Week #1: Marshall University – Preview and Open Thread

And so it begins.

The season is finally upon us and the first game of the year is against the Thundering Herd of Marshall University. First, lets get the funny out of the way. Marshall hired a new coach and I swear to Woody Hayes his name is DOC HOLLIDAY (Insert your favorite Tombstone reference here)

“Why Ike Marshall, whatever do you mean? Maybe poker’s football’s just not your game, Ike Marshall. I know! Let’s have a spelling contest!”

Jim Tressel is very familiar with the Marshall Thundering Herd. As the OSU head coach, he faced (and vanquished) them in the 2004 thriller that needed a monster field from Mike Nugent. Previously, Tressel faced them while the coach at Youngstown State, beating them twice for the Division 1-AA championship. The talent level will be tad higher in this game.

Marshall is returning fourteen starters, seven each on either side of the ball. Last year they finished 7-6 out of Conference USA. Under their first year coach they are going to run a spread type offense (Tyler T at Along the Olentangy has a little more detail about Marshall’s possible offensive schemes) and try as they will I imagine they will struggle like most first year head coaches do.

On offense, the quarterback will be a former Mr. Football in the state of Florida, A.J. Graham. He has a stud wide receiver to throw to in Antavious Wilson who, as a freshman last year, caught 60 passes for 724 yards which earned him freshman All-American honors. They haven’t settled on a starting running back yet but they did run well the last few years so whoever it is will be capable.

On defense, they are led by linebacker Mario Harvey who last year had 117 tackles and 7 sacks. The defense as a whole was solid last year holding opponents to 24 points per game. There best cornerback was recently kicked off the team for his third arrest. That should bode well for the first outing of OSU’s passing attack.

There you have it folks, a little info on the team who proudly chant ” WE ARE …… MARSHALL”.

Having said all that and knowing Ohio State is a far superior team (currently favored by 28.5 points) here are the questions we need to answer in the first game of the year.

  1. Who will be our leading rusher in this game Boom, Zoom or Pryor?
  2. Will Terrelle Pryor throw for +/- 250 yards?
  3. How many turnovers will the defense get?
  4. Which defensive player makes the biggest impact on this game?
  5. Final Score Prediction?

This week’s Predict the Score contest is sponsored by The City Pool, purveyor of fine, quality Ohio sports-themed T-shirts. They have offered up as a prize one of their excellent Ohio Pride t-shirts, which for my money is one of the better t-shirts out there for the discerning OSU fan. Sublime in its simplicity, I will be picking one up (since MotSaG staff is not eligible to win) and wearing it proudly around town. Since your chances of predicting the final score are slim, I suggest you head over and pick one up as yourself.

el Kaiser says
1. I think Saine is poised for a huge year – Saine
2. under 250 for Pryor (we’ll be well ahead and he’ll be on the bench before he gets to 250)
3. 2 TO’s (2 INTs)
4. Johnny Simon makes his presence known
5. OSU 37 Marhsall 0

Sylvester-Yon Rambo says
1. Boom will lead us this game with 125 yards
2. I say over 250 yards as he will have 2 or 3 long TD throws early
3. 3 TO’s (1 Fumble and 2 INT’s)
4. Jermale Hines has a pick 6
5. OSU 52 Marshall 3

sportsMonkey says
1. Zooooommm Saine
2. Pryor will be pulled way before he reaches 250, unless the Bucks are in trouble (in which case he wouldn’t be reaching 250 anyway)
3. First games tend to be sloppy, I figure at least 2. Hopefully Homan gets his first INT of the year.
4. Homan
5. I know we’re all “rah-rah Pryor” after the Rose Bowl, but let’s not forget his history with spotting opposing teams at least 7pts a game due to INTs or fumbles. Hopefully he won’t have that problem this year, but all I have to go on is history at this point. OSU spots them a score, they earn another score or two on their own: OSU 31-13.

Comments

  1. Boom-hearing good things

    Under 250

    3 turnovers

    Marshall will use a spread attack and Hines will shine tonight.

    38-6

  2. 1. I think it’ll be a toss-up, but I’ll go with Zoom
    2. Under 250
    3. 2 turnovers
    4. I’m with Keanu – Hines (note that I’ll probably pick Hines as defensive player of the game every week)
    5. OSU 27, Marshall 20

    I don’t think Marshall’s that good, but the last time OSU came out and delivered a genuine whooping in their first game, Cooper was probably still head coach. That having been said, I hope they fight the trend and have this game put away by halftime.

  3. Red Devil EA says

    1. Tressel will probably want to see what TP can do with his arm, so I’ll say Saine.
    2. Ehhh I’ll say under. This will be as vanilla as it gets (hopefully).
    3. Three – Heyward gets a forced fumble, to which A.J. Graham replies, “I have not yet begun to defile myself.” I’ll say Graham throws 2 picks after that.
    4. I have a feeling the safeties are going to look much much better than they really are, a fact that will be made evident against Jacory Harris next week.
    5. Let’s go 37-13, good guys.

    Antavious Wilson: And you must be Tyler Moeller.
    Tyler Moeller: That’s the rumor.
    AW: You injured, too?
    TM: Not me. I’m in my prime.
    AW: Yeah, you look it.
    TM: And you must be Wilson. Look, Chimdi, Antavious Wilson. The deadliest receiver since Mike Barber, they say. What do you think, Chimdi, should I hate him?
    Chimdi Chekwa: You don’t even know him.
    TM: Yes, but there’s something about him. Something around the eyes, I don’t know, reminds me of…me. No. I’m sure of it, I hate him.

  4. @red devil-awesome!

  5. I forgot to add my traditional anti-jinx disclaimer:

    * – all predictions subject to change after the fact. The opinions of Bacon Ninja regarding the outcome of Ohio State games are purely hypothetical and do not necessarily represent his true feelings on the matter. In fact, for the purposes of supersition and jinx avoidance Bacon Ninja offers a generic prediction of Opponents 72, Ohio State 0 for every game this season, unless they are playing an SEC school in which case the prediction will change to Opponents 347, Ohio State negative 30.

  6. Bacon you better not watch any games at BW3 or I will Keel You

  7. No worries. The local alumni club doesn’t watch them at the local BW3 anymore (thank God) but it doesn’t really matter because I prefer to watch them in my basement/bar at home. BW3 doesn’t have an 8 1/2 foot wide projector screen and 7.1 surround.

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