An Ohio team scored touchdowns here for onceWe knew coming in that the Toledo defense would be pretty weak. The 52 Purdue hung and the 38 put up by Colorado was all the evidence needed for that case. What we wondered was how the Buckeye defense might fare against a pretty high-powered offense.
On the way to a 38-0 trampling of Aaron Opelt and the Rockets, Terrelle Pryor, Dane Sanzenbacher and a defense that's on a bull run took a huge step towards putting SC in the rear view and taking another step towards becoming a really good team.
Ah, yes -- the MAC team caveat. It's always worth noting that, but for various reasons, MAC teams love to hang with the Buckeyes. If you take out the two curb stompings Kent State suffered, Ohio State is averaging 26-11 wins against the likes of Bowling Green, Miami, Northern Illinois, Akron and Ohio in the past seven years. 5-0 to be sure, but also five spreads covered by the underdogs and five afternoons of some unexpected nervousness.
Not this Saturday. Today we were treated to a game in which Tressel passed liberally for four quarters even after jumping out to a comfortable halftime lead. Perhaps responding to the avalanche of criticism he received this week, Tressel's offense was as diverse as its been since the heady days of '06. We saw quarterback sneaks, play-actions at the goal line, multiple looks to the tight ends and above all, a desire to use the passing game to setup the running game.
Pryor and Dane got the party started early when they connected on a 76 yard touchdown strike on a 3rd and 7 on the Buckeyes' opening drive. Great footwork, great ball and a great catch contributed to the longest play of either of their careers. After holding the Rockets to a three-and-out, the Buckeyes took over and Pryor marched the team 68 yards culminating in another scoring strike to Sanzenbacher -- this one on a beautiful 18 yard post that threaded two defenders. Then on Ohio State's third possession, Pryor quickly moved the team near midfield before firing an arm punt of sorts that was intercpted by Toledo inside their own ten. The first few series of the game would sum up Pryor's afternoon, really. Three or four great plays followed by a head-scratcher or two. They call that learning, I believe.
I thought we'd see a sharp spike in Pryor's numbers just off the speed difference between SC and UT on defense and that proved to be correct. He finished with career highs of 17 completions, 27 attempts and 262 yards through the air for three touchdowns and two interceptions. He also chipped in 110 yards on 12 carries to go along with another touchdown including a sweet career-long 43 yarder in the third quarter. His 372 yards of total offense marks the first time an Ohio State player has had 300+ yards of total offense since Troy Smith had 328 against Michigan in 2006 and were the most out of a Buckeye since Smith's 408 against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl that January.
| Pryor's Top Passing Performances | ||
|---|---|---|
| 09/19/09 @ Toledo | 262 YDS | W, 38-0 |
| 10/25/08 vs Penn State | 226 YDS | L, 6-13 |
| 11/08/08 @ Northwestern | 197 YDS | W, 45-10 |
There will be things to work on like the telegraphing, problems leading receivers, avoiding bombs when things are open underneath and trying to force throws under pressure, but he even seemed to improve on some of those aspects within the game itself and he delivered some really nice throws playing late into the game including improvement in his passes to running backs. I don't know how you can see his performance as anything but a solid development in his journey towards becoming an elite quarterback.
As for Dane, I couldn't be more thrilled to be wrong about my initial skepticism of him. I still worry about him holding up physically, but he is becoming one hell of a wide receiver. He had a career day himself with six five catches for 126 yards including the two touchdowns referenced above. For the season, he's averaging a toasty 26.7 yards per reception and he looks like he's going to be clutch. The receivers as a whole look to be a very solid unit. Duron Carter made his first career start and finished with two catches for 21 yards, while Posey added five for 46 and a touchdown. Small, as a dangerous fourth receiver playing in front of his family, caught two for 47. The bottom line is Pryor has four very capable receivers to throw to and he's comfortable throwing to each.
