There wasn’t much to say after the Bowling Green game. We came, we pretty much had our way, and we won. Our predictions, however, merit a second look:

Vegas has the line at 35 points. The Buckeyes have covered the spread each week. Do you think they do it again?
The final score was 35-7, so the Buckeyes didn’t cover the spread.

The closest prediction to the final score was the sportsMonkey. The rest of us were off

How soon do we see Zwick come in? (o/u middle of the 3rd quarter)
Again, no one had this one. Zwick came in for a series in the 2nd quarter after Troy Smith came up hobbling. Luckily it wasn’t anything major, but Zwick saw playing time a lot sooner than anone thought.

No one got this one right.

It almost seems improbable, but does Laurinaitis continue his streak and pick off another pass?
It would have been nice to see the Little Animal continue picking off passes but it wasn’t meant to be.

el Kaiser and Zeke got this one right.

Pittman will get his carries, but it’s possible the backups get more. Do Wells and Wells out-gain Pittman?
Pittman only touched the ball 12 times on Saturday, for 58 yards. Wells and Wells combined for 27 yards. Not the huge ground game we expected, but it wasn’t really necessary to run against BG.

We were all off on our yardage predictions but every but the Monkey got this one right.

The offense could potentially rack up big numbers. How many? (o/u 550)
The Buckeyes dominated the game but the offense didn’t run as smoothly as we would have liked. They racked up 387 total yards. Playing on a short field, as Zeke predicted, played a role as well.

The sportsMonkey got this one right.

Results:
el Kaiser (2-5) (3-8 overall)
Zeke (2-5) (4-8 overall)
SYR (1-5) (1-5 overall)
sportsMonkey (2-5) (2-8 overall)

I know I said I’d get the other predictions updated but I haven’t got to that yet. This weekend!

Okay, so that title was lame. But honestly, if it’s Hispanic Heritage Month, what’s wrong with a little stereotyping, right? I mean seriously, who hasn’t seen #11 fly down the sideline and not yell “Arriba, arriba, andale, arriba!” Right? He’s fast, he’s speedy. He’s speedy Gonzalez.

I digress.

As a fellow “Hispanic” I was surprised to find out that this month is Hispanic Heritage Month. At least that’s what ESPN is celebrating, and they’ve got a nice article (a huge, sombrero-sized hat tip goes to MotSaG contributor Sylvester-Yon Rambo for the link) on Columbus’ favorite Cuban, Anthony Gonzalez.

Oh, you didn’t know he was Cuban? Join the club. I figured he was Hispanic (His last name is Gonzalez. Hello?) but I had no idea he was Cuban. Anyone that fast has to have Latin blood in him, right? I kid, I kid.

Anyway, it’s a great read about Gonzo’s family (his grandpa stormed the presedential palace with Fidel!), his love of Cuban food, and dealing with stereotypes. Something we all have to deal with, in our own ways. I’m glad to read that Gonzo handles it gracefully. I know Mrs. Kaiser always get upset when the neighborhood ladies talk bad about the Mexican landscapers. “Fricken Mexicans broke my mailbox. I know they did,” they’ll claim. Fricken Mexicans.

“Yeah, my husband’s Mexican,” Mrs. Kaiser thinks to herself, “and he’s always breaking mailboxes. It’s like a Mexican tradition.” (Yes, el Kaiser is chicano. Hence el Kaiser, not The Kaiser.)

So we all deal. I’m sure Gonzalez’s fair skin (most likely from his German mother) gives him an advantage, but he doesn’t shy away from his heritage, his roots. None of us should.

So check it out, it’s a great read. There’s also a video of Gonzo cooking his specialty, Arroz con pollo. Looks pretty tasty. I wonder if he has to follow the high altitude directions on the box?

Here we sit, at the top of the hill, ready to put it in neutral and save some gas while we coast down through the Big Ten. Before we get there, though, we make a pit stop to meet up with the Falcons of Bowling Green. This will be the first week on the newly laid grass. As Keith points out, it still doesn’t look that great, but it’ll do for now. It doesn’t really matter, OSU should dispatch Bowling Green rather early. Field and weather conditions are moot at this point.

