Game Week and Five Fearless Predictions
Anybody else ready?Finally. The start of the greatest stretch of four months in the year is upon us. The days of talk about who will emerge and become the 3rd wide receiver, new linebacker or new fullback are finally coming to an end.
In five days, we’ll know if it looks like Boeckman has taken the 2nd-year starter leap. We’ll get a feel for what Pryor can do at this level and whether this defense will be as good as it’s billed. Some of the other talented freshman will get their first chance to make an impact and prove that they deserve snaps this year.
The long spring and summer of speculation and information swapping is finally coming to a close. As we head into this first game week, here are five fearless predictions for the 2008 season:
1. Pryor will see the field in the first half against Youngstown State and his workload will increase from there.
Bauserman is the solid two right now and he’ll follow Boeckman in terms of getting complete series the first game of the season, but Pryor will enter the game to take snaps in certain early situations. The Penguins will be the first of many opponents where Pryor will find himself as the best athlete on the field and that will start to show. I’m still not sold on Tress giving him complete series to run early on, but he’ll have a progressively bigger impact on the offense as the season goes down.
2. DeVier Posey will post at least 400 yards receiving on the year.
I know, I know. Way to go out on a limb, right? 400 yards? That’s insane! Well… it is when you consider that he’s a true frosh on a deep and talented receiver corps and he’ll be getting those yards with the Brians competing for passes. And he’ll earn about 80% of that total the last 6 weeks of the year when he’s emerged similar to the way David Boston did in 1996 (33 for 450). He’s good for at least two or three bombs during Big Ten play, alone.
3. Beanie Wells will not win the Heisman Trophy.
He will get his numbers and once again make defenders look like approaching toddlers, but I just don’t see enough close games requiring his extended service. He’ll also lose touches because of all of the other playmakers on the team. And if that’s not enough, if he’s not splitting votes with Laurinaitis, he’ll be faced with a national mood of “oh know, the Buckeyes in the BCS again” and that will tip some voters in other directions, especially if Tebow puts up his expected Nintendo stats again.
4. The defense will be truly sick.
It won’t just be against Big Ten also-rans, this defense will attack and showcase the athletes in the USC and bowl game as well. They’ve been highly rated quite a few times recently, but they’ve been exposed as a paper tiger. All of the talent and experience will propel this group to some record-approaching numbers. The take-away margin will be in the healthy plus territory, they will block kicks and punts, the ends will take some pressure off of the tackles and the linebackers and secondaries will go down as all-time Buckeye greats for units. There will be shutouts and a few of them.
5. The Buckeyes will beat USC and go on to play in a third-straight MNC game.
I’ve swung from nervous as hell about USC earlier this summer to feeling stupidly confident, as of late. Both defenses will bring it on September 13, but Beanie, the line, Pryor and the overall experience of the Buckeye offense will be enough to overcome the home field advantage of the Trojans. From there, I think this team is experienced enough to remain focused throughout the rest of the schedule. Just like other championship teams, they’ll need some luck and will have to overcome some crazy adversity in at least one conference game (looking your way, Madison) but they’ll pull through.
What’s in your five?
Ray Small will continue his descent into obscurity. From all of heard about the Great Dane and the other talented, young receivers, I think Ray-Ray’s time has come in gone.
Special teams–especially punt returns–will be DRAMATICALLY better this year.
Special teams, I hope so. I think Ted Ginn’s amazing talent covered-over some fundamental problems, which they’ve hopefully identified and rectified.
Put me in the Nervous as Hell category.
