Is he getting ready for lift-off? Or playing Car Wash? Or is he a Transformer, mid-transform?

Link round-up and more to follow…

I’m still surprised how the Ohio State/Michigan State result has been perceived. Not just nationally, either. The headline on the sports page of the Columbus Dispatch was “Quite a fright.” Are you kidding me? I know the writers don’t pick their headlines, but that is ridiculous. A fright? Seriously? Hardly. Michigan State came into Columbus with a vaunted rush game and something to prove. Ohio State’s defense put them in their place. Let’s start there:

The Defense: 4.5 Sweatervests

Michigan State and its one-two punch of Ringer and Caulcrick came into this game running other defenses over. They were averaging over 450 yards of offense a game. These are not insignificant numbers. Michigan State may not be a great team, but they are good. You don’t rack up that kind of yardage without some talented players.

That being said, Ohio State’s defense absolutely dominated the Spartans. Gholston & Company held the double-J’s to 59 yards on the ground, 2.1 yards per carry. That’s stout. Nine first downs, total. Solid tackling, good adjustments, everything. Laurinaitis continues to be a leader by example, racking up 12 tackles and really seems to be everywhere on the field. Everyone is flying to the ball. This is a fun defense to watch.

The Opponent: 3.5 Sweatervests

As I mentioned above, Michigan State is not a bad team. They laid the wood to a good Indiana team (the same team that played Penn State tough last Saturday) and matched Wisconsin stride for stride for 3+ quarters. They also beat Pitt (even though it wasn’t pretty) who just beat a good Cincinnati team. They were averaging almost 37 points a game and gobs of yards coming into the Horseshoe.

They’re also a well coached team. Give Dantonio a couple years and he’ll have Michigan State in the thick of the Big Ten again. Don’t be fooled. Ohio State beat a pretty good Michigan State team.

Beanie’s Stiff Arm: 4 Sweatervests

It’s unfair, actually, how easily Beanie pushes around defenders. You know as soon as you see him switch the ball to his other hand that the Stiff Arm of Justice™ is coming, halting all in its path.

My only concern is that he relies on it just a little too much. It also leaves him vulnerable for arm/shoulder injuries. But for now, he seems to be doing just fine. Stiffing people is Beanie’s business, and business is good.

Vernon Gholston: 5 Sweatervests

Gholston decided to descend from his throne atop Mount Olympus to play as a mere mortal this week. Can’t let anyone get too suspicious. We’ll give him the decidedly mortal five Sweatervests.

Overall Performance: 4 Sweatervests

Baseline: 3 Sweatervests. +1 for Ballard’s catch. Thing of beauty. +1 BIG D. That’s a D with 72 point font. +1 for Beanie’s 221 yards. More of that, please. -1 for Boeckman’s INT, -0.5 for his lost fumble (not entirely his fault) and -0.5 for Beanie’s almost lost fumble. Less of that, please!

I’ve been very busy today pushing electrons for The Man, the sportsMonkey is on vacation and no one knows what happened to Zeke or Sylvester Yon-Rambo (they’re probably playing Halo 3 or something fun.) so this week’s Open Thread will be a little thin. In other words, I’m here to make a prediction and then getting back to work.

Don’t let that stop you from posting your thoughts on tomorrow’s 3:30 match-up on ABC. Should OSU be on upset-alert?

I don’t think so. I think they’re going to flex their considerable muscle and continue their stingy streak on defense. Michigan State only records one TD. My prediction:

OSU: 34
MSU: 16

What do you think?

Sylvester Yon-Rambo here…… I am still trying to figure out how I could go to a Penn St vs Wisconsin game and come away disgusted with OSU fans at the ‘shoe. I will openly admit that PSU fans and satadium is crazy and very fan friendly and LOUDER than a whole season worth of games at the shoe…… The Student section at PSU is insane and large and VERY VERY VOCAL….. and the crowd manages to be loud for an entire game and not just 3rd down in the 1st qtr. OSU needs to stop selling so many tickets to BLUE HAIRS and relocate the Student section and some how get the fans involved more…… I will give more of my perspective next week during PSU week.

As for my prediction……

OSU: 45
MSU: 9

I sincerely believe this may be the best defense top to bottum I have ever seen in football. And I am a Chicago Bears fan from birth which includes the vaunted 1985 Bears…… As long as we control our TOs we will go undefeated and avenge our only loss in the last 2 years.

Another short one, because honestly, this was a mid-season warm-up game. Good on Kent State for gaining some yards and playing hard, but let’s be real. This game was another no-doubter.

Run Defense: 3.5 Sweatervests

A little cause for concern here. Kent State came in with a pretty good running game with a shifty little runny (Garrett Wolfe, anyone) that had some success against the Buckeyes’ D. The plays they ran seemed to be perfectly timed when the D-line was scheming itself out of the play. Adjustments were made in the second half, but it still gave up too many yards. If teams want to run the ball on us, they’ve got some footage to show them how to do it (Wisconsin, Michigan). Still, no touchdowns are no touchdowns.

