statement on Saturday by beating Purdue 49-0. After a tough road loss in Wisconsin, Ohio State needed a game like this in order to get their confidence back in check. A strong performance by running back Boom Herron and quarterback Terrelle Pryor, boosted the Buckeyes offensive attack. The Buckeyes scored on their first drive and didn't look back from there. 

The Buckeyes defense, which struggled the previous week against Wisconsin, shut Purdue's offense out and played an overall, solid game. 

Special Teams for the Buckeyes looked much better although I still believe this is still their weakest part of the Buckeyes game. 

Overall, this was an awesome game by the Buckeyes and they still have their national championships hopes open.

Ohio State Beats Purdue 49-0

http://search.espn.go.com/ohio-state-football/videos/6

Buckeyes lose to Wisconsin

Terrelle Pryor's freshman year he lead a game winning drive against Wisconsin to secure the Buckeyes victory over their Big Ten opponent. Could it happen again last Saturday? If you ask a Buckeye fan, you would hear almost 100% of the time, yes, Pryor will lead a drive down the field to score and the Buckeyes defense will step up to win the game. 

The answer to this question is "No." The Buckeyes could not hold off the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday. Unfortunately, Ohio State's special teams and defense was lousy, and not even apparent. In my last post, I made it clear if the Buckeyes could hold off the Badgers with their special teams, the game would be in the Buckeyes grasp. This did not happen. The opening kickoff resulted in a kick return touchdown for the Badgers, who fed off the Wisconsin crowd the rest of the game, specifically because off that play. This play sparked the Badgers and beat the Buckeyes. 

The offense did not look like it showed up and Jim Tressell went back to his conservative play calling. 

Good bye National Championship hopes. I guess we will settle for a BCS game again, let's hope.

College Gameday

College Gameday is headed to Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday when the Ohio State Buckeyes travel there to face the Wisconsin Badgers. This is the game of the week and will give a good outlook on what team will be a Big Ten power for the remainder of the season. Wisconsin is ranked #18 in the nation while Ohio State is #1. This is going to be a defensive battle. Whatever team wins on defense will be the team to win the game. Ohio State needs to improve their special teams play when it comes to punting and kicking. Last week they had the worst net yardage when it came to special teams relating to punting. If the Buckeyes can improve their special teams I feel they will not have a problem with beating the Badgers. Up to this point in the season, this is the most important game for the Buckeyes and if they even start thinking about national championship hopes, they need to make a statement in this game.

#1 in the country

the buckeyes are finally #1 in the country. I feel as if this is not a good thing. I know that when a team is ranked #1, they are the bulls-eye to all the other teams. everyone is out to get them. although i do feel we deserve the #1 ranking, it is going to take a lot of guts to stay #1. the buckeyes know from experience what a #1 ranking does to players heads. it makes certain players get cocky and think they can do whatever they want and still be a winner. it is up to ohio state to stay humble and beat teams without their heads getting bigger. this week will be true test to see if they are the #1 team in the nation when the go to wisconsin. this is a huge hump the buckeyes need to get over before they can actually start thinking about playing in the national championship game in january.

Buckeyes Looking Ahead to Inidana

This link takes you to Ohio State University's Football website. It has some videos that have different Buckeye football players talking about their upcoming game against the Indiana Hoosiers.

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300

Looking forward to Indiana

Ohio State played a very conservative game against Illinois in week 5. It was a hard fought game that relied on defense for both teams. The Buckeyes prevailed 24-17 under the leadership of Terrelle Pryor and their defense.

This week the Buckeyes face the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers had a heartbreaking loss to the up-and-coming Michigan Wolvierines. It was a shootout that ended with a Michigan touchdown with close to 20 seconds left in the game. The final was 42-35. This was a game that each team's offense dominated.

With the Indiana offense putting up over 450 passing yards and 88 rushing yards, the question is, Can Ohio State's defense shut down the high powered Indiana offense led by quarterback Ben Chappell and wide reciever, Tandon Doss?

My answer is yes. Indiana played Michigan, whose defense averages over 430 yards a game. Indiana will see a completely opposite defense when they step into Ohio Stadium against the Buckeyes on Saturday. Although Chappell and Doss are a very experienced qb, wide reciever combination, Ohio State has just as much, if not, more experience on their defense.

Indiana's defense gave up 42 points to Michigan, whose qb did most of the work putting in over 200 rushing yards and passing yards. With the Ohio State offense coming off of a less-than-solid performance against Illinois, they will be ready to run and pass all over the Hoosier defense. The only factor holding Ohio State back is Terrelle Pryor's leg injury. He said it was not a serious injury but we will see if  he favors his leg in this Big Ten matchup.

Other notes for this game:

ESPN plans on televising this game on their new 3D network.

If Jim Tressel and his Buckeyes win this game, Tressel would become the third-fastest coach to win 100 games at a Big Ten school.

Ohio State currently has the all-time series record vs. Indiana: 66-12-5

Buckeyes 5 games into the Season

I have a few questions about the Ohio State football game this weekend against Illinois.....
  Why was our defense struggling early on against the Illini offense
  Why did Jim Tressel play so conservatively after Terrell Pryor returned to the game after his injury?


I have been a lifelong Buckeye fan and have no reason to ever change that but in games like this, where we have a stellar defense and a Heisman hopeful at quarterback, Terrell Pryor, Why do we tend to play down to our opponents caliber? It has been a question in my head ever since Jim Tressel has come over from Youngstown State early in the 2000's. Tressel is a spectacular coach and obviously has done the right things for the Buckeye football program but he definitely leaves us fans at the edge of our seats every game, hoping we will grind out another hard fought victory. Where is all the entertainment with all the weapons we have on our team?

When it comes down to it, when we play a top 5 or 10 team in the nation, recently, we never play up to our opponents caliber (excluding the Rose Bowl win over Oregon), we just play "Tressel Ball," which is we score a couple times on offense, then later on in the game rely on three-and-outs, punt the ball, and rely on our defense all the time. 


As a fan, I understand why Tressel chooses this strategy, but with all the weapons we have on offense, why not pass more and score more every game? 

1 more question....
What is wrong with our Special Teams so far this year?


These are all questions that I have through the first 5 games of the season.