Eleven Warriors

With the bye week, the flow of information coming out of the WHAC has been a bit slower than normal, but Tressel did speak with the press on Thursday afternoon. As you might imagine, much of what he had to say was in response to questions about the offense or lack thereof.

Feeling a little heat

Off an early question about the general state of the offense, he said that one of the luxuries of having the bye week was being able to actually study film on yourself and your own tendencies instead of spending the week watching footage of the opponent that weekend. Tressel audited every passing play from both Pryor and Boeckman this season looking at technique, footwork, decision-making and what might have worked better against the coverage. The topic of putting Boeckman into the game came up again and JT pretty much shot it down alluding to the fact that he wasn't sure Pryor could learn watching from the sidelines.

Though he pointed out that most offensive "gurus" he had heard of were selling insurance or doing commentary, his remarks on potential personnel changes or turning over the playcalling were encouraging if you count yourself in the 98% of all Buckeye fans wondering WTF is up with the offense:

"If you're willing to try to decide which players are in the right position, you had certainly better be willing to think about which coaches are in the right position and are you doing the right things. You always do self-critique and so forth -- you always look."

When pressed about possibly giving up playcalling duties, he opened the door to having the finest punt team in the country:

"I would have a hard time not having work to do. If the suggestion would be made that maybe I should find some different work to do, then I think you have to be willing to look in the mirror and say 'Well, maybe I should work more on the punt team since it's so important'."

After being asked again if he could live with someone else making the calls on offense, he offered that there's a little bit of that today:

"I'll give you a good example. We were 3rd and 12 at Michigan State. And you know, 3rd and 12, you want to score a touchdown and all that and I said, 'Bolls what do you want?' He said let's run a -- we call it a certain number -- which is a lead draw and I'm thinking 'A lead draw? If we were playing at home, the tomatoes would be coming out.' He said, 'Yeah, I think they're going to come with such-and-such and I know we'll pick it up,' and boom we run a lead draw. Beanie walks into the end zone and jumps sideways or whatever he did."

So here's another humble suggestion. The offense needs a spark. How about for one game -- the Northwestern game -- Bollman gets to call every play. If the line still underperforms, but the playcalling is diverse enough to create some points and overcome some of that, then we're one step closer to putting our finger on the problem. If it's just as anemic -- or worse -- then we have further proof that some changes are needed at the OC/OL spot.

It's cute that Earle is on record as saying that a coach not calling the plays might as well go behind the bench and smoke cigarettes, and I love Bruce, but frankly, he still thinks it's 1982 outside (and we have it on good authority that he's angry that lineman don't wear foam arm-guards anymore). It's not, but the Buckeye offense still believes it to be.

Other nuggets:

• Tress mentioned the need for better footwork more than once when discussing Pryor's progress, but also pointed out that he reminds him a little bit of Troy Smith when he was younger in the sense that he "doesn't put a lot of balls into harm's way", which is maybe a bit unusual for a young quarterback.
• The Vest said he plans to spend his weekend watching football and mentioned that he sometimes gets a little to into it when watching "his guys". He said when he watches Dantonio's games he feels like he's coaching and wondered aloud at what he was doing up at 11PM the other night watching Mark Snyder's Marshall play.
• The players had Monday off and watched film of the Penn State game on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, the team held regular practice and then today they'll have a short session before getting Saturday off.

They need to lose, but you gotta like this guy.

While the Buckeyes take the weekend off, here are the teams you need to be cheering for in order for the scarlet and gray to move up in the polls and solidify their bowl position.

There are only two top 25 matchups, but the three teams directly ahead of OSU play on the road and any loss by them will help the Vest's team tremendously.

National Games

#5 Florida at #8 Georgia, 3:30PM - CBS
The world's largest outdoor cocktail party comes back to Jacksonville, with first place in the SEC East on the line. Georgia took down Florida last year 42-30 and riled up Gator Nation with their celebration after the first score. The war of words has been quiet thus far, but Urban Meyer proclaimed Knowshon Moreno's play has made his quarterback better. However, Meyer has given his own team a gag order this week.

The winner obviously has the driver's seat to the SEC title game, with the loser having their national title hopes squashed. I think Florida is playing the better ball right now, putting up 112 points the last two weeks, so a Georgia loss seems like it would help the Buckeyes more.

