This hasn’t been an easy game to preview. Part of me thinks Miami is going to come in to the Horseshoe and give Ohio State all it can handle. Part of me thinks this game is just a speed bump in the preparation for Big Ten play. That part of me saw what a physical, bruising line and running game can do to the Miami defense and what pressure can do to Jacory Harris. Is Miami Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?

Maybe the one thing that makes me the most nervous (and will retroactively give me the most abundant joy) is the, shall we say, overconfidence of some of the Miami players (and they’re myopic, moronic fans). In terms of players, I’m of course referring to one specifically, Damien Berry

In terms of fans, the ignorance is staggering on multiple levels. Just check any random ESPN Miami/OSU article to plumb the depths of the Miami Fan Psyche. Even those that cover the ‘Canes are impossibly misinformed. I am obligated to link this but perhaps not obligated to comment because conversations with kindergartners that are not my son are boring. But here’s a shot. I was at the 2005 Texas game (you know, the one Vince Young said was the loudest crowd he’d ever heard) and I can assure you that the Horseshoe can be quite hostile. If you were there, you know what I mean.

But enough of that. The game is settled on the field. So let’s get to that.

At the moment, Ohio State is a 8.5 point favorite. The weather conditions do not look favorable for a clean game but could potentially favor the more physical, capable running team (read: Ohio State).

Depth charts: Miami’s, Ohio State’s (Oh, and there will be quite a few recruits at the game.)

What to watch

Both team’s running games: With crummy weather and ball control that Jim Tressel so desires, this may be the deciding factor in Saturday’s game. Ohio State seemed to run with little resistance against Marshall, racking up 280 yards. Both Brandon Saine and Jaamal Berry averaged over 11 yards a carry. The defensive resistance may have been minimal, but Miami had little or no resistance in their game and only managed 155 yards on 36 carries. I think we’d have to give Ohio State the advantage on the ground.

Special teams: Ohio State’s special teams were ghastly while Miami boasts the services of a pretty good kicking and punting game. Again, in the world of Tresselball, it isn’t very often that Ohio State could potentially be outplayed on Special Teams, but Miami punter/kicker Matt Bosher has a heck of a leg and is as reliable as they come.

Ohio State’s Defensive push: To me, anyway, it almost seemed like Ohio State’s defensive linemen weren’t super interested in Marshall. They knew they could get penetration at will and did just enough to make sure no one got through and the line of scrimmage was controlled.

That won’t be enough. Larimore played excellent against Marshall, so he’s already hit the game running. We’re going to need Penn State/Rose Bowl level Cameron Heyward and the rest of the line to get pressure early and often.

Back in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl, as soon as Will Smith got to Ken Dorsey (and knocked him down with one hand) I knew we had a chance. We had a monster line that year and we’ll need a similar performance on Saturday.

Miami’s Offensive Line: In a mirror image, watch to see how Miami’s line performs. They only return two starters and are relatively inexperienced at the other positions. Heyward and Larimore could have a field day with these guys.

As ATO points out, Miami’s offensive line has struggled to protect Harris. Last year they gave up 35 sacks, almost 3 a game. The line is being shuffled around with players playing new positions. While most linemen know and understand each other’s assignments and blocking schemes, moving around on the line isn’t always a smooth transition.

Who to watch

Jacory Harris: We’ll start with the obvious here. Questionable fashion choices aside, the ‘Canes go as Jacory goes. I think this kid is hard to figure out. He’s a clean cut, good looking kid and the media loves him. He gets a lot of hype and praise for being a “winner.” But if you look at last year’s stats, they really don’t bear that image out. No one threw more interceptions than Harris besides Javon Snead. He did throw 24 TDs, but that TD/INT ratio wasn’t any great shakes and neither was his completion percentage. I just don’t see what others see.

He’s got a good arm but he’s not quick or fast. Harris poses little or no threat to run (36 yards on 14 carries last year). Pressure also gets to him so that is going to be a huge key to the game.

Allen Bailey: Bailey is Miami’s 2009 sack leader and a heck of an athlete. He’s quick and is going to be a match-up problem for Ohio State’s offensive tackles.

Seantrel Henderson: Will there be a chance to even see Seantrel? The 7th Floor has a look at what he did in the FAMU game, but come on guys, it was FAMU. In my dreams, Cameron Heyward lines up against Seantrel and give’s him a Horseshoe-sized welcome.

