OK Buckeye fans, you’ve waited a year for this revenge spanking.
Questions still arise: Will Illinois be able to depend on another two touchdowns courtesy the corrupt/incompetent officiating this year?
Not that we’re still bitter or anything. But it’s at least encouraging to know that Stephan Pamon will watching the game at his local B-dubs rather than dressing in stripes tomorrow.
But back to 2008’s matchup. In two of its past three games, OSU has found a spark with its offense, and they’ll be meeting a Zook squad that seems to be on its way down after losing to Western Michigan last week.
I don’t think there’s any mystery about this Ohio State offense anymore. It’s clear that it’s designed to wait patiently, then pounce on an opponent’s mistakes. If an opponent plays a mistake-free game, the Bucks either lose (USC, PSU), or struggle (Ohio, Purdue).
So where does Illinois fit in? How about tied for last place in the Big 10 in interceptions lost? It’s an encouraging stat for an OSU secondary currently playing lights out. This year, besides losing Pamon, Illinois has also lost Mendenhall, which will allow the improving D-line to key on Juice. Once again, it seems reasonable to assume that the nation’s sixth best defense will keep Illinois to a beatable number of points.
Which means that, once again, the outcome will come down to which OSU offense shows up. The weather looks to play some sort of role, as well.
So, chime in:
- Final Score?
- Will Laurinaitis chug his Juice Box tomorrow?
- Does Malcom Jenkins sew up the Thorpe award tomorrow?
sportsMonkey predicts:
- OSU, 27-10
- Revenge. Sweet revenge.
- Jenkins has another quietly dominant day, Juice avoids throwing his way.
el Kaiser predicts:
- OSU, 37-16
- You know when you push the straw into the CapriSun pouch too hard and all the juice spills out? Yeah, that’s what LA does to Juice’s head.
- Doesn’t he already have it sewn up? If not, then yes.
tOSU: 30
illinois: 21
jenkins does what he does best and shuts it down. laurinaitis surprises many by having several juice boxes. beanie dominates as always.
looking forward to being back in the states and watching my bucks live.
Hm, let’s see. I’m gonna go with a nice Buckeye win here, 28-22, but it won’t feel that close. Of course, I’ll be wrong, but it’ll be interesting to see how it shapes up!
31-17. THE Ohio State. GO BUCKS!!!
NMUSpidey is that NMU = New Mexico University? (i grew up in albuquerque, my old man is a part of the alumni club out there)
sorry if it is completely different meaning…
27-13 The Ohio State University.
Okay guys it’s Mike in Saudi again…
24-17 OSU or something close to that. Juice likes to play his best games against us. We’ll see?
Lil Animal will grab the juice box, chug it on the field, and prove he’s is the best LB in the country!
If Jenkins doesn’t already have the Thorpe locked up, keeping Benn in check should help!
Now I know I’m looking ahead but does anyone else see a blowout next week. I see The Vest keeping it vanilla this week and waiting for next week to let the dogs run wild! Could you imagine being a 5th year senior and never losing to the guys up North??!! What an accomplishment that would be. Woody will be smiling! Plus, it’s time for TP to remind RR why he wanted him so bad…sorry for looking ahead but isn’t that what it’s all about now that we won’t be playing for a Nat’l title???
Mike,
Not to get too far ahead of ourselves (kickoff in 15 minutes or so), but yes, I feel pretty good about next week. I see this coming off similar to the presidential election; angel on my right shoulder said “mandate”, devil on my left said “ass-kicking”. I think for next week, the spirits will tell me “blowout” and “ass-kicking”. Either one works out well for us.
Having TP run (and pass) wild next week would just be too much..
Meanwhile, let’s stack some Illini butt this week; GO BUCKS!!
@lancelott: NMU is actually for Northern Michigan University, but you’d be surprised how many people ask me about New Mexico. I’m NMU alum, 2005. I was one of two Ohio State fans in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula. The other was a French professor from Marseille who gave up loving soccer in favor of Ohio State football when he was living in central Ohio and visited Ohio Stadium with his host family.
On a different note, my prediction was reasonably close, eh? The final score, at least.
@nmu: heh, i bet you get a lot of questions about new mexico. my wife and i are just south of ann arbor (saline) and get a lot of flack for being tOSU fans. glad to know there are others around. i think we were both pretty close to the final score, don’t know about you but it’s my first time so i’m feeling pretty good.