The Buckeye rushing game, outside of Pryor, continues to look pretty meh. I read earlier in the week that they were on pace to finish with 1,000 fewer yards on the ground than they did in 2008 and Saturday they didn't do a whole lot to make up ground. Boom got the chances and scored on a four-yarder in the second quarter to move his streak of games in which he's scored to seven, but he finished with just 42 yards on 15 carries -- good enough for a 2.8 average. Saine was better, getting 45 on nine touches, but neither of them fit the role of what Tressel appears to want out of his running game. The staff may want to rethink their approach and go to plays that are better tailored to Herron and Saine's skills, especially with the emergence of frosh Jordan Hall. Seeing his first ever action, Hall looked shifty and impressive as he weaved his way to 44 on just seven totes. It's hard to say whether his performance will lead to significantly more playing time in the near term, but at the least, the competition should be good for everyone involved.
The line generally provided great pass protection for the most part and solid run blocking at times, though it did get pushed back on several short yardage situations. What stood out more than anything else out of their play was the astonishing five false start penalties called against the unit. Three of those were whistled on JB Shugarts who was making his first career start in place of the injured Cordle. You want to cut him some slack for first start jitters, so maybe you give him one or even two of those, but three? In front of a friendly crowd? Wonder how he'll grade out this week?
Jumping over to the defense, it's getting close to saying the Silver Bullets are officially back (MAC caveat or not). From the opening snap they got pressure on Aaron Opelt, whether it was in four or three man fronts. When they decided to blitz, Opelt was hit almost every time and would go down twice on the afternoon (after only being sacked once in his first 90 attempts of the season). Opelt opened with six passes on Toledo's first two drives and four of them were balls thrown away. He started 8/22 before picking up some yards when the game was out of hand.
Stealer of hearts, pigskinsThe defense allowed just three first downs and 77 total yards in the first half against an offense that came in averaging 558 yards per game. The Buckeyes held the Rockets to 210 yards of total offense, more than 300 yards below their season average. I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E. In fact, Toledo didn't advance the ball into OSU territory until four minutes remained in the third quarter and that was only due to an interception. They punted on their first 10 possessions and when they finally moved the ball a bit on their 11th drive, Coleman stripped Rocket wide receiver Eric Page at the one and the Buckeyes held on to the shutout. Coleman, it should be noted, believes every ball belongs to him and that's an awesome trait to have in one of your safeties. I really love the way he's improved every year at Ohio State.
When Opelt did have time to deliver the ball downfield, he was stifled by solid coverage. Chimdi Chekwa stepped up and deftly broke up two well thrown bombs, Coleman was everywhere and the linebackers even chipped in with Homan and Rolle providing good underneath support. But that was the exception rather than the rule as the Buckeye front was in Opelt's face all afternoon. Heyward and Williams notched sacks, but it was a group effort with Gibson, Simon, Larimore, Worthington and the rest of the crew applying the heat.
With Thoma out with the flu, Buchanan saw his first action as a Buckeye taking over the punting duties. He finished a solid three for 42.7 including a 51 yarder on his first effort. More importantly, he scooped up low snaps on his last two punts, cooly getting the ball away ahead of the incoming rush. Pettrey looked decent on kickoffs and banged in a 47-yarder, but he also struck an upright on a 20 yard attempt near the end of the first half. Counting the crossbar he hit on the extra point against the Middies, he's off to a rather unlucky start this season. The kickoff coverage looked vulnerable at times, but Toledo's three holding penalties on six returns helped mitigate any of that trouble.
Looking back on how Tressel called the game, I really liked seeing the play-actions near the goal line, thought the two minute drill with under a minute remaining in the first half was a pleasant surprise, enjoyed passing to open drives in each half and of course was just as enthused as you were to see the 6-6/240lb quarterback sneaking the ball. Some ways to improve on that would be to run the play-action on first down (instead of 2nd and 3rd) at the goal line and getting a bit more urgency injected into the hurry up (even when Pryor went no huddle at the end of the half, precious seconds would burn off presnap), but overall, I loved the gameplan.
Juice and the unpredictable Illini come to town next, but if the Buckeyes can keep improving, this is going to be a very dangerous team.