Previews, if you want to see what were up against, can be found at The O-Zone and BuckeyePlanet.

Vegas has the line at 35 points. The Buckeyes have covered the spread each week. Do you think they do it again?

How soon do we see Zwick come in? (o/u middle of the 3rd quarter)

It almost seems improbable, but does Laurinaitis continue his streak and pick off another pass?

Pittman will get his carries, but it’s possible the backups get more. Do Wells and Wells out-gain Pittman?

The offense could potentially rack up big numbers. How many? (o/u 550)

Predictions:

el Kaiser:
Final Score: OSU: 45 BGSU: 0
Zwick: comes in during the second offensive series of the 3rd quarter
Laurinaitis: As much as it pains me, I don’t see another INT in this game.
Pittman: I think Pittman is going average 10 yards/carry but only get about 15 touches. He still outgains the Wells/Wells tandem.
Offense: Over – 600 yards

sportsMonkey:
Final Score: OSU: 38 BGSU: 7
Zwick: Over – comes in at the first series of the fourth quarter
Laurinaitis: Little Animal keeps the streak alive! (One pick.)
Pittman: Pittman outgains his backups.
Offense: Under – 450 yards
Comments: The Falcons actually have a pretty good rushing offense. They were able to put up 219 yards against Wisconsin (that’s twice as much as Michigan managed against the Badgers!). I don’t think BG will threaten OSU’s defense much beyond the first quarter, but the rushing offense of both teams should keep the game clock moving, and that might have an impact on the final score and yardage totals.

Zeke:
Final Score: OSU: 41 BGSU: 3
Zwick: I will take the Over. We will see Zwick toward the end of the 3rd quarter.
Laurinaitis: I agree with Kaiser, the streaks ends Saturday:Under.
Pittman: I am going with Wells’ duo to outgain Pittman 135 to 115.
Offense: Under – 512 yards, I expect the Buckeyes to be playing with a short field most of the game which will keep the total yards under 600.

Sylvester Yon-Rambo
Final score: OSU 412 BGSU -2
Zwick: Troy will do the first 2 drives of the 3rd Qtr and then Zwick will take over
Laurinaitis: 2 interceptions over
Pittman: 143 yrds and Wells Duo 121 under
Offense: well if they score 412 points like I predict then they will have about 6000 yards of offense easily…..so way over 550

Ohio State is now hoarding 62 of the 65 #1 votes in the AP Poll and 62 of the 63 top votes in the Coaches’ Poll. Seriously, you guys who are still voting for West Virginia, can we talk? Has West Virginia beaten a top-ten team? What about a top-15? No? Okay, how about a top-25? No? Fine, then it’s time to start looking at the facts, gentlemen. Ohio State is now clearly the best team in the country. Let’s start voting that way.

With that out of the way, let’s talk some more about the Iowa game. Let’s start with the defense. I thought we came into the game with an excellent defensive game-plan. Getting to Tate’s fragile psyche seemed like the order of the day. Everytime he rolled out, Laurinaitis was on him, blitzing, rushing, tackling. He was being pressured from the get-go. He wasn’t getting much support from his troops but he looked like he was getting frustrated early. The defense seemed to back-off with the pressure in the second half, letting Tate hurt himself. We were hoping for another tantrum, but none was forthcoming. Too bad.

Vernon Gholston. Can we say enough about this man? He is not human. (Don’t forget these arms). Keith has a great frame-by-frame of Gholston one-arming Albert Young to the turf. That was unfair. Teams simply can not block him. I think the scouting report on Gholston looks like this:

“OSU DE #50 is very difficult to block. He’s quick off the ball and extremely strong (see Exhibit A of his lethal weaponry). But we have the law of averages on our side. If #50 lines up across from you, your assigment is simple: You hold him. You hold him like it’s your job. Grab his jersey, pull on his facemake, bear-hug him, whatever it takes. Tackle him if you have to. The referee and umpire have to keep track of 10-12 players on each down. That gives you good odds. We’ll take the occasional holding call if you can get away with it 7 out of 10 times”

The rest of the defense is coming together handsomely. We still give up chunks of yards at times, but we’re getting great pressure from the front four and we’re taking the ball away easily. If I remember the stat correctly, we had 6 interceptions last year. We already have 11, with 3 interceptions in each of the last 3 games. And we’ve scored on defense. I guess losing four starters in the defensive backfield wasn’t such a bad thing.