#1 Texas at # 6 Texas Tech, 8:00PM - ABC
The biggest game ever to hit Lubbock is in primetime and this should be a high scoring affair, as TT is averaging 48 points and Texas is averaging 46 points. Some people are not sold on Texas Tech yet, as their toughest challenge has come from Kansas, a 63-21 win last week. After this game the Red Raiders take on Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in consecutive weeks, so I hope they lose Saturday and at least one of the next two to help the Bucks.

Texas is the best team in the country and if they get past this one, they only have Kansas, Baylor and Texas A&M before the Big 12 title game. This is a big game for Colt McCoy, he is the front runner for the Heisman and a poor performance could shoot down his dreams. He comes in completing over 82% of his passes and is the Horns leading rusher. I expect to see at least 800 yards of total offense in this one, so sit back and enjoy some offense (for once) in the Buckeye's off week.

Nebraska at #4 Oklahoma, 8:00PM - ESPN
This game may not have much bearing on Ohio State's chances of getting to a BCS game, but Buckeye alum Bo Pellini gets his first chance to take down the mighty Sooners. Nebraska is tied for first in the Big 12 North and a win here could help turn this program around. A loss for the Sooners would erase them from the national title picture, but something tells me they would still be ranked ahead of OSU.

#11 Boise State at New Mexico State, 7:00PM #12 TCU at UNLV, 8:00PM #10 Utah at New Mexico, 9:30PM
None of these games are on national TV, but they all have major implications for the Buckeyes BCS chances. Ohio State needs at least two of these teams to lose over the next four weeks and with Utah facing off against TCU next week, a Boise loss Saturday would be perfect.

Boise State doesn't face any type of challenge the rest of the season and I doubt they get one against the 3-4 Aggies, but anything can happen in the crazy state of New Mexico and the lack of blue turf just may throw them off.

Big Ten Games

Northwestern at #17 Minnesota, 12:00PM - ESPN2
Minnesota is looking to tie Ohio State for second place in the Big Ten standings with a home win over the ailing Wildcats. Who would have thought at the beginning of the year, this is where the Gophers would be at this point in the season. Don't look now, but Minny has a realistic chance to finish this season 11-1. Three (Michigan and Iowa) of their final four are at home, with an away game at Wisconsin on November 15th.

Can you believe that the Gophers may go from being 1-11 to 11-1? They got off the hook by not having to face Penn State or Michigan State, which can skew any record a bit, but props to Tight End Tim and the turn around he has done in Minnesota.

This brings back the argument of the Big Ten's scheduling. I'm of the opinion that one OOC game be eliminated and each team should have to face 9 conference teams. With all due respect to Minny, they have played one ranked team all year, OSU and 11-1 potentially sets them up to get destroyed in a bowl game by an SEC team on Jan. 1st. What are your feelings towards the scheduling?

Wisconsin at #22 Michigan State, 12:00PM - ESPN
This is an upset alert. After two straight weeks against Ohio St. and Michigan, the Spartans welcome a Badger team that got their first conference win last week against Illinois. With both teams favoring the run and the new clock rules, this game might be over before 2PM. OSU needs MSU to pull off a victory here and continue to climb the polls. At least this gives you a couple of games to flip between during the early afternoon.

Much like the Ohio State offense, I struggled to come up with something to hang my hat on today, so I present to you various items to digest in hopes one of them might sneak past the goal line.

Sutton Goes Under the Knife Though an emotional letdown wouldn't be much of a shock, the Buckeyes should have an easier time in Evanston a week from Saturday considering stud RB Tyrell Sutton will be out for the rest of the regular season following wrist surgery on Tuesday.

How Bad is the Offensive Line? So bad that in four of nine games Tressel has declined to name a Jim Parker award winner meaning zero linemen were able to pull a winning performance grade out of their ass. Further, of the five times the honor was miraculously given, Boone has won four times (including this week) and Jim Cordle once with the others being shut out.

That said, rumor has it Joe Pa awarded Bryant Browning PSU's "On the Take" award during yesterday's presser.

