Tressels, Fickells, Urbans, Days, Johnsons and Days,

My 12 year old son, Jake, provides the topics for many of my weekly predictions.

I asked Jake what I should write about this week. He said “I don’t know.” ...I told him I could work with that.

Rarely has a team remained such a mystery after nine games. Earlier this season I was honestly debating if this was the best offensive team Ohio State has ever had. Now, I’m much more comfortable when the Ohio State defense is on the field as opposed to the offense. Conversely, after the first three games, especially after Josh Proctor’s season-ending injury, I believed the OSU offense would have to score at least 35 points or more in order to win games because the defense was a sieve. 

So far, against any team with a pulse, Ohio State has not looked great on both sides of the ball simultaneously….and that might be how it is this season.  The Buckeyes may never play complementary football.

The most frustrating thing for me recently is the run game. Maybe I’m a masochist, but I love when a team can run the ball right down the opponents throat without even needing to attempt a pass. Those teams take control of the game and don’t leave things to chance, needing individual plays to break the right way. Eventually the opposing defense wears down and the game is in control. For some reason the Ohio State run game has become confused and disappeared. The offensive line does not seem to understand their assignment and they are getting beat at the point of attack, which still shocks me.

There are things I do know about this team....and there is plenty of good news. Even if both sides never play well in the same game, the Buckeyes have outstanding talent on both sides of the ball and one of the units will be clicking. This is a young, inexperienced team and the stockpile of 4 and 5 star players will continue developing.  The best skill position player for Alabama’s offense this season, who we know well, would be the sixth-best skill player on the Ohio State offense...and with Tyreke Smith finally healthy, the Ohio State defense is creating a lot of disruption and getting to the quarterback often.

This is by no means a flawless Ohio State team, but I will still take it over any other team in the country. This may be what the Buckeyes are, and if that’s the case at least the games are not boring. Ohio State is taking the approach that each game is one-and-done like the March Madness tournament. I would love to see them keep taking it one game at a time and reach the Final Four!

Touchdowns: Olave, Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ruckert, TreVeyon Henderson, TreVeyon

OSU 49 Purdue 20

Go Bucks! Beat Purdue! Haskell Garrett for Heisman!

Stout Pops