Presented without comment.

As always, stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

So it stinks craptastic donkey farts that OSU lost.

But answer honestly… is it really that big of a deal? Let’s step away from the ledge for a moment and remember how rare it is that ANY team from a competitive conference goes undefeated.

Alabama lost last week, to a team that took it on the chin this week against an unranked opponent. Same with Nebraska, to an unranked Texas team with one of the worst offenses in its history.

At least OSU had a litany of reasons (not excuses) for its loss. There were no misconceptions about this Buckeye team heading into Madison:

• Tough, ranked opponent
• OSU’s injury-ridden defense – filled with players that were listed as second- or third-string at the beginning of the season
• Worst special teams of the Tressel era
• Hobbled star quarterback, playing on what is obviously a very injured leg
• Excellently talented, deep, and senior-heavy Wisconsin team; playing at home, at night, with nothing much to lose
• Jim Bollman is still an offensive coach (zing)

Buckeye fans: would you rather be a Nebraska fan this week? It could be worse.

In all seriousness, at the beginning of the season el Kaiser and I examined the schedule and had a discussion on what was “fair” to expect out of this year’s OSU squad. I argued that nine (regular season) wins were a lock – in other words, fewer than nine wins weren’t acceptable without a coaching change or major reason why. Ten wins were considered “expected.” Eleven wins… if the team was better than usual or if the Big 10 ended up terrible (see 2006). And, of course, twelve wins for a team was historically exceptional and beat the odds.

So it’s really not that big of a deal for OSU to lose a game like this. Losing last year, to Purdue – that was unacceptable, and I’m still shocked that Gene Smith didn’t come down heavier on Tressel to make assistant changes after that game. But losing to a very good, ranked, Wisco team, on the road at night, with a banged up team – that’s gonna happen from time to time, folks. It’s perfectly acceptable to root against such a thing happening, but it’s completely unreasonable to expect for it not to happen. Not in a competitive conference.

So… “relieved”…? In a way, yes. Maybe it’s just me, but I have to admit at times I miss just enjoying college football, rather than worrying week to week whether my favorite team will perform well enough to keep or raise its ranking.

Today’s loss means OSU will have a narrower focus, a smaller list of likely scenarios with which to concern itself. As of now, the Big 10 championship is within reach, and that more modest goal suits the circumstances of this 2010 squad a bit better.

And silver-lining wise, the Big 10 now has three or four solid, tough teams that are positioning themselves nicely to represent the conference well in the postseason. And maybe Michigan, too.

So, after all this discussion, let’s talk about a team that we should REALLY feel bad for: Purdue. As if they weren’t already doomed enough for their role in last year’s fiasco, tonight’s loss just assured them of yet more unfathomable pain next week. Condolences and apologies in advance for the upcoming annihilation.

Well, that stunk. Kinda hard to get back into a game when you spot a team a 21-point lead, but that’s exactly what happened. SportsMonkey will be along with a game recap, but if you feel like venting, feel free in the comments.

So I was sitting here thinking about what I want to write to be objective in this preview and not be a homer. I have watched both teams play a few games already this year and both teams returned a lot of last years teams that played each other in Columbus. I have thought about it all all week and I can’t do it.

I look at the strengths and weaknesses of both teams and weigh them out and no matter how I do it the result is the same in my mind. A big win for the Buckeyes.

First, lets talk about the Wisky offense vs. the OSU defense. The Badgers run the ball and then they run it again and again and again and maybe they will let Tolzien throw the ball a few times to the TE and one or two deep balls. Wisky has two good RB’s in Clay and White. Before the season John Clay got a ton of Heisman talk but since James White started getting carries (about 40% of them per game) he has disappeared from the discussion. To the point that most Badger fans say White is the teams best RB. The Badgers are 11th in the country in rush offense. Now no matter which RB carries the ball tomorrow they have one big problem. OSU has the 4th best rushing defense in the country. They also have the 6th best scoring defense and the 3rd best Total Defense in the country. Our weakest part of the defense is the passing game and it is hardly a weakness (1st in the Big Ten and 13th nationally). No player has got 100 yards rushing on OSU in 29 games almost 3 years. There is nothing to suggest it will be any different this year.

Bottom Line: OSU defense is better than Wisky offense.