Pettrey Isn't the de facto Kicker After trotting out and connecting on both of OSU's field goal tries last week, Tressel announced yesterday that Pretorius is still the guy from 36 yards or less while Pettrey is the guy from 37 yards or longer. Pettrey nailed a 36 yarder last week but the only reason he got the call from inside 37 was due to wind.

Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous? How can a guy that has your confidence from 37 plus not be the same guy you have confidence in from 36 or less? I can even understand a two kicker system when the other guy boots the truly long ones but a 37 yard cutoff seems a little goofy. If it weren't for Boeckman, I'd almost be worried Tressel is more concerned about Pretorious' feelings than winning games. Almost.

Hoops Tix On Sale Monday The university announced yesterday that single game and mini-season ticket packages go on sale next Monday, November 3rd. Besides the single game offerings, a Scarlet package and Gray package will be available for 64 bones.

The Scarlet package gets you tix to Bowling Green, Jacksonville, Huggy Bear's Mountaineers and Purdue while the Gray package is comprised of Samford, Butler, Iona and Michigan State.

Hoops Media Announces Preseason Picks The writers tabbed Purdue's Robbie Hummel as the pre-season player of the year and rounded out the all-conference starting five with Manny Harris, Raymar Morgan, E'Twaun Moore and Marcus Landry.

The top three teams were Purdue, Michigan State and Wisconsin. The media only announces the top three but Bob Baptist's informal straw poll had the Buckeyes 4th.

Ken Gordon of the Dispatch was nice enough to send us a copy of his book, Buckeye Dreams - The Tyler "Tank" Whaley Story, and I have to say, it's been a good pick-me-up while fighting through the Buckeye offensive blues.

I really like that for his first book, Gordon didn't take the easy route and write a recap of the season or a profile of a star player. Instead he chose to write a character story and thanks to him, Ohio State has its very own Rudy -- but much cooler, naturally, and with more winning.

I had only been familiar with the basics of Whaley's story. I knew he was a former walk-on that had earned a scholarship and that he got to finish his senior season celebrating a victory in Michigan's visitor locker rooms, but that was about it. Turns out, there's a lot more to the story.

The first part of the book focuses on both the Whaley family history and the story of their hometown, Ironton. The river town has a rich football culture and the local team, the Tanks (of course), were a regional powerhouse during the early years of the NFL. I really enjoyed reading about the region and their football heritage and was duly educated on those topics. Working 80 hours at the pig iron foundry and then tackling Jim Thorpe on the weekend will do wonders for the badasses-per-square-mile metric of any region and it certainly was no different for Ironton.

Tank's story was even more interesting. What started out as a friendly favor from Ironton native Mark Snyder when he put a word in for Whaley as a walk-on turned into the realization of a dream for a lifelong Buckeye fan with a lot of heart, but not a lot of size. Most balls: Tank even worked the stadium maintenance crew -- while a member of the football team -- and stated that he would exchange nods with his co-workers while he was on the sideline and they were waiting to hoist the field goal nets. Awesome.

The book is available in bookstores around Columbus as well as Amazon. If you're wondering what Tank is up to these days, you can tune in to his podcast on the official athletics site.

For the first time in two months, you'll have to find
something else to do this weekend

Everyone has a different way of coping with a loss. You could go out for dinner at a nice restaurant, pick up a seasonal hobby, support a cause or make a new friend. Personally, I like to make life miserable for everyone around me. But perhaps you’re the optimistic type, and believe that a bye week will surely give Ohio State some time to right the wrongs. Surely The Vest has something up his short sleeve, you say.

Not so fast my friend.

In games immediately following a bye week, Jim Tressel’s record at Ohio State is a horrifying 1-4. Let’s survey the damage, shall we?

2001: Ohio State v. UCLA

Jim Tressel kicked off his tenure with two things in his pocket: a promise to beat Michigan, and a terrible football team. The Buckeyes had a bye week, then flew to Pasadena ranked #21 and with a ho-hum 28-14 victory over Akron in their pocket. Then they ran into #12 UCLA. Bob Toledo (who’s currently presiding over this train wreck) and his Bruins kept Ohio State out of the end zone entirely and roughed up Steve Bellisari, who completed only 5 of 23 passes for 45 yards and two interceptions. Ohio State’s only score came on a blocked punt; the Buckeyes even missed the PAT.