Comments
Watched the O-line play and was impressed with Shugarts and Adams-
Shugarts was tremendous in pass blocking and Adams had some great adjustment blocks.
I saw a much better O-line than we have watched so far this year-
Shugarts false starts were all getting off the ball quicker than the snap- he is the fastest kid on the team getting off on the4 snap and he needs to make an adjustment.
The two Block O tackles are looking as promised
I find it hard to get excited after this win...i didnt get to see it obviously just the highlights, but it was against...toledo...and i hope im proven wrong but i dont think Pryor will ever be a flat out "elite" QB....maybe a "elite" dual threat but not a pocket passer...
You at least need to get excited about the D. Anytime you get a shutout its impressive and Toledo had something like the 4th highest scoring offense in the country. I'm counting down the days before the D ends up literally burying somebody into the ground.
This point was brought up at some point last week but would you rather have a coach like Tress who gets his losses against top ranked competition but is pretty good at beating who we are favored to beat (Florida 06/Illinois 07 are the only examples I can think of since 2005 where we have lost to a team we were favored to beat) or a Coach like Carroll who will most likely beat you in the big game but is almost guaranteed to drop one during the year to a lesser opponent (Washington Today). I don't even know what I think, the USC loss was hard to swallow because flat out we should have won but if we would have won then lost to maybe an Illinois or Wisconsin in conference play I feel like that would sting a little more.
ok...ill give credit were credit is due...
A better comparison to USC losing to Washington would be the Bucks dropping one to Indiana, Washington didn't win a game last year!! and they took it to the Trojans
The D looked good, Toledo or not. But Im still not sold on Pryor making plays when the pressure is on. Seems like his best bet is to tuck and run when he is hurried, he's downright unstoppable at that. He did make a couple nice plays when rushed, but there were still some bothersome decisions like the "backyard football style punt" throw he made, if that had been in the Cowboys new stadium, it might have hit the scoreboard.
Wonder if anyone else feels Jordan Hall earned some future carries with his late game performance? Looks like he could add a different running style to the backfield, which may come in handy since Boom and Zoom only have the first letters of their nicknames to tell them apart. Saine showed nice speed, but he is starting to look too similar to Lydell Ross for me, learn to hit back son!
You mean Jordon "Shifty" Hall? I was really impressed but what I saw, but then again by the time he got in the game the Toledo defense had to have been sucking wind hardcore. Still think he deserves another look. If we can get out to a comfortable lead early against the Illinois I'd love to see Tress put him in early on in the game to get a better feel for his real abilities.
Pryor gets 372 total yards 4 TD's with 2 picks (one being horribly ugly) and people give him a C rating??? For comparison, Tebow had 1 TD, around 200 total yards and 2 turnovers as well. A- at worst and that's only because of the one bad interception when he threw the ball up for grabs. Otherwise he played like the prospect we recruited. If he does that week in and week out and our defense plays with that tenacity, the Buckeyes will win a whole lot of games.
the problem is 3 touchdown passes 2 picks against a less than steller toledo defense...
deom? thought you were dropping some lingua latina...
Pryor got hit by a defender during that long int. He needs to just run it if its there. I think he is trying too hard to be a passer. Just play your game.
Jordan Hall is the second coming of Pepe Pearson btw.
FSU vs BYU is going to be a good one.
Well, my Alma Mater lost but I was proud of how their D-Line played. I expected OSU to win. 5 things I want to say about this game:
1. Brian Rolle is the best Middle Linebacker I have seen in awhile. He is a playmaker.
2. Our defense is phenomenal
3. I thought our O-line was terrible today. The false starts beside, this unit had a massive size advantage as most of Toledo's D-line was less than 250lbs. They constantly had Prior running and making more terrible passes.
4. #8(Barry Church) for Toledo is a playmaker. He was all over the field and made some great open field tackles.
5. I thought it was great to see OSU fans talking S**t to Toledo fans. Toledo is a Mac team and has the balls to open the season with Purdue, Colorado and OSU. Give them some credit guys. I think you have to give credit where credit is due. OSU's defense won that game and Prior had a career day against one of the worst secondaries in the country.