Next, the Wisky defense vs. the OSU offense. Let me just say this OSU is a pass first offense this year and they have the weapons to support a powerful passing attack. TP has great targets in Posey, Sanz, Saine, Stoneburner, and the back ups. Why is this important? Because the Badgers weakest part of their defense is Pass Defense. The Badgers are 54th in the country in pass defense. They are 22nd on rush defense and 32nd in the country in scoring defense. The Buckeyes should have no issues throwing the ball which is our main dish at the supper table. I am not sure if our RB’s will get many yards but it isn’t out of the question either. Rumor has it Pryor is 100% healthy and will have all plays available to him in the game. Which means we may see a healthy dose of TP rushes tomorrow as well.

Bottom Line: OSU offense is better than Wisky defense.

Lastly, Special Teams and the intangibles. I think the special teams is a push. OSU has gotten better and Wisky has gotten worse with injuries. The HOME CROWD is the only possible advantage I can see in this game. Turnovers, OSU defense are ball hawks and have a top 5 TO margin in the country because of it. TP hasn’t been making many mistakes and has done well under pressure. Wisky on the other doesn’t get many TOs on defense but doesn’t give up many either on offense. Jim Tressel vs Bret Bielema I won’t even debate this, it isn’t even close one uses his knowledge and experience to coach the game and Bielema uses the coaches for dummies cliff notes he has on a card in his back pocket.

Bottom Line: OSU coaching and TO battle is better than the Wisky home field advantage.

So lets open the debate and see if I am just way off or if people agree with me and this game won’t even be close. Question portion of the preview time now.

1.) Will Wisconsin get a 100 yard rusher this week against OSU and if yes who White or Clay?
2.) Pryor over/under 300 total yards on the day?
3.) Will Coach Tressel pull out a card and go for 2 points at any point during the game and point and laugh at Bielema?
4.) How Many TO’s does OSU get and give up?
5.) What is your Final score prediction?

Presented with one comment. That sack statistic (1.33 sacks per game) bothers me, but Vico looked at “Where Have All the Sacks Gone?” and that made me feel a little better about it. A little

As always, stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

So before the season started there was the annual Big Ten media days in Chicago. During those days, Coach Tressel said something that caused everyone in attendance to laugh. He said “he expects to be a “25 to 35 passing team,” and anything closer to that higher end could be historic.” In fact, by Tressel’s estimate, Pryor could wind up throwing the ball this season more than any quarterback in Ohio State history. No one believed him, maybe not even Pryor. Why anyone would think Tressel was joking is mind boggling at this point since one thing Tressel isn’t is a comedian. Fast forward to game 6 of the season and it is clear at least to this point that Tressel is the one having the last laugh.

For 3 years now all we have heard is Terrelle Pryor is a good running QB but a horrible passer. I think it really bothers TP to hear that and at some point he was able to convince Tressel it wasnt true and has since then worked hard to improve every aspect of that part of his game.

On Saturday he was 24 out of 30, 80%, for 334 yards and 3 TDs and 0 INTs. He also had 3 carries for -19 yards, all sacks.

On the season he is 104 out of 153, 68%, for 1349 yards and 15 TDs and 3 INTs. He has 57 carries for 354 yards and 3 TDs.

These are numbers that are surprising to almost everyone except Tressel. The guy can flat out coach and he has turned what once was an over hyped punk into a Heisman Contending Drop Back Passer. In the last 7 games alone, TP has gone from a late round project NFL draft pick after next year to a clear first day pick next year. (See Vince Young, JaMarcus Russel, and Jason Campbell if you dont believe TP is a first rounder).

He was able to pick apart a bad Indiana defense and check down to open recievers. Some may say, “so what, anyone could do that,” and I say TP couldn’t last year and that is the point. He is a completely different QB this year who can pass well and run when needed.

As for the running game folks we have a clear No. 1 RB now and a new team leading rusher on the season and it is Boom Herron: 12 carries for 68 yrds and 2 TDs. If he had more carries he would have broke 100 yards easy but we didn’t need him last week. Saine was moved to almost a slot receiver and he was great with 4 catches and 84 yards and a TD. Hall was the back up but didn’t do much. Here is where it gets tricky somehow Carlos Hyde moved up to 3rd string and was running well before he fumbled on the goal line. I was shocked to see him get more carries after that. (I think he may have naked pics of Tressel and is blackmailing him ;)) He finished a good performance with 9 carries for 48 yards and a fumble. Berry got to play and again showed great promise with 5 carries for 42 yards.