UCLA’s offense was largely stymied by a solid Ohio State defense that limited the them to only 61 yards rushing, but the Bruins did enough to win, and handed Ohio State its first of five defeats on the season. The six points scored by the Buckeyes were the lowest total since a 28-0 loss to Michigan in 1993. (Anyone care to remember that game? I didn’t think so.)

The Vest did beat the Wolverines that year, so we'll let him off the hook.

2002: Ohio State v. Kent State

It’s never bad to schedule a MAC school after a bye week. In fact, it’s almost never bad to schedule a MAC school at any time – well, almost never. Ohio State opened its season with a solid 45-21 victory over Texas Tech, took a week off, then happily welcomed the Golden Flashes (happily, because this guy was out of eligibility).

The Buckeye defense gave up 358 yards of offense, and Kent State held the ball for more than 39 minutes, but Ohio State scored quickly and often, and came away with a 51-17 win. Craig Krenzel tied Jim Karsatos’ record for consecutive completions in a game (12), and Mike Nugent kicked three field goals. Maurice Hall and Ryan Hamby scored, too.

Some other guy scored twice, as well and Tressel was batting .500 when playing after a bye week.

2003: Ohio State v. Wisconsin

Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes were unbeaten, ranked #6, the defending national champions and coming off a nondescript 20-0 victory over Northwestern. Wisconsin was 5-1 and unranked. Camp Randall is a crazy place to play, though, so OSU took a week off before heading to Madison for a game that proved to memorable for two reasons.

First, a national television audience got to see Buckeyes linebacker Robert Reynolds do his best Baron von Raschke impression when he choked Wisconsin quarterback Jim Sorgi during a pile-up. Sorgi did not return to the game, and was replaced by Matt Schabert.

Second, that same audience got to see the rare sight of Chris Gamble being burnt on a deep ball. Ohio State trailed 10-3 going into the fourth quarter, but tied the game at 10 when Craig Krenzel found Michael Jenkins from six yards out. Just 49 seconds later, Schabert (who?) hit Lee Evans on a 79-yard “go” route. Gamble was beaten at the line of scrimmage, OSU safety Will Allen was late coming over to help, and Wisconsin beat Ohio State 17-10. Tressel’s record following a bye week now stood at 1-2.

2004: Ohio State v. Northwestern

Once again, Ohio State enjoyed a bye week before going on the road, ranked #6 in the nation. Once again, they played a trash-talking, unranked team at night. And, once again, they were beaten.

On second thought, don’t follow that link. Ohio State stunk. Northwestern outgained Ohio State 444-308, and Wildcats running back Noah Herron scored three touchdowns. The Buckeyes had to score ten points in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter just to force overtime. Mike Nugent missed a 40-yard field goal in Ohio State’s only overtime possession, and Northwestern promptly replied by scoring a touchdown that beat Ohio State 33-27.

How awful was this game? It was Northwestern’s first victory over Ohio State since 1971, and first win against a top-ten team since 2000. Ugh.

Under Jim Tressel, Ohio State fell to 1-3 after a bye week. Sensing a trend?

2005: Ohio State v. Penn State

Ohio State (3-1) had hammered Iowa 31-6 in Columbus. Now, repeat after me: The Buckeyes, ranked #6 in the nation, had a bye week, then went on the road to play a night game. Sound familiar?

At least the opponent wasn’t unranked. This time, it was #16 Penn State (5-0), experiencing something of a renaissance after a few years of the doldrums under Joe Paterno. It was also the first game in which school officials called for an insidious, sophomoric “white out.”

Whether blinded by the white shirts, or just so familiar with the previous year’s script that they thought it best to just play along, the Buckeyes turned in an awful performance. A senior-laden team with plenty of returning starters, widely expected to make a run at the national title was able to generate only 230 yards of offense, and committed two critical turnovers. Does this sound familiar?

See if you’ve heard this part before, too: In the game’s closing moments, Ohio State’s dual-threat quarterback was sacked and fumbled the ball away, eliminating any chance for a Buckeye comeback.

Tressel’s teams dropped to 1-4 following a bye week, and had lost three straight games after taking a week off. A trend now became a pattern.