Yikes. Not sure what that was all about, but fixed now. Thanks.
I take JT. From 2006-2009 USC has lost to UCLA, Stanford, Oregon, Washington, and Oregon State twice. All of them unranked at the time. Also, UCLA was 6-5 and Stanford was 1-3 before their wins. AND Washington had lost 15 in a row before beating Idaho last week.
That would be like losing to Indiana, Northwestern...
I feel like that is much worse if that happened EVERY year.
Noticed that when Texas Tech lineman had false start, he immed went to bench! Do we do that?
Off-Topic; Thank God that Ryan Mallett transfered. That kid is a number one draft pick. His accuracy is amazing.
He looks amazing. 161 yds and 3 TDs in the first quarter against Georgia.
Pryor said after the game that he has to do a better job throwing with his legs. At least he's aware...
With SC losing and BYU getting blasted, it'll be nice to crack the Top 10. With our next six games being relative tuneups before PSU, hopefully we'll truly be playing like a Top 10 by the time we go to Happy Valley.
....the key to Pryor is in HIS head... he needs to stop thinking like a superstar and more like a team LEADER... On that horrible INT--there was a short throw available--take it. Also, I know they are working on making him a throw first, run second QB, but when a huge hole is there... step in and hit the jets. Pryor has to learn when to just tuck it and go and forget the Dance fever moves. Overall, the future of this team all depends on Pryor's development... he made more good decisions today than bad, so I guess that is positive. However, Toledo really did not rough up his receivers and he had alot of relatively easy targets... it will be harder in Big 10 play--he needs to not repeat the same mistakes week after week. I am still not sold on Pryor until he shows a complete game.... today was a good start.
don't be surprised if oklahoma jumps us and we stay 11th
BYU will drop at least.
It's all about finding a balance. The prototype is obviously Troy; a dropback QB with third down scrambling ability and escapability. I don't TP knows how to use his legs yet on a college level. The days of pwning 160 lb white HS DBs are over. The 44 yarder today was a great glimpse into his VY like ability. However, I think certain decisions he's made (i.e. the fumble against PSU) makes him tentative with his legs. He's not used to being "wrong" on the football field. Hopefully, the next six games (relative gimmes) will go a long way towards TP finding a balance and trusting himself.
yeah, but BYU drops, OU jumps us, there's no way USC will fall below us
I just hope that Washington's coach sends Tressel a thank-you note for breaking Barkley. McKnight ran for over 100 yards on 11 carries and they still only managed 13 points because of Corp's bone-headed play.
Now we know why Petey was so upset when Sanchez left early.
I still think he was trying to throw it away but got turned by the defender. I thought my 2 year old nephew could ramble on about the game better than those analysts.
Was anyone else impressed with Jordan Hall? I know he was playing late in the game, but at least he appeared to be running through a couple of tackles. Herron, and Saine don't seem to be able to break any tackles. Hall looks like he is running downhill more than Herron, or Saine. I would like to see Hall play a little more and see how he does.
JB said after the game he was legitimately guilty of one false start. The other two, according to him, weren't false starts; rather, he "appeared" to false start due to how quickly he gets off the ball...
Looks like to me Hall accelerates through the hole and then makes a move at the next level - and is capable of making defenders miss! I want to see more of this. GO BUCKS!
I don't know, after many years of watching football, there is something off about a false start that is easy to detect. It is almost like we have incorporated the false start as part of our offensive game plan.
Apparenlty, Washington is not the cellar dweller they were. If their running back doesn't fumble on the 3 yard line, they may have beaten LSU. LSU may or may not be a true top 10 team but Washington is a much different team this year than they were last year. Personally, I don't care what USC does the rest of the year. The only thing that matters is what OSU does the rest of the year.