Losing Anderson Russel is not good, but Jamario O’Neal will step up and perform.

On offense, it’s still business as usual. Smith is guiding the offense, which is becoming a well-oiled machine. Pittman is averging 5.9 yards a carry and Smith is completing 66% of his passes. Ginn, Gonzalez and Robiskie are making Smith look very good. Everything on the offense is very business like. The O-line is simply wearing people down (as the Monkey mentioned earlier). Against Iowa, Smith looked poised and was throwing the ball very well. He never looks rushed. It was good to see Roy Hall get a touchdown, he deserved it. Chris Wells came in and showed that he can do more than get short 3rd downs. The offense is becoming a 6-headed monster. Cut one off and another grows in its place.

So bring on the rest of the Big Ten. We should have a chance now to showcase Smith for all the Heisman voters while we ramp up to November 18th. Don’t let us down, Maize and Blue! Let’s have a #1 vs. #2, in the ‘Shoe.

A quick look back at our week 5 predictions:

Who gains the most yards, Troy Smith or Drew Tate?
Tate actually out-gained Smith, 250 to 208. Out-scored, on the other hand…

None of the MotSaG prognosticators got this one.

What about their total production (o/u: 700 yards)?
This one was under – 458 yards. It wasn’t that there was a short field, either. Just conservative numbers for each QB.

Zeke took the under on this one, but was still off on his total. We’ll give it to him.

How many turnovers does Laurinaitis cause (o/u 1.5)?
Laurinaitis came through in the end, intercepting Tate’s pass in the fourth quarter. Little Animal is everywhere

Zeke and el Kaiser called this one correctly. The sportsMonkey opted not to predict, but called for 2 turnovers on defense. Close, but no cigar!

Is this the game Teddy Ballgame breaks out on special teams?
Ted Ginn is still looking for a big run back this year. He played well on offense but his returns (only 3 of them) pretty much went nowhere. It’ll come, but it looks like he’s still forcing it.

The predictions on this were a little nebulous, so this won’t go on the record. We’re just anxious for Ted to take one to the house.

Results:
Zeke (2-3)
el Kaiser (1-3)
sportsMonkey (0-3)

(I’ll take a look at the other predictions and update the season totals, along with the commenters predictions, later)

We’re just a little under 36 hours away from bedlam in Iowa City. The whole town is bracing for a Scarlet and Gray onslaught. Tickets are being sold at a premium. The Buckeyes will be dealing with a pink locker room. This is the first time College Game Day has been in Iowa City in ten years. Simply put, this is Iowa’s championship game. And the atmosphere is electric.

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, history is not on their side. They’ve played the #1 team 8 times. Their record is 0-7-1. Not very impressive. There is more at stake, though, in the history department. Ohio State was drubbed by Iowa, in Kinnick Stadium, in 2004. Ohio State repaid the drubbing last year, driving Drew Tate crazy (see above for photographic evidence. I love that picture!). Each team has redemption (and revenge) on their minds. It’s going to be nasty out there. Someone’s leaving on a stretcher, I can just feel it.

For a taste of some previews of the big game, you can read Sports Illustrated’s here. Another in-depth preview by Buckeye Planet is available here. Keith has some thoughts about the game at Buckeye Commentary (Keith, help me find your permalinks!). I love that Keith mentioned the Iowa tight ends. Remember when they used to stand at the line of scrimmage (under Hayden Fry)? I always loved the look of those formations. Pfef has his preview up, as well. O-Zone takes a look here.