2006 & 2007: Ohio State v. Scheduling Gods

At long last, Ohio State enjoyed two straight seasons without a bye week as Tressel lucked out with the scheduling gods. But the bye weeks had cleverly morphed into 50-day layoffs and you know how that went down.

Now, in 2008, Ohio State has a week off to lick its wounds, and will take a national ranking into a road game against an unranked opponent. The WWL has spoken and set kickoff for daylight, though, so maybe we’ll be safe.

Maybe.

Please, Jim...I beg you. Gimme one more chance!

With much of the bye week talk focused squarely on an offense ranked 43rd in rushing, 106th in passing, and 95th in total offense, it's no secret most of the fan base is clamoring on radio, blogs and around the water cooler for Bollman to be sent packing.

Further, much of those same folks are also openly wishing for Tressel to give up play calling duties.

Personally, I'd be thrilled to see both occur but based on Tressel's comments earlier this year, that ain't gonna happen:

"I don't know, maybe my ego wouldn't let me. I'm not sure I could not help on either side of the ball. What am I going to do, go eat bonbons?"

"I'm not sure that would interest me. I like being involved."

So, while we're all pining for names like Lane Kiffin to come and rescue the offense, we need to be realistic. What top flight, established Offensive Coordinator is gonna want to come to Ohio State for the job title Offensive Suggester?

Seriously, considering the documented fact that Bollman merely suggests two or three plays then Tressel picks one doesn't do much for my confidence in finding someone that could help. As a fan base, our only hope is that some older cat who has been there, done that but still has some juice (cue Walt Harris) would be willing to act as a co-offensive coordinator and be okay with not truly having the keys to the offense.

At this point, the bigger concern might be finding an offensive line coach capable of developing players so they actually improve over time versus regress. This season has proven that we can criticize the play calling all day long but if plays don't have time to develop it doesn't matter what what play is called.

Oh, and I'm not sure what the formula they use, but Rivals has Bollman as the 20th ranked OC. I guess it's safe to assume they don't look at Total Offense.

Before any assumptions are made, I want to be clear that I personally want Jim Tressel to be the head coach for years to come. I just think he needs to make a meaningful change at the end of the season to get some help on the offensive side of the ball. Bollman has not proven worthy of keeping his job so a change is necessary. It's no different than having a job in the real world. Produce, or at least show improvement. If not, move along.

A career day for the former Tarblooder.

It was an exciting week in the NFL for the former Buckeyes, as a couple of players returned from injuries and Antonio Pittman saw his first extended action of the season.

Although his stats weren't stellar, Joey Galloway returned from his foot injury to catch 3 passes for 28 yards in Tampa's loss to Dallas, dropping them one game behind Carolina atop the division. The Panthers pulled off a 27-24 home win against Arizona after trailing by 14 in the third quarter. Chris Gamble again lead Carolina with 8 tackles, but their defense gave up 391 yards passing in the contest.

Troy Smith finally is healthy enough to see some action and it looks as if Baltimore is going to use him as a change of pace QB. Smith ran 3 times for 13 yards and completed one pass for 43 yards, on perhaps the most exciting play of the day.

In the 3rd quarter, on 2nd and 8, Smith took a toss from Joe Flacco and completed a 43 yarder back to Flacco, helping set up a field goal. The 29-10 victory pulled the Ravens within a game of the Steelers and it will be interesting to see how Smith is used within the offense.

As mentioned, my man Antonio Pittman got the start for the injured Steven Jackson in St. Louis's 23-16 loss at New England. Pittman rushed 19 times for 83 yards and caught 3 passes for 22 more yards, all numbers were career highs. Jackson's injury doesn't appear to be too serious, but perhaps this performance will give Jim Haslett a bit more confidence in Pittman.

This is the paragraph I usually write about Santonio Holmes, but since he decided to drive around smoking the chronic, he didn't suit up this week. Seriously though, when are athletes going to learn to just stay home if you are going to do something stupid. It has yet to be announced what type of further discipline Holmes will receive, but with two prior situations, he may be out for a few more games.

