MotSaG Top 25 1. Oregon 2. Alabama 3. Ohio State 4. Florida State 5. Baylor 6. Miami 7. Stanford 8. Clemson 9. Oklahoma 10. Missouri 11. Auburn 12. Texas Tech 13. Fresno State 14. Northern Illinois 15. UCF 16. Oklahoma State 17. Texas A&M 18. Louisville 19. UCLA 20. Wisconsin 21. LSU 22. South Carolina 23. Michigan State 24. Arizona State 25. Michigan

Of all the weeks for Ohio State to set the box score on fire, it had to be this week, didn’t it? With Alabama taking care of business against a pesky Tennessee, Florida State pasting NC State and Oregon pulling away from UCLA, Ohio State’s 63-14 clubbing of the hapless Nittany Lions wasn’t able to stand out among a sea of blowouts.

I’m dropping Florida State because that Clemson victory last week seems to have lost a little luster, in my eyes, after seeing them struggle against Maryland. And NC State, for all the times they’ve played spoiler in the ACC, just aren’t that great. BUT, if Florida State can handle Miami next weekend, it will be hard to keep them out of the top two. I don’t think Miami is all that great, either, but beating two undefeated top-ranked teams has to stand for something.

I tried to keep the SEC from creeping back in to the rankings, but South Carolina deserves credit for beating Missouri, even if that game ended in the most Missouri-way possible. The rest of the SEC snacked on a bunch of scrubs that really shouldn’t count for much. But hey, SEC.

Our B1G brethren certainly didn’t help themselves, either. I considered Minnesota for the rankings for the first time in probably 8 years. They probably deserve it, too. But I threw Michigan in there because nothing will bring me more pleasure to see them fall out of the rankings AGAIN when they lose to their “little brothers” next week.

“This escalated quickly.”

That was a text I got from Jeremiah after Ohio State went up 28-0. When I started writing up this instant reaction I started recapping each drive, thinking I’d only have a couple scoring drives to reference for each half but then Ohio State’s offense exploded for six scores in the first half and the rout was on.

Quickly, indeed.

It looked like it might be a dog fight at first, with Penn State driving down into the red zone after Ohio State’s first score. But Corey Brown’s interception in the end zone turned things around for the Buckeye Defense and they stiffened up for the rest of the half.

After Penn State finally found the endzone with a couple minutes in the first half, you’d think that a 35-7 half-time would be enough to run the clock out, but Urban Meyer knows that life was too short to not go for broke. Miller found Brown in the endzone and Ohio State went in to half-time up 42-7.

Lost in the offensive juggernaut was that the defense played its most complete game in a while. Bradley Roby probably availed himself the most this night, taking part in the defense’s stymying of the Penn State Robinson didn’t have a catch until the second half and really didn’t do any damage until late in the fourth quarter against the defensive fourth-stringers and a couple equipment managers.

So with this victory, Penn State’s 63-14 thrashing of Ohio State has been atoned with a 63-14 Ohio State thrashing of their own. A 686 yard offensive thrashing.

And because one of my favorite past times the Sunday after an OSU victory over Penn State is to go read comment threads from Penn State fans on Penn State blogs, I’ll just leave this here:

“Scared”

Prime time is great time for pick six time. Penn State is in town, in the ‘Shoe and some of us will be chatting in the Live Chat. If you’re interested, we’d love to have you.

Hit the jump to join the fun in the Live In Game Chat.

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It’s Penn State week, everyone, or as it’s known in Happy Valley, “We sure wish you guys would call us your rivals!”. Look how much we hate you! Please, please can we be rivals?

With real life intervening with some of our writers, we had a lighter week than normal on the content. That didn’t stop our Resident Penn State Hater, YNBA, from unleashing his hate cannon on unsuspecting Littany Nions:

I dont get wrapped up in the X’s and O’s of this game, because it generally isnt a chess match. It is normally a game of two teams trading haymakers until the final whistle. There seems to only be one constant. There will be a pick six. It is really just a matter of who makes it and when does it occur in the game.

The real question is, what kind of haymakers can Penn State land? Is that a pretty good (ranked 17th in the NCAA) defense, or a Paper Lion?

Penn State is currently 17th in Total Defense in the NCAA giving 486 and 507 yards in its losses to Indiana and UCF respectively. I just dont see OSU being stopped by the Penn State defense. They may slow it down during parts of the game, but OSU should be able to leverage all of its weapons in the Shoe on Saturday night.

Ronnie took the usual look at which players demand your attention. Not surprisingly, the match-up between Penn State’s Allen Robinson and Ohio State’s Bradley Roby factors prominently:

…His year of facing good to great wide receivers does not get any easier as this weekend Robinson rolls in to town. Robinson will be one of Roby’s toughest tests. As stated above Robinson can hit a defense from anywhere on the field, so it will be important for Roby to be on his game. If the front seven can take care of the run game without any extra reliance on Roby then it will take a lot of pressure off of him and allow him to focus on shutting down Robinson. Roby’s play style and athleticism match up very well against Robinson. Roby has extremely smooth hips, he is very very good in press coverage, and as long as he stays disciplined on the double moves, Roby can keep up with Robinson speed wise. This will be the match-up to watch all night long as these two All Big Ten players battle it out.

I don’t think Robinson will be able to beat Ohio State on his own but if Roby can shut him down, it’s going to be a long night for the Lions.

The statistics look fairly balanced, until you look at Penn State’s 3rd down conversion rate. It’s not pretty. Another reason the night could be long.

So what do we see happening, Buckeye Fans? Is this a competitive game through three quarters? Or does Ohio State come out, bring the hammer down early and often in front of a primetime audience and cruise to an easy victory as El Guapo chews up yards and minutes in the third and fourth quarters? I say yes.