Today, I was impressed with the offense for most of the game. Pryor clearly has things to work on, but I totall disagree that he'll never be an Elite QB. He's getting there, and I think today was really a good practice for him and the O-line. I expect next week they'll look pretty smooth out there. There are a lot of weapons and for him to throw to, and I am excited for the rest of this season. Next week they will abuse Illinois.
Yeah, you're probably right. Long season, thank goodness.
How good is FSU? How good is Miami? How bad is Oklahoma? How good is Oklahoma? This season is already pretty bonkers.
The one pick was just a terrible decision, the other one was a good play and a ball that shouldn't have been thrown. The long pass to Sanzenbacher and the 2nd TD pass were great. That 2nd TD pass was not a pass that just any QB could make. The only guy who could've caught that ball was the receiver, it was a great play. This guy can throw the ball, he's going to be really really good. Sometimes it takes a little while. People jump on and off the bandwagon so fast. I agree last week was rough and it'd be nice to have him farther along, but he's getting there and it won't be long. I would like to see him tuck it and run a little more, but when he breaks a leg from that everyone will be saying oh shit Bausserman is our QB now.
Colorado and Purdue are about as good as MAC teams.
Than maybe they should get their S**t together then. It's not UT's fault that they can't field a competitive team against their own conference.
What! I am sure he would have looked great running that spread of Rich Rods!
The one thing about comparing him to Troy is, we're comparing him to Heisman year Troy. I mean, he was the best player in college football. Troy had a lot of great moments, but he had some bad ones too. Someone was correct earlier though, a lot of his problems are in his head. He wants to make huge plays all the time, and sometimes the best play is to go down, or to throw it out of bounds, or lower your head and get 2 or 3 tough yards. I don't think he wants to hot dog or show off or put together highlights for Sportcenter. He just wants to WIN games. Maybe some of the decisions aren't good, but I agree that I think today was a good game to build on for him.
Coleman stripping the ball at the goal line shows just what a competitive guy he is. Most players would just it go in the end zone with the team having a decent lead at the time.
Just heard that Pryor was 8/10 on 3rd down.
Pryor*
Where are the couple of people that that OSU was gonna drop one against the Rock-ettes?
Back under the rock where they belong and have lived most of their lives?
Last time I checked, kids playing for Toledo are only there because they aren't good enough to wear Scarlet & Grey. Thanks for the support tho.......
Yessir!
Where the hell is the Rocket Fan now?!?!?!?!
I am really glad Shugarts got his chance. It seems though that when these guys are battling for positions and its so close that Tress just has to pick one then he sticks with it. Unless it is a situation like Anderson Russel where you are simply getting beaten.
I am under the impression the same thing happened between Zwick and Troy. Zwick got injured so then Troy got to step up and show his stuff, and low and behold, Troy Smith was the man. When a guy goes down injured then it simply opens opportunities for others.
Yea, that happens with a lot of teams though. Remember, nobody knew anything about Tom Brady until Drew Bledsoe got hurt and Brady led the Pats to the Super Bowl. If Bledsoe hadn't gotten hurt, who knows what would have happened.
Don't forget that RichRod used Shaun King in a much different offense at Tulane.
"Your mom goes to college."
Posting from an iPhone in Nagasaki, but a few thoughts:
-please Jim tressel, please don't try and turn pryor into Troy smith. The kid is a runner, and as of now he's the best we've got. "the option has no place in this offense"?!? Why?? Don't eliminate that facet of pryor's game.
-for the tressel haters: what would you rather have, a team that struggles with top five opponents but beats everyone else, or a team that wins a lot against the best but consistently blows it against inferior competition at least once a year? In the past five years, Pete Carroll and Jim tressel have won the NC the exact same amount of times. Whose team has been there more often?
The haters need to go away.
your right about his head - read in the dispatch where they had to take him and show his highlights from last year.
and the one's who said it would be 9-3
I would trade a loss yesterday to toledo for a win in one of the NC games ... but that's just me
but only this year, you wouldn't trade it for a loss every single year, would you?
Yet another reason for him not to be graded "C." After the game he said he wanted to do whatever would help the team win, whether it was rushing for 100 yards or 4 yards. That is the mentality he needs. The passing will come along, just run it man.