When it was all said and done, this week's award was an easy choice and this time, he deserved it. Ted Ginn becomes the first two time winner of the Buckeye NFLer of the week in 2008. Of course, I took some heat last time he won (rightfully so) and he followed up that winning performance with a 1 catch for -1 yard game, so I thought all may have been lost for Teddy Ballgame.

However, he exploded for 7 catches totaling 175 yards, to lead all NFL receivers Sunday in Miami's 25-16 upset of Buffalo. Ginn caught a 46 yarder on Miami's first play and added a 64 yard catch and run (ironically caught by Donte Whitner) on their first play of the second half. Coming into the game, Teddy had just 177 receiving yards on the season and the 7 receptions matched his career high.

This makes me feel a little better

One of the things that The Meshed One touched on Saturday night was the need for Ohio State to further diversify their offense -- break out of some tendencies. A lot of us have been beating that same drumbeat for a while and probably hardest in the direction of You-Need-To-Call-Some-First-Down-Passes. Well, how'd we do against Penn State in that category? Chris rounded up the first down calls and at first glance, the play-calling was pretty agreeable, really:

On first down, Ohio State called 11 runs and 12 passes.

Nothing wrong with that. But three of those passes were spikes to stop the clock. We're sitting at 11/9 all of a sudden, which still seems reasonable especially given the Purdue masterpiece that was fresh in our memories.

But what if we remove the 1st downs from the three drives in which passing was required (and expected)? That would be the last drive of the first half, started at the OSU 39 with 1:33 to play, and the last two drives of the game. The first of those came immediately after the Devlin touchdown and the Buckeyes with the ball at their own seven and needing a touchdown with a little over six minutes to play. The second of those drives, of course, was against a prevent defense.

So that leaves the meat of the game -- six drives independent of clock or score. In those drives, there were we still have the 11 runs called on first down, but the number of passes has shrunk to four. The Buckeyes passed on first down just 26% of the time. And this was with the running game stuffed from the start.

When diversity was shown, it worked. Pryor was sacked on one of those called passes, but finished 2/3 for 23 yards on the other first downs in that group. But the playcalling is the equivalent of sending the players out on to the field with their shoes untied. I'll say it again: the guy calling the plays should be thinking of the quickest way to get into the end zone and not about a punt you're trying to setup in the next series.

Anyway, the pickings were pretty slim this week, so instead, just some running commentary on a couple of shots

Maybin sets the tone on the first play of the game by blowing by Browning. Penn State would work him all night long by lining up wide on him. I could be getting soft, but I hold out hope that Browning will become a good tackle. He's only a soph and Maybin is as good a defensive end as you'll see at this level.

Sanzenbacher is pretty wide open on this 3rd and seven pickup from the Buckeye six yard line. It was a huge play, coming up after the Lions had downed a punt on the Ohio State three and Beanie was held to three yards and no gain on the first two plays of the drive. The coverage was blown after Dane came in motion to the left side putting three wide receivers on that side of the ball against Penn State's zone defense.

After a false start set up a 3rd and nine, this Robo completion was a huge pickup and kept the series alive for the Buckeyes to go on and tie the game at three. Definitely a good spot, this is as forward as his progress would get. No worries, the zebras would get the Buckeyes back later on.

Scirrotto gets there a tad early on this huge 33 yard reception by Robiskie on the last drive of the first half. That blur you see is the incoming ball.

The payback. This is the 2nd down play before the fumble and it was marked just short of the marker (with no measurement). The ball is in Beanie's forward arm.

One bad play in six starts. You can't ask for much more. Just a hell of a play out of Rubin, really. There was a ton of daylight past Rubin, but he did have Pryor by the other hand, so there's no saying if the play would have broken for big yardage had the ball not been popped.

Team player.

We object to this nonsense!

Remember the stat you heard flying around after the drubbing in Los Angeles? The one about how it was the first time the Buckeyes had failed to score a touchdown since the Michigan game 12 years earlier? 141 consecutive games that saw Ohio State cross the goal line in some capacity was snapped at the hands of Cushing, Ellison, Mays and company.

It was a stat that was used to convey just how much of a beating the Trojans put on the Buckeyes and it was effective. But not so much after Saturday night when Penn State became the 2nd team this season to prevent Ohio State from scoring a touchdown in a game. In the two biggest games of the season, the Buckeye offense has managed to score a combined nine points. Toss in Purdue, and the offense has failed to score a touchdown in one out of every three games this season.