Ohio State 41
Penn State 20

What say you?

As always, presented without comment. (Now with 4th Down Conversions!)

Statistically Speaking Ohio State Value (Rank) Value (Rank) Penn State Advantage Rushing Offense (ypg) 279.6 (11) 117.7 (21) Rushing Defense (ypg) Push Passing Offense (ypg) 213.6 (83) 218.2 (46) Passing Defense (ypg) Penn State Pass Efficiency 163.9 (8) 118.6 (36) Pass Efficiency Defense Ohio State Total Offense (ypg) 493.1 (20) 335.8 (17) Total Defense (ypg) Push Scoring Offense (ppg) 45.0 (7) 23.7 (48) Scoring Defense (ppg) Ohio State Rushing Defense (ypg) 92.4 (7) 157.2 (79) Rushing Offense (ypg) Ohio State+ Passing Defense (ypg) 240.7 (79) 183.7 (26) Passing Offense (ypg) Penn State+ Pass Efficiency Defense 130.5 (72) 130.3 (66) Pass Efficiency Offense Push Total Defense (ypg) 333.1 (15) 440.8 (49) Total Offense (ypg) Ohio State Scoring Defense (ppg) 19.9 (22) 33.3 (43) Scoring Offense (ppg) Push Turnover margin +0.71 (22) -0.67 (102) Turnover margin Ohio State++ Penalty Yards/game 45.7 (49) 33.8 (11) Penalty Yards/game Penn State Sacks (/game) 2.29 (45) 2.33 (88) Sacks Allowed (/game) Ohio State Sacks Allowed (/game) 1.43 (37) 2.33 (40) Sacks (/game) Push 3rd Down Conv. (%) 51.0 (12) 28.1 (5) 3rd Down Conv. Def (%) Push 3rd Down Conv. Def (%) 30.2 (13) 27.8 (118) 3rd Down Conv. (%) Ohio State+++ 4th Down Conv. (%) 68.8 (17) 00.0 (1) 4th Down Conv. Def (%) Push 4th Down Conv. Def (%) 55.6 (79) 58.8 (35) 4th Down Conv. (%) Penn State Redzone Offense (%) 91.1 (16) 83.3 (61) Redzone Defense (%) Ohio State Redzone Defense (%) 81.0 (53) 91.7 (13) Redzone Offense (%) Penn State  Legend   Difference <25 in National Rank = Push   Difference >25 in National Rank = Ohio State   Difference >50 in National Rank = Ohio State+   Difference >75 in National Rank = Ohio State++   Differences >100 in National Rank = Ohio State+++

Stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

Iowa comes to town, and some of us will be chatting in the Live Chat. If you’re interested, we’d love to have you.

Hit the jump to join the fun in the Live In Game Chat.

[Read more…]

Iowa comes to town tomorrow to take on the #4 ranked Buckeyes in a 3:30 match-up for the first time in quite some time.

I was at that overtime win in 2009 with my brother-in-law and it was a wild ride of a game. I wish I could be in the ‘Shoe with y’all to cheer on OSU.

Here’s our Friday Open Thread for everyone’s enjoyment. We’ve had a nice week off with the bye, but it’s time to get back into a Buckeye frame of mind.

Some links about the upcoming game:

• Chip wants to see some sizzle and style this week from the Ohio State offense. I don’t think he’s alone in that wish, both from Buckeye fans and from the CFB media. (You know, the gatekeepers).
• I took a look at the statistics of this week’s match-up, and while it looks to tilt in favor of Ohio State, the two teams will have some interesting matchups
• Shannon sat down with Rick (@plannedsickdays) of blackheartgoldpants.com to discuss the match-up from the Iowa point of view. Having not seen Iowa much this year, this was enlightening:
  

  MotSaG: What is the biggest difference for Iowa this season compared to last year?
  BHGP: The biggest difference has to be quarterback play. The offense starts with the QB and last year James Vandenberg and Greg Davis’ offense were not a fit. Jake Rudock can make plays with his feet and extend drives. He’s won two rivalry games on the road and shown poise and pocket presence we didn’t expect to see until maybe later in the season.

• Before writing this week’s preview, Kade took up the crusade of defending Braxton Miller against the complaints that he isn’t running the read option as effectively as he could (or as well as Kenny Guiton). Video evidence is included.
• Ronnie took his usual look at the players to watch this week, including some new options in the defensive backfield:
  

  Meyer seems to be pressing for Coach Withers to get Vonn Bell ready to go and play. I think that will be Ohio States best option. Bell is already a solid tackler, but his speed is extremely underrated. Bell may make mistakes, but his speed may help him make up for those mistakes. He was not recruited heavily to just sit on the bench.

• Finally, Kade looks at this week’s matchup in his Iowa Preview. The takeaway:
  

  Iowa is a solid football team and as always well coached. They are a little in over their head vs. Ohio State however and this one should be over midway through the 3rd quarter. I see Iowa keeping things close for a bit and the Buckeyes pouring it on as the game wears on. Eventually Iowa will have to rely on their passing game and it will let them down. They lack the playmakers to keep up with the Ohio State offense, which is averaging 46.8 points per game, good for 6th in the country. Iowa REALLY struggles with the playaction game and OSU thrives on that. OSU should cruise.

Iowa and Ohio State have quite a history. Relive the glory days with this week’s Amazon Item for the Game: Iowa Hawkeyes v Ohio State Buckeyes Big Ten Football Game Program 1959. Sure seems like a simpler time back then.

So how do you see it? Is this game going to be an easy win for the Buckeyes or are the Hawkeyes going to more of a challenge and offer some stiff resistance? What worries you?