The receivers were really good with few drops and Posey and Sanzenbacher and Saine carrying the load and each getting a TD. With those 3 guys and the backups I feel great about the WR corp.

Defense as always solid and played amazing against the best passing team in the league. They absolutely shut down Chappell all game. They continue to be ball hawks getting TOs every game, in multiples. There is no real weakness and no real strength they are just solid all around and should be fine in every game. We just need to stay healty now with who we have left.

Overall I think we showed why we are the No. 1 team in the land and that a great team is always better than a great player on a bad team.

So here we come Wisky, pack your marshmallows with batteries and jump around all you want. We are coming to play a game we are more than capable of winning.

Have at it. I’ll be AFK for most of the day, but I’ll be watching the game. GO BUCKS.

The 3-1 Indiana Hoosiers will ride into sun drenched Ohio Stadium (weather permitting) with one of the most high powered passing games in college football. The Hoosiers have the 12^th best scoring offense in all the land and the 4^th best passing offense to boot.

Norman Dale would be pleased. God, he’s handsome.

Luckily for Ohio State, the Hoosiers are not coached by Norman Dale (because he only coaches basketball and even that was just for pretend). They are coached by Bill Lynch, who is insane:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE8J7gZ6iC8

Lynch is more like Dennis Hopper’s character…the drunken slob that is forced to listen to the big game on the radio because he was an embarrassment to his team, the entire town and his own son.

But even Lynch, who is legally insane isn’t dumb enough to forget to call plays designed for his quarterback Ben Chappell to get the ball to one of the most underrated players in college football in Tandon Doss. Against the mighty Michigan defense (cough, cough) Doss had over 200 yards receiving. Last year against Ohio State Doss had 96 yards receiving and a score. Doss is also Indiana’s primary returner on punt and kick returns. He’s really good.

6-5 Demarlo Belcher is another weapon at Chappell’s disposal. Both he and Doss lead the Hoosiers in receiving. The running game which is ranked 99^th isn’t a concern. Indiana will run their offense out of the spread and pistol formations almost exclusively. I’m sure they will have some tricks up their sleeves as well…perhaps the old picket fence?

With all the injuries to the Ohio State secondary Indiana should be able to move the ball on Saturday. Expect a high dose of quick screens and quick hitters to the aforementioned playmakers. The longer Chappell holds onto the ball the higher the chance he will be eaten by the Ohio State defensive line. With Tyler Moeller out for the season his position of star will be taken over by Christian Bryant who had 5 tackles in Moeller’s absence last Saturday.

Now, while that all sounds good and all for Indiana, let us look at who they have played thus far:

It doesn’t take Jimmy Chitwood to see what sticks out with the above data. Ohio State has a really good defense, while the other teams on that list….suck. LOL at Michigan and their dead last pass defense.

On offense Ohio State will most likely be able to move the ball at will. Indiana has the 72^nd ranked scoring defense, the 88^th ranked defense for total yards given up, the 108^th ranked rushing defense and the 47^th ranked pass defense.

Look for Ohio State to look a lot like they did against Marshall. The weather on Saturday is supposed to be beautiful and with that comes a wide open offense. I look from Pryor to throw it 25-30 times and be limited by coaching when it comes to him running the football due to his injury. It should be a balanced run/pass attack with Boom Herron getting most of the workload and Brandon Saine and Jordan Hall fighting it out for carries after that. Don’t be surprised if Brandon Saine is the 3^rd option at tailback after his horrible performance last week. This may be Jordan Hall’s “tryout” for the #2 tailback spot.

Prediction time — feel free to play along.
Final Score:
OSU-41
IU-20

I think Indiana will put together a couple nice drives and put some points on the board, but their lack of defense will be evident.

Ben Chappell over/under 300 yards passing: Under – barely…I think he get’s close only because he is playing catch up.

Guess the rushing yardage for these 4 players:
Pryor: 15
Herron: 110
Saine: 20
Hall: 65