No, I wouldn't trade it every year. Make no mistake, it is embarrassing to lose to bad teams. And I would hate to be a team that loses focus like that all the time. But it is also embarrassing to consistently lose to the only good teams we really play. I would trade a few real clunkers for a few big time wins. But only if I had to trade one for the other. I guess a happy medium would be best.
I'm just saying I wouldn't consider it such a tall order to face Purdue and Colorado who are probably going to finish at or toward the bottom of the Big 10. Neither team has been very good for quite a while now. I appreciate the fact that they are playing larger schools in the non conference schedule, but I don' tthink it takes "Balls" to schedule those schools.
Remember when everyone up north wanted Drew Henson instead of Tom Brady? They were WAY off lol.
look at that, we still managed to freakin drop!
Sanzo gets my POTG award for the week and will grace my laptop as the wallpaper.
Great game Saturday. D was lights out again, our D-line is straight nasty. Heyward is having a breakout season already. Tip of the hat to Andrew Sweat that was a nice pick. Juice better get his running shoes on for Saturday, because his time in the pocket is going to be minimal..........
Pryor looks good when he sets his feet (most QB's do) but man, his mechanics are worse than ever when he feels pressure. And quite a few times, that was phantom pressure. My only other knock on him would be all the dancing around on the runs. Why run 6 yards ahead, then jump 4 yards back to make something happen? He's gonna tweak a knee, or fumble the ball from a blindside hit that way. Take the yards gained and onto the next play kid.
OSU played a much lesser team. I see the same players missing blocks and I can't understand why they start as true freshman on the O line each week. Did they make deals with the coaches for playing time?
uhhh... what true freshman are starting on the O-line?
Man, this team would be a bitch if Beanie was still here.
maybe they rolled up their jump to conclusions mats and went back home :(
Beanie 5 carries today 2 fumbles 56 yards had a 16 yard carry called back.
That's pro ball.
Its almost like he's playing flag football. Maybe the Black Jerseys were a bad Idea. I know you don't want your guy getting banged up in the spring but he kinda runs like he's afraid to get hit. He needs to run some people over. North-South.
13 MY FREAKIN ASS. WE SHUT DOWN ONE OF THE HIGHEST OFFENSES, AND SCORED A HELLA LOT OF POINTS ON THEM. MIAMI AND VT WILL LOSE, AS WILL OKLAHOMA. THIS IS JUST ALL OHIO STATE HATERS. STUPIED POLLSTERS.
Wow we dropped two spots in the AP poll. USC losing really made last week look like shit.
Miami is set up to make a run. They played Florida last year and if Harris would have been playing like he is now they would have won that game.
I don't understand how you can have 3 SEC schools in the top 5. LSU is 7th.
This may be a good thing getting dropped we can play the no respect card all year. We really need Penn St. to keep winning and stay undefeated.
One of the highest offenses = Toledo??? And that's based on only two games vs. Army and Colorado? You shut down a low level MAC team and scored 38 points on them. USC was clearly overrated and overhyped. Turns out, so were the bucks...
OU already lost. So did VT. BYU got blown out by FSU. If we win out the worst we can do is the Rose Bowl. That should be this teams focus right now.
Miami is going to run the table I think. It could be a mess at the end of the year.
Playoffs?
I didn't expect us to drop, but if you think about it, having us ahead of USC would make absolutely no sense (not that writers have failed to mystify me before).
USC looking terrible yesterday really hurts
If we keep winning we'll move up
USC had an off day with their back-up qb. they turned the ball over 3 times twice in the redzone. It was a fluke. Don't believe me watch them run the table the rest of the year.
Toledo is the real deal on offense. They scored 54 points on Colorado.
I think your a douche. good day sir.