The only place I disagree is Beanie not winning the Heisman. The fact that Beanie will only be needed in mostly just the first half of games will make his stats even that much more impressive. It will also keep him from wearing down throughout the year, allowing him to finish strong and leave a good taste in the voters’ mouths. Beanie had several “Heisman moments” last year and now that he’s a consensus front runner to win the Heisman, people will be watching when he does his thing this year. My prediction is that Tebow will absolutely not win it again this year. The only reason he won last year was because his inflated stats. He was the 1st QB in history to put up both 20 passing and rushing touchdowns but, that’s because he was their offense last year. Not only that, unlike Beanie, Tebow actually plays the entire game so FL can run up the score. Is anybody else aware that there was another QB out there last year that also had over 20 passing touchdowns and 19 rush touchdowns? He also played on a team that spread the field and relied on him completely to carry the offense. His name is Dan Lefevour of Central Michigan and he’s a better pro QB prospect than Tebow.
So, my five predictions, since you asked, are as follows:
1. Beanie Wells will win the Heisman
2. Ohio State beats USC in a more lopsided victory than expected.
3. The PAC-10 will take the pressure off the Big-10 in terms of being beat up by the biased sports writers as being an inferior conference, starting with Michigan State beating Cal week 1 (kind of a 2 for 1). Seriously, other than USC, the PAC-10 will not look that good this year, not that they were that good last year. Oregon had its’ run but, wasn’t the same after Dixon was injured. Cal, even with more talent last year than this year, dropped 6 or its’ last 7 in the regular season.
4. This years Buckeye team will be compared to, and deemed to be better than, the ‘02-’03 Miami team that was arguably one of the best college football teams ever loaded with NFL players.
5. The SEC will lose some steam this year and all the “best conference in the world” talk will settle down a bit. Alabama, Arkansas & Kentucky, teams that help bolster that type of talk, are all somewhat in rebuilding mode. LSU lost all it’s name brand talent and will go 9-4 this year. FL, GA and Auburn will be the only top-tier teams in the conference with everyone else lagging behind. I can think of several other conferences that have at least three top-tier programs.
Can’t wait. Go Buckeyes!
Great Post Stefanik
I agree that Beanie doesn’t win the Heisman, partially because of the limited number of carries I think he’ll get in any blowouts OSU happens to enjoy, but mostly because of the general anti-OSU sentiment the program has brought down on itself. That said, individual awards don’t seem to be quite so susceptible to program backlash, so there’s always hope.
The Posey prediction is an interesting one. If he does come on, it will indeed be in the back half of the year. Four hundred yards is very ambitious, but this kid can flat play. I agree with Tonsils’ suggestion that Ray Small will gradually be eclipsed by other receiving talent. His star is fading, though he still shows flashes.
As for the season, I stand by what I said earlier. OSU goes 10-2, or even 9-3, losing to USC out west in a fairly competitive game, and dropping one or two intraconference games (likely to Bucky, but beware Sparty, Zook, and a dangerous JoePa). I even look with trepidation at the m*ch*g*n game. The good news is that whoever is unfortunate enough to meet OSU in a BCS game is going to be demolished. Absolutely demolished. Oh, Lord, let it be Stoops. At this point in the program’s progess, a Big T(elev)en championship – or even a shared title – and a big win in any BCS game is preferable to another loss in a title game.
There are too many parallels to the ‘05 team for my comfort. That said, I hope they roll through. Go Bucks! Let’s get the season started. I can’t wait to watch them, and cheer them on.
I disagree with Joe Fox on the record; however, I do think that if the Bucks drop the USC game, another loss is certainly a good possibility (cheese state night game). RE: winning BCS side game v. losing NCG. Yes, blowing out ND was fun but you cannot score enough points to make the game truly matter. Not to mention the impending disaster that a disappointed team could roll into (see Boise St. giving stoops a nationally televised golden shower). IF we drop the USC game, sure, I would prefer to blow out some crap overrated team (see: Clemson). Unfortunately, with a team this highly touted, you have to brace yourself for anything but a NCG essentially packing our seniors bags for them and us not showing up at all. Pride is powerful and could overcome disappointment but there is no promise we show up for a side-BCS game.
That being said, count me as stupidly confident about the SC game and expecting the table to be run with style.
