Best Team in The Land

Ohio State 38, Iowa 17
I hope that Ohio State fans are appreciative of this Buckeye football team, because it is truly something special. Seasons like this don't happen very often, and Buckeye fans should not be taking this one for granted.

What we, as Buckeye fans are witnessing is something phenomenal that we might not ever see again. This 2006 Ohio State football team is far and away the best team in the country and as I told my buddy JF on the phone on Saturday afternoon, the only team that can beat Ohio State, is Ohio State. Last night the No. 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes EXPOSED an inferior Iowa team that was ranked 13 in the country, on their home turf. The Buckeye offense, as fabulous as it was last night, has their defense to thank for all of the opportunities.

Laurinaitis and Co.
As you probably know, the defense played very well again last night. The defensive unit, led by sophomore linebacker James Laurinaitis, created 4 turnovers and held Iowa QB Drew Tate to a very pedestrian 19 of 41, with one touchdown and 3 interceptions. Tate was rattled early by the Buckeye defense, and was off target all night long, and he never really looked comfortable under center. The defense got interceptions from Laurinaitis, safety Brandon Mitchell and linebacker Marcus Freeman. The Laurinaitis pick was his 4th interception of the year, which ties him for 6th in the nation in passes intercepted. Laurinaitis and Freeman both had sacks in the contest as well.
Another stat that caught my eye was that the Iowa rushing attack only generated 5 rushing first downs. Much was said about Albert Young and the Iowa running game, and the Buckeye Defense held them to only 87 net rush yards. On 3rd down conversions, Iowa was a not too spectacular 4 for 12.
The defense pretty much drew it's line in the sand on Iowa's first possession, which netted 3 plays for minus 1 yard, and had the ball for all of 61 seconds. This first possesion was pretty much a microcosm of what was to come the the Iowa offense for the whole game.

The Unstoppable Offense
The offense was again spectacular last night. Troy Smith, Antonio Pittman, and Tony Gonzalez led the charge during the 38-17 drubbing of the home team. The offense got the ball for the first time with 13:58 left in the first quarter, and had good field position on their own 46. Troy Smith and Co. marched down the field in the next 2 minutes and 24 seconds, and put up 6 with a Smith to Gonzalez strike on 3rd and 9. On that play, Iowa looked lost and confused as OSU lined up 4 wide as Gonzalez ran a simple slant route for the easy score as he sped by a helpless Iowa safety. For a team that was trying to quiet the hornets' nest known as Kinnick Stadium, that wasn't a bad start.
What was probably the most telling statistic of the night, was the time of possession. Ohio State had the ball for 40 minutes and 30 seconds, while Iowa only had the ball for 19:30. When you're playing on the road at the number 13th nationally ranked team and you have a 2 to 1 time of possession ratio....that is entire game domination. I like to see the 10 first downs via the rush and 13 first downs by the pass. That is very good balance, and the total yards rush to pass (214 rush, 186 pass) is very indicative of an extremely balanced offensive attack. I've got a feeling that Tressel was even smiling in his sleep last night.

It should be mentioned that Antonio Pittman did rush for 117 yards and one touchdown, and Troy Smith did pass for 186 yards and 4 touchdowns. A dominant performance from the entire offense.

Where do we go from here?
Well, the next 6 weeks will be interesting for this football team. As September has expired into October, we find our beloved Buckeyes 5-0 and on top of the college football world. I wish that on October 14th we would be playing Michigan instead of Michigan State, because OSU is currently at the top of their game. The Bucks could go pretty much comatose and still end up 11-0 heading into Michigan in that third week in November. I hope this team can still keep focus and maintain motivation for the next month and a half, and not be flat as OSU takes on the weaker of the Big Ten teams.

Spitballing.....
At the end of August, I really thought that the Big Ten was the second best conference in America-next to the SEC. All of the sudden, Ohio State and Michigan are the only feared teams in what is now a suddenly watered down Big Ten Conference. John L. Smith has lost his Michigan State team, Penn State hasn't found itself yet, and Iowa's defense has it a mediocre-at-best squad. Penn State, MSU, and Iowa were all top 25 caliber teams at the start of September, and now could be fighting to be bowl eligible at the end of the season. I am kind of disappointed in this because I am a Big Ten guy, but for the time being we must anoint the SEC as the football conference king at this time. The only silver lining in this now is that with that idiot coach of theirs, playing at Michigan State on October 14th no longer scares me. And did anybody really understand why he slapped himself in the middle of his own end of the game press conference? John L. Smith is officially a mad man.


More Randomness....
When are we going to see the # 33 jerseys around? Saturday afternoon was new cell phone day this guy, and on the way to the Verizon we stopped to fill up the SUV. In the five minute span that we were at the gas station, I noticed 4 Troy Smith # 10 Jerseys (Joy and I included) and one Anthony Gonzalez #11. It really has only be a matter of time until we start to see the # 33 jerseys come out in droves....don't you think?

I will have a baseball recap mid-week, and the BG preview up on Friday for your entertainment as we head into the weekend. GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!