But why?

You have a Heisman-contender type back, a quarterback that was first-team all-conference last season, a veteran wide receiver corps that has produced in the past, veteran tight-ends and a line that was returning four out of five starters. Oh, and you're adding the nation's top recruit to a 10-2 team. How is this possible?

The first omen and what may have set the offensive mood for the season was Beanie's toe injury in the opener against Youngstown State. The offense performed well that weekend, but the injury hit the team like a ton of bricks. In their next outing -- their first against FBS competition -- they laid a relative egg in that close win over Ohio. Then came USC, followed by sputterings against Troy, Wisconsin and Purdue.

The line, without question has been the weakest link on the offense all season long. I'm still not sure how that unit actually regressed, but through nine, they've been yelled at by Tressel, Beanie and Nicol, seen a freshman forced into their ranks and have seen themselves getting worked over by the majority of opposing lines they've gone against. That is on Bollman.

Another complaint has been about the playcalling and while I maintain that a playbook doesn't matter if your line cannot provide the protection to use half of it (or the players simply cannot execute), this is a legitimate beef.

Where was the pistol against Penn State? Why do you run a play-action bomb to Robo with 90 seconds remaining in the first half and the ball at your own 39 when it's obvious that you are in a passing down? Why move away from bunch receiver formations that were giving the Lions a little trouble? Why are you so hesitant to throw on first downs and break the mold of your tendencies? Does it not bother you when Pete Carroll states that he wasn't surprised by anything the offense did on the field?

There clearly is a problem within the Tressel/Bollman playcalling braintrust.

And we won't even touch talent evaluation issues or how a guy like Thaddeus Gibson could have started the season as backup. New house rule please: If a guy is taken first in the spring game draft, he's a guaranteed starter for the opener.

The Buckeye staff is clearly in a funk and may be slipping a little. It's natural -- it happens in other programs and within government administrations, management teams at corporations and elsewhere. Tressel Ball may need some tweaks to stay with this most innovative game. New blood may be needed.

We humbly request a new offensive coordinator and the separation of playcalling duties from the Vest. We love him. He is an asset to the University, a role model for many and makes sweater vests look awesome. But the time has come to turn the playcalling over to a new offensive coordinator. One that is only thinking about how to put his offense into position to score as many points as possible and not worried about that killer punt you're trying to setup on the next series.

And if this doesn't happen before the 2009 season, there's a very good chance that Pryor's talent covers up these deficiencies and we'll rediscover the stink once he leaves after two years. Fierce urgency of now, please.

Excited to get my first look at this year's hoops squad, I ventured down to the Schott on Saturday to catch the one and only practice/scrimmage session open to the public. Fans were allowed into the lower bowl and I'd guess about 1,000-,1500 showed up.

The practice consisted of a 30 minute drill session in which bigs and perimeter guys worked mostly at opposite ends of the floor followed by a scrimmage comprised of four 10-minutes quarters.

I did my best to take notes on anything/everything I saw and the result is a hodge podge of observations. To keep this simple, I'm just gonna run down my notes in a semi-organized fashion. Please remember it was only 90 minutes so don't put too much stock in this stuff...just thought you might be interested in what I observed.

I think it's pretty clear that Jeremie Simmons and Anthony Crater are the top two PG's with PJ Hill not likely to see any meaningful minutes. Simmons and Crater really went at each other while Hill mostly served as an extra body. He actually fell down more times (2) than he shot (0) and my unofficial count had him at zero assists. Peters even drained a three in his eye for good measure. Based on what I saw from all three and from Hill last year, I'd be shocked if Hill averages more than 3 minutes per game this season. Oh, and Turner never brought the ball up, in case you were wondering.

Crater and Simmons run the point with contrasting styles. Simmons was much more likely to look for his shot from both the outside and after penetration without shooting too much, while Crater is clearly a distributor who might even need to get a little more selfish over time. Don't get me wrong, I like the thought of having a pass first guy running the point when looking at the rest of this roster, but he'll be an even more effective distributor if defenses have to respect his intent to do more than pass off penetration.