I think the Posey prediction is the least likely to come true. Even though he may be a stud, given the other depth, the strength of our running game and the fact that with the clock changes we will likely see a few fewer plays per game this year, 400 seems awfully ambitious. Assuming Boeckman, et al duplicate Troy’s 2006 season and throws for around 2800 yards, the Brian’s are likely to get atleast 1600-1800 of that. Leaving only 1000 or so to be split between Posey, Dane, Small, Nicol, Ballard, Saine, both Wells and Washington. if all the other guys get about the same as they got last year, that is close to 900 yards. That only leaves about 100 for Posey. Even assuming he takes nearly all of Small’s yards, he still only gets to about 350. So 400 seems awfully high.
Given that TGII only got 359 his freshman year, I don’t see him making a bigger impact than that. I would guess closer to 300
My fearless prediction: I will have a chubby all week long because it’s GAME WEEK!!!
1.) TP plays far less than Buckeye fans are anticipating, and throws all of 4 times the whole season. This keys defenses, and they play TP 1 dimensionally as the season goes on. Tressel plays it close to the vest, keeping TP from being put in a situation to make big mistakes….And Buckeye fans are PISSED.
2.) Beanie scores a close second in the Heisman, loses it to Knowshon Moreno b/c OMGSEC OMG HE PLAYS IN THE SEC OMG ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAY THERE and therefore, he must be better than the best running back in college football.
3.) Beanie destroys Michigan, has a blast doing it, loses the Heisman and says “Eff this, I could eat that Moreno punk for an afternoon snack. I’m coming back to win the Heisman.” (wait, did you say top five predictions, or top five pipe dreams?)
4.) OSU loses a close one to USC but plays a dynamite game. OSU then wins out the rest of the season they make it to the MNC b/c of an early-season ‘quality’ loss (ala 2005, provided they didn’t lose to Penn State after losing at Texas) and OSU wins the MNC, but….
5.) The media won’t give up the OSU-sucks-compared-to-the-OMGSEC bullshit, b/c OSU plays an unbeaten OK in the MNC game, on account of all the SEC teams being 2 loss suckers since their ‘conference is OMGSEC OMG SO FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAY IN.’
So, yeah, I predict a season of bittersweet.
I think Dirty6’s scenario is just about right, and as good a scenario as I can see OSU having. I especially agree that a win over an unbeaten Oklahoma team would be tainted by the press, since Stoops’ boys have struggled in their recent bowl games. That sucks.
I love the SEC rant. Lovely.
1. Utah beats Michigan in Week One.
2. OSU will defeat USC by more than 7pts.
3. Tebow won’t win the Heisman because he will run much less frequently.
4. Pryor will pass for roughly 600 yds and rush for 300 yds on the season.
5. OSU plays Oklahoma in the BCS Championship.
Bonus: Pretorius will be a Groza finalist and will win it.
Beanie will top 2000 this season, Robo and Hartline each crack 1000 and we beat Michigan by 150.
We beat an SEC team this year. . . . . pick one: GA, FL, LSU, TN, or AL. Any bowl. I don’t care. Shut these SOB’s up.
Found on another blog site:
“If you are a Big 10 team, you should automatically be taken out of the BCS.”
See the kind of Sh_! I put up with every day down here?
1. Who gives a rats ass about the heisman. Just win and the Trophy will find its way home.
2. Pryor will be the best player on this team not named Beanie wells by years end.
3. USC is over rated and will face a pissed off buckeye team on a mission from god.
4. Ohio State wins all of its games by double digits.
5. Miami will see Ohio State fans living la vida loca In Jan. 09
My five..
1. Bausermans’ arm wins a game (T.B. sits out after suffering minor injury)!
2. Freeman & Laurinaitis will be credited with triple digits in tackels (again)!
3. Hartline will break 1,000 yards easily.
4. Special teams will produce multiple T.D.’s (”Flash” Thomas is the next TGII)!
5. Beanie will finally patent his stiff-arm making millions before he ever plays a down in the NFL…!
O – H….