Terrelle Pryor: Why? If I have to tell you, you’re at the wrong site.

Cameron Heyward: Ditto.

Things to consider

Randy Shannon has a decent record against the top 25 but when the ‘Canes are on the road, against top 25 teams, he’s 1-5. That one victory was against Florida State, which finished the season 7-6. That is pretty self-explanatory.

After struggling against top-10 teams for almost three years, Jim Tressel ripped off wins against three teams that finished in the top 10 at the end of the 2009 season.

I think Ohio State chances are pretty good on Saturday. I was actually surprised while I was doing research for this post that Ohio State is favored by so many points. So many things point to a good performance by the Buckeyes and a big letdown for Miami. But I’m still unsettled. This is a big game.

Why I’m nervous

Miami is always going to have great athletes and while we rail against the idea of “Southern Speed,” Miami still boasts some guys on their team that can fly. Buzz out of Miami is that Lamar Miller is one of those guys. Sure, he’s number three on the depth chart behind Damien Berry and Mike James, but just think about that for a second. They are going to test the Buckeyes down the field.

The aforementioned confidence also makes me nervous. The ‘Canes players are saying they are going to be intimidated by the ‘Shoe crowd. They talk the talk and if they can walk the walk, I’ll be popping Tums like candy.

Why I’m not nervous

I’ve already brought these points up earlier, but some of them bear repeating. If it comes down to quarterback play, I like our chances with Terrelle Pryor. I mentioned how Harris is simply not a threat to tuck the ball and run. Well, Pryor is. Pryor can go toe to toe with Harris through the air (his mechanics look so much better) but if the weather makes the passing game a liability, cackle to yourself with glee.

Again, those Miami rushing stats vs. FAMU are simply unimpressive. If Miami can’t run the ball against Ohio State, it could get ugly quick.

Finally, I sense some mind games going on here between coaches. Tressel is obviously not going to let any cats out of the bag, but he has already said that passing more is going to be a theme this season. Everything I’ve read has Miami preparing to stop the run first and worry about Pryor passing second. Evil Tressel has clueless Shannon right where he wants him.

Right now, I’m at about a 4.5 out of 10 on the worry-o-meter. I’m feeling really good about this game. How are you feeling? Are you with me or am I out of my gourd?

This week, we’re foregoing any other predictions and going straight with a score prediction. I say OSU 31 Miami 17. What say you?

A quote from an interview with Randy Shannon:

Q: But obviously though there’s kids that live off campus. But what do you tell parents about that?

A: We show them the neighborhoods. Everybody else in the country lives off campus and they still have the same problems. But their newspaper don’t beat them up about it. Like our newspaper beats us up about it. I know you guys are doing your job, you got to beat us up about it. But then understand we just want a fair shot. At Ohio State, do you realize you had more things happen at Ohio State more than anything. You think we’ve been bad? Go check out Ohio State, guys who have been arrested, bar fights. Everything at Ohio State and you’d think University of Miami was angels. Florida the same…

Now…Ohio State has had its share of moments off the field but nothing close to Miami’s. I can see Tressel taking these comments very seriously and unleashing hell upon the Hurricanes and I hope he does.

I’m hoping Tressel is tired of hearing comments like these along with the endless idiotic ranting from moronic talking heads and jealous Miami fans regarding the late flag and the outcome of the 2002 title game. I hope Tressel makes this a statement game. We shall see.

(Source: Jacory Harris’ Twitter)

Over at NDNS I wrote a bit of a rebuttal to everyone in the sports media that has been talking about the pass interference call at the end of the 1st overtime in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. The narrative that ESPN and their ilk have been pushing is that the Miami game is one of redemption for Canes players because of the “controversial” call. If nothing else, I hope the post can be a little red meat for people trying to get pumped for the game this weekend. Me, I’m going to be drinking Pepto-Bismol like it’s Natural Light and I’m 19 and poor again all week.

I am keeping the post at NDNS because I agreed to play nice and watch my language over here, and this is a topic that makes me furious. If you don’t mind a whole butt-load of F-bombs, or if you want to see how I write when I’m furious, clicky. If not, I won’t hold it against you. Much.

Upon waking up this morning and re-watching last night’s game on BTN, I decided that there were some important points that I left out of the recap. Here’s what I saw after the Miller Lite Home Draft wore off and the Advil kicked in…

I was remiss in failing to point out the game Tyler Moeller had last night. He was telegraphing his blitzes a little, but it didn’t seem to matter. Great game and a great story.