Off the small sample size, Simmons had the edge, in my opinion, largely because the opposing D got punished when they didn't respect his ability to score.

Crater Notes: He lit up the drills hitting nearly every jumper he attempted, especially in the corner. He had good lift on his shot and always went straight up. As I said, I think he'll be even more effective when he forces defenses to respect both his ability to score and pass. He looked more focused than anyone else during the drill session. His scrimmage highlight was a steal in the half-court then he surprised everyone throwing down a one handed jam. The crowd was never more pumped as Crater ran back down court with one flap down, a la Jeffrey Leonard after a home run.

Simmons Notes: You can tell dude was a scorer in juco. He was pretty effective breaking down the D and was not afraid to shoot jumpers, drive against the bigs or dish out to open wings. He showed a nice basketball IQ running the offense during this small sample. He took it straight at Dallas (fouled) once and against a few other bigs off a loose ball resulting in a three point play. He also knocked down a three from the corner. His shot is flat in comparison to Crater's and it looks almost like a push. Again, small sample size, but I bet Simmons is the starter going into the exhibition games. He just seems a little more diverse after the juco experience.

Walter Offut didn't wow me in the drills as it seemed his release was a little slow. That said, he was a beast in the opening quarter of the scrimmage recording a 3 point play off a sweet driving runner in heavy traffic before scoring on another drive then hitting a conventional three from the wing giving his Gray squad a 12-2 lead over a Scarlet unit featuring the returning starters / key players (Turner, Lighty, Dallas, Diebler) plus Simmons. He didn't show any apprehension or favor his surgically repaired knees though he's not the quickest of the freshman crop, either. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by his play.

Staying on the wing, William Buford also generated contrasting thoughts in drills versus the scrimmage. He looked slow in the drills, especially the shell offense. He appeared lost conceptually as the rest of his mates whipped the ball around and set phantom screens. Once the scrimmage began, however, I was impressed with his footwork coming off screens and he showed a quick release looking comfortable shooting off the dribble and in the corner.

The last freshman and biggest recruit of them all, BJ Mullens, didn't impress me nearly as much as I hoped he would. Shot wise, he looked comfortable spinning to his left from the right block for jump hooks but he looked horribly uncomfortable spinning to his right from the left block. He struggled to hold post position against Dallas but not against the other bigs. He was also terribly slow executing the hedge and recover against guards up top. He also seemed the most winded of all players for virtually the entire scrimmage. He did have a nice block and a few bucket but I'm hoping he was victim of the small sample size as far as this review goes.

Nikola Kecman was hard to get a read on but I fear he could be a man without a position during conference play. He wasn't quite fluid enough on offense or defense to be a three and probably too small and finesse-ish to be a four. He showed poor footwork trying to score with his back to the basket and became increasingly frustrated with contact pushing him out of position. He did show nice touch on his jumper, especially along the base line. Hopefully, he just needs time to adapt and for Thad to define his role because he clearly didn't know what that was yesterday (to be expected).

I'll be brief with Zisis Sarikopoulos since he won't be eligible 'til next season but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. He's not as galoot-ish as I thought he'd be and he showed decent touch around the basket - his hands were much softer than I expected - at least for 90 minutes. He's already better than Madsen and a year going against Dallas and Mullens should do him good.

Since you are already familiar with the rest of the roster, I'll spare you an overload of specifics. I will say Dallas Lauderdale impressed me with his leadership. He was very vocal, directing the wings to come for screens or reverse the ball and calling for the ball when he had position. It's clear he's also been working on some post moves, notably a little lefty jump hook moving to his right from the right block.

Evan Turner was smooth and more careful with the ball (maybe 0 turnovers) while flashing his all around game while David Lighty looks like he bulked up a bit. Lighty stroked a couple threes but blew two fast breaks by passing to the wing way too early allowing two defenders to guard three guys. Interestingly, I didn't get the feel it was his team, as previous reports indicated, but again it was 90 minutes and I do think the experienced guys were willing to defer to the young guys playing in front of OSU fans for the first time. Jon Diebler hit a few threes but still looked too content to stand outside and jack up jumpers.

Anyway, that's what I got from my eyes and scribbles. Hope this was of some value. Don't forget, the exhibition season starts Thursday November 13th against Walsh.