Pass Defense: 4.5 Sweatervests

Being a run-first, run-often offense, the defensive backfield was never really challenged. In fact, as SMQ pointed out, OSU’s defense out-gained KSU offense through the air: Kent State passed for 62 yards, Donald Washington’s interception return went for 70. I’ll give up 62 yards of passing all season long. That’s almost unfair.

I am also very happy to see Donald Washington’s improvement as the season has gone on. He was a big question in my opinion, a wild card. We knew Jenkins was going to lockdown any he went against, but the other side of the field was going to be an issue. Washington has been a revelation, along with Chekwa. No need for concern yet.

The Young ‘uns: 4 Sweatervests

With the game well in hand by halftime, Tressel was able to play a lot of youngsters. It’s clear that OSU”s second and third best is still better than whatever the MAC can throw at it (whether that means anything is debatable). Brandon Saine was definitely shining the brightest, catching passes out of the backfield and running the ball with some good moves. He stills looks a little tentative to me, not 100% sure of his knee. Regardless, he still has wheels and will be just fine. Schoenhoft is still trying to skip his passes up into his receivers arms, throwing passes 80 miles per hour straight into the turf. He did finish 7 for 9, though. That’s promising. I’m just not sold on him yet. Ten players caught passes and seven players rushed the ball. It might have been garbage time, but it’s better than no time.

The only thing holding the youngsters back was Jon Thoma’s punt. That was ugly. Otherwise, decent performance by the reserves.

Vernon Gholston: Sweatervests Galore

No lie — we lost count how many Sweatervests Vernon earned. The guns got a hold of Kent quarterbacks a couple times and wreaked havoc and destruction. I read somewhere that his mere presence caused Kent State’s water coolers to spring leaks and their trainers’ medical tape was no longer sticky. I’m not sure how that’s related, but I believe it because I saw it on the internet.

Overall Performance: 5 Sweatervests

Baseline: 3 Sweatervests, +1 for stiff defense, +2 for a special teams and a defensive score, -1 for allowing buckets of yards on the ground.

In a year of improbable upsets and amazing finishes, there have ceased to be many “gimme” games. Fortunately for the Buckeyes, this game against Kent State is most certainly one of them. A tasty little morsel before they bulldoze the rest of the Big Ten en route to a date with destiny.

First thing to get out of the way: Kent State’s head coach said that he wouldn’t play his starters the whole game so he could rest them for the rest of their upcoming (an extremely grueling) MAC schedule. What could be the impetus behind this? Is he prematurely conceding defeat? Yeah, probably, but that was conceded when they signed on the dotted line when this game was scheduled. He’s just reaffirming it. Are they challenging for the MAC title? Maybe, but it doesn’t look like it. Why would he do this? Seems like he’s making a big mistake. This may be the only chance some of these guys get to play in the Horsehoe in front of an hundred-thousand fans. It would be disappointing, especially if you’re an Ohio boy, for your coach to limit your time in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Add on top of that the number of improbable upsets where a team had no business winning the game did so. Haven’t Appalachian State, Colorado, Stanford, et al taught us anything? Come on, Coach Martin! Do the right thing.

Second thing to get to: Previews. You want ’em, you love ’em, we link ’em. Buckeye Planet, Eleven Warriors, our own stats on common opponents, and The O-Zone .

This game is on the Big Ten Network. I guess you Time Warner people are still out of luck, right? (Maybe more than you think) I personally have WOW and they just added BTN a couple weeks ago. But no HD BTN! Adding it this late in the season was too little, too late if you ask me.

Finally, the questions. I’m keeping this short and simple.

• Final Score?
• Will Ohio State finally record that elusive shutout? If not, why?
• Will someone buy Anderson Russell some Stick ‘um?

el Kaiser
Final Score: OSU: 38 Kent State: 0
Shutout? Yup. See above.
Russell’s hands: I hope he does something. Maybe Little Animal can loan him his leather magnets from last year.

sportsMonkey
Final Score: OSU: 31 Kent State: 0
Shutout? Yes, the defense will pitch its third shutout of the year.
Russell’s hands: You gotta think statistics alone would require it happening sometime. He can’t drop them all, can he?

Sylvester Yon-Rambo
Final Score: OSU: 45 Kent State: 0
Shutout? The only way we dont get a shutout is that we will give up a kickoff return or punt return for a TD,
Russell’s hands:I think he will get 2 this weekend. They will both be in the first half.

I am leaving tonight heading to State College, PA with some guys from church. I will get to watch the Buckeyes’ game in one of their RVs. Thank goodness for satellites on RVs so I can see a Big Ten Network game. I will also have some major insight into both PSU and Wisconsin and will be the MotSaG man on the inside.