How about Dane Sanzenbacher? 3 catches for 113 yards and a TD. Not bad for what I think of as a possession receiver.

The special teams weren’t as bad as initially thought. Really all their crappy plays – the blocked PAT, the almost-missed PAT, the long kick return given up, and the blocked FG – came during the first quarter. After that they played pretty well, specifically laying the wood to the Herd’s kick returners. Also, Ben Buchanan had a pretty good night averaging 40.8 yards on 4 punts, including 2 (and just barely missing on one more) inside the 20.

I am relieved to have seen that the Buckeyes looked as good after a second look as they did at first. After re-watching the Rose Bowl countless times since January a sense of dread had become almost palpable because the game still seemed closer than the final score ended up being. Sure, Pryor was good in that game just looking at the statistics, but he made a lot of plays that still looked like vintage bad-Terrelle. Last night’s game only had a couple plays like that. It’s progress.

And finally, let’s toss it over to Marshall’s coach who was asked about TP’s whereabouts sometime during the second quarter. His response? “Down by the 40-yard line, walking on water.”

We’re coming to you LIVE from 6,464 feet above sea level with the first game recap of the 2010 season! Ohio State was the tuberculosis to Marshall’s Doc Holliday (see what I did there?) and dominated from the opening kickoff, ultimately prevailing by a final score of 45-7.

Before the game I had predicted a final score somewhere around OSU 27, Marshall 20 because of all the crappy games the Buckeyes had thrown up to begin seasons past. I’m overjoyed to say that I was wrong. Horribly, embarrassingly wrong. There were a few problems, as I will discuss shortly, but overall I don’t see too many things that a Buckeye fan can really get too angry about.

ESPN boxscore

Positives
Total Offense: Ohio State – 529, Marshall 199

Turnovers : Marshall – 3, Ohio State – 0

Brandon Saine looked like a man possessed, kicking ass and taking initials (because he didn’t have time to take names) to the tune of 103 yards rushing on 9 carries in the first half. For someone who had pretty high expectations to start his career at Ohio State followed by a lowering of those expectations based on performance, it’s nice to see him looking like the franchise back many people thought he was capable of being.

TP looked very, very good, especially in the first half of the game. I can only think of one or two throws he made that made me want to throw up – a significant improvement over last year’s season opener. If he can continue to play like this for the rest of the season, I – for one – will be very happy, and I think the rest of you will be too.

Was it just me, or did Brian Rolle look like a mini-sized Usain Bolt on his second quarter TAINT (Touchdown After INT)? Who knew Mighty Mouse was so fast?

Jamaal Berry looked promising on the last drive of the game. It could be that Marshall was just ready to go home, but his play inspired those of us watching the game at 6464 Lounge and Sports Book to say “Holy Crap, that dude is f*&%ing fast!”

Negatives
The special teams looked really, really bad – aside from the fumble force and recovery on the opening kickoff – in the first half. I will contend that Marshall’s one touchdown was pretty lucky. Had the blocked kick gone in ANY direction other than the one it did, we would be talking about the shutout Ohio State pitched tonight. Nevertheless, it was an ugly play that followed a partially blocked extra point, a breakdown in kickoff coverage, and an almost-shanked extra point.

The Buckeyes committed seven penalties – but the standard of fairness obliges me to point out that two of those were false starts by a true freshman during the final drive of the fourth quarter. Still, OSU’s at-least-five-year-long streak of having their starting left tackle commit at least one false start penalty still lives. Dammit.

Thoughts
I have to admit, I was quite the Negative Nancy going into this game. The Buckeyes, for whatever reason, have seemed to come out halfhearted in their opening game the last few years and I expected the 2010 edition to be more of the same. Don’t get me wrong, I still thought they’d win. I just thought it would be closer than most expected.

It may be the excessive amount of Miller Lite Home Draft I imbibed this evening, but I’m feeling decently about the season after tonight’s game. Hopefully the rest of you are too.

I didn’t have time to get the embedded code for this week’s chat, so you can head over to The Buckeye Battle Cry or use this thread for chatter for the Marshall game.

Congrats to mannycincy, whose preview hype video, “Ohio State Buckeyes 2010 Hype Video,” has taken first in the Men of the Scarlet and Gray Preview Video Throwdown. Embedded below as we wait the final 30+ minutes to kickoff.

LETS GO BUCKS!

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.