Onward!After a hellish two weeks that consisted of moving, an ass-kicking project at work, an ass-kicking of my favorite team last weekend and my pets heads falling off, I'm ready to settle back in and hopefully watch the beginning of a new era of Buckeye football.
If Pryor does get the start and manages to play a majority of the game (or at least a majority of the game while it still matters), I have every reason to believe that his natural talent will make a lot of the other problems disappear. The line will start to groove, receivers will break open because of the pressure he exerts on defenses and the time he can buy in the pocket or on the run and the running game will positively blow up. Especially if the pistol/read option is run on a regular basis.
There is still so much football to be played and there's something to be said about the contagiousness a truly dynamic player brings to the table.
Outside of Pryor, are there any youngsters you've been dying to see more of on the field? What about the over/under on the number of Trojans in the flyweight category that have to be helped off of the field?
There's not much in the way of marquee Big Ten out of conference games this weekend, though Michigan State welcomes Notre Dame to East Lansing (3:30PM, ABC). Not exactly two Goliaths, but Sparty has a great chance to turn that "little brother" rubbish around by beating the team that waxed the Wolverines last weekend.
We'll also find out if Iowa is (somewhat) for real this weekend as they travel to Pitt. The Hawkeyes have taken care of business out of the gate, despite the turbulent offseason. It's a reflection of how far they've fallen since that Orange Bowl appearance that Pitt, sorry Pittsburgh, is a barometer game -- especially when you consider the egg the Panthers laid against Bowling Green in their opener. A noon start on ESPN2, this is the game you'll most likely be peeping during commercial breaks in the Buckeye game.
National games of note:
- #6 LSU travels to #15 Auburn in this week's marquee game. Even with the question at quarterback heading into this season, the Tigers have pretty much smacked-down everyone they've played (albeit all warm-up games) and finally get their first true test of the season. If this game even comes close to living up to the drama of Matt Flynn's last second heroics last year, it'll be worth taking in. (7:45PM, ESPN)
- Georgia fans will finally experience the thrill of boarding an airplane to go see their team play when they make the trip to Tempe to see their #4 Dawgs take on Arizona State. It's the first game outside of SEC territory that the Dawgs will have played in Richt's seven years at the school and was a topic of much discussion by fans of each school all summer, but the game has a lost a little bit of its luster thanks to UNLV's win over the Sun Devils last weekend. (8PM, ABC)
- Daggummit's Seminoles host #17 Wake Forest and at least in the Coaches Poll, the Noles are ranked for the first time since they ran into Wake last year and took one on the chin 24-21. Florida State has feasted on two FCS teams (Western Carolina and Chattanooga) to get that 2-0 mark, but enter the game as underdogs. If your football coming of age years were the 90s, like mine, this is mind-boggling. But it's also a testament to the fine job former Ohio coach Jim Grobe has done at the school. (7PM, ESPN2)