I meant having USC below us would make no sense considering we just played them last week and got beat
I agree about Miami,but still think its too early for them to jump up. It really chaps my ass that CHoklahoma and Virginia Tech are ahead of us.Big Game Bob will lose to Miami and Texas, and Virginia Tech has mnnnooooo Offense.
you must be one of those fans that says everyone sucks ... not every team can be great, and not all teams that lose are terrible. It hard to tell exactly where thisBucks team really falls into things, but it is say to say they are a top 5-15 team ... where in that scale they fall I am not real sure. Also, we could progress to be a top 5 by the end of the year
personally, I am unimpressed with all of the top 5 teams so far, relatively speaking to other years... no dominate team this year ... but that doesn't mean they all suck, just not as great as some previous years' best teams
He has along and checkered history of pro-blue comments under various nicks.
That said, he's a moderate troll (at times), so it's healthy to have around.
Right, last we heard that Navy "was the real deal". They're 1-2 now. So is Toledo. Every team thee OSU plays is "the real deal"? Sure helps with the whole national image problem...
Polls can be frustrating especially this early in the season. I like how basketball actually settles it on the court and you don't have these meaningless arguments.
Let's start paying attention to them about week six or so once we have a better picture of how good the Buckeyes and other teams are.
Thank you...
Army and Colorado? You mean PURDUE and Colorado?
Dipshit.
I agree. Simply too little information right now to really tell who are the best. IMO, Alabama is the best all around team I have seen and I would vote them number 1, then FL, then probably ... who knows, maybe Texas at the third spot. None look unbeatable, but all are very good.
can't tell about Miami yet, can't really get a real read on Oklahoma now, and Ole Miss is a mystery to me. I can see them dropping 4 straight in the SEC and falling completely out of the polls, or I could see them as a 2 loss team that makes some real noise. we'll see
Ole Miss has played nobody and by the virtue of teams scheduling tough games moved up 5 spots. The AP poll is worthless, but still dropping two spots after winning 38-0 is hard to swallow. Dropping one in the coaches' hurts more since that poll actually counts.
How does Oklahoma jump us after the team that beat them gets hammered at home by Fla St.?
yeah but you can't drop ohio state simply because USC loses. I don't get that at all. They won 38-0. If they keep winning, they'll be fine though, that's the biggest thing, just keep winning.
I don't understand the Oklahoma move at all.
r u talkin about me..?
i'm pretty sure he's talking about o-h-e-i-e-i-o
I think we all need to relax about the polls. If Ohio State wins the rest of their games they will go to the Rose Bowl and have the opportunity to finish #3. Think about it.
Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss all play each other.
Virginia Tech and Miami play each other.
Miami and OU play each other.
Texas and OU play each other.
Florida and LSU play each other.
Cal and USC play each other.
Not to mention that there are still the ACC, SEC and Big 12 Championship games.
OSU will be fine...as long as they keep winning.
Do I believe there is the opportunity to play in the NCG? No I don't. But a Rose Bowl berth looks like a great deal.
Who here is scared about Miami maturing another year and coming to the Horseshoe next September?
If you are going to lose, lose early. Look at FSU in their prime. Voters have a short memory.
yea, agreed....if both the buckeyes and state penn take care of business, on november 7th the buckeyes will have a chance to beat a top 5 team on the road...just win baby.
A couple of interesting things of note from Bucknuts: Keith Uecker is in line to replace Bollman. Also, there are some grumblings from T-Wash and Flash about transferring. T-Wash=not a huge loss.
Miami will be one year older and one year better, but so will we and talent wise i think we have them.
I think when we go to Happy Valley it will be a showdown of #5-10 against #2-5. Once PSU faces the only real defense they will see all year, they will walk away with a close loss and the Bucks will be in the top 5, only to be tested again by Michigan. However, Forcier isn't going to beat us like he did ND.
Then again, PSU will depend on how Pryor handles the white out. If my memory serves me correctly the most hostile environment he has played in thus far was in the Coliseum for a few snaps last year.
Nah it's definitely the Wisky game. When it gets rockin there it's comparable to the real stadiums in the conference.
actually you should care how they do...
That is the reason we dropped in the poll.
The better USC does the better we look!!!