So how do we see it? As I mentioned earlier, history is on our side. We’ve won nine of the last ten meetings against Iowa. Their running game hasn’t really got things going lately, but they have a competent 1,000-yard back in Albert Young. Their defense lost some key linebackers (sound familiar?) but is still strong. But this game begins and ends with Drew Tate. What he’s able to do and what the Buckeyes can do to contain him will go a long way in determining the outcome of the game. If our ends can keep him contained, forcing him inside (into the teeth of the defense, also known as Little Animal) when he wants to run, we should handle Iowa easily. If he can get out on the corners, he’s extremely dangerous. He can throw on the run and he can gash defenses with his legs. I imagine we’ll have a spy on him at all times, following him like a hawk. (Get it? A buckeye following him like a hawk? A Hawkeye? I give up). Also, don’t forget, Tate sat out the game against Syracuse with a strained abdominal muscle. Has he recovered 100% from that? Will he re-aggravate it trying to spin out of a Gholston or Pitcock sack?

For OSU to be successful, Troy will have to find his rythm early and Pittman will be called on to grind up chunks of yards. Pittman has proven to be a reliable workhorse and Troy should feel more comfortable with favorable weather conditions. If Gonzo and Ginn get back to their Texas-form, it’s going to be a long night for the Hawkeyes. If Iowa can shut down the run, Troy will shred their secondary. If they play a lot of nickel (like we did against Texas) Pittman (and Wells and Wells) will have their way with the defense. Factoring in the hostile crowd should have some effect, but I don’t think it’s going to be on the level of Penn State last year. They expect 35,000 Buckeye fans in Iowa city tomorrow night and you know there will be a big showing in the stadium.

So how do you guys see it? Vegas has the the Buckeyes favored by 7. I think that’s a fair line, but I think the Buckeyes win by more.

Some predictions around the college football blogosphere:

Bemusement Park – OSU: 24 Iowa: 13
Buckeye Banter – OSU: 31 Iowa: 17
Pfef has OSU: 28 Iowa 14

As is tradition, we’ve got a couple more things to slap some virtual money down on:

Who gains the most yards, Troy Smith or Drew Tate?

What about their total production (o/u: 700 yards)?

How many turnovers does Lauranaitis cause (o/u 1.5)?

Is this the game Teddy Ballgame breaks out on special teams?

el Kaiser’s predictions:
Final score: OSU: 27 Iowa: 14
Troy Smith out-duels Drew Tate, accounting for over 400 yards for the Buckeyes
I’m going over on total production: 750 yards from the two of them
Lauranaitis keeps the turnovers coming, but is only responsible for one this time
Does Ted break out? Yes! Please! Teddy, this is your night to shine!

SportsMonkey’s predictions:
Final score: OSU: 41 Iowa: 13
Most yards, Smith or Tate?: Smith had an awesome game last year against Iowa. It will happen again.
Total production: Over – 799. OSU accounts for about 500 yards of it; Iowa, about 250ish.
Little Animal Turnovers: Unknown. I’m predicting two for the defense.
Does Ted break out?: Not on punt returns. Iowa’s special teams are pretty well disciplined there (#3 in the country in fewest yards allowed during put returns). They’re pretty bad on kickoff coverage, so TGII might have a shot there (although OSU has only returned 8 kickoffs all year, so he might be a bit rusty!).
Other comments: Ordinarily, having a night game at home is a great advantage, especially when you have a good team. But Iowa’s advantage is minimized by OSU’s “been there done that” experience in the bowl-like atmospheres of Texas and PSU. Lastly, Iowa’s defense is similar to, if a bit weaker than, Texas’ defense. And we all remember what happened three weeks ago.

Zeke’s predictions:
Final score: OSU: 30 Iowa: 16
Most yards, Smith or Tate?: No brainer, Smith out-gains Tate by at least 100 yards. Prediction: Smith accounts for 365 yards while Tate gains 240.
Total production: Under (see above) – 605 yards for Smith and Tate combined.
Little Animal Turnovers: LA has an interception in each of the last 3 games, that trend continues. Chalk up another interception for Lauranaitis against Iowa; however, he does not cover the o/u with only 1 turnover.
Does Ted break out?: It would be great to see him “break out” this week and return a punt or kick-off for a TD, but his presence alone gives the Buckeyes and advantage on punt returns. How many times have we seen an opposing punter shank it out of bounds while trying to keep it out of Ginn’s hands. Field Position people Field Position. We will see a return TD before the season is over, it is only a matter of time.