Happy Halloween!!

I hope that all of you enjoyed the Halloween weekend, which included another dominating performance by The Ohio State Buckeyes.

Ohio State beat Minnesota 44-0 on Saturday, in what was Ohio State's first shutout since blanking Northwestern during the 2003 season. The offensive highlights were plentiful, and were led by Antonio Pittman and his 21 rushes for 116 yards that included two TDs. Pittman also had 47 yards receiving, as both of those receptions were on successful screen passes.

Troy Smith had another successful afternoon as he completed 14 of his 21 passes for 183 yards and one score. Smith also had a 6 rushes for 49 yards, which included a highlight reel 21 yard jaunt in which he made a Gopher LB look silly. Not the most amazing of stats if you're looking to bolster a Heisman campaign, but every week that OSU wins and he completes over 60% of his passes, there should be no complaints from anyone.

The OSU defensive effort was highlighted by 3 Buckeye interceptions, but what concerned me was that just before halftime OSU was losing the turnover margin at -2. One of the lost fumbles occured on their own 38, but the OSU defense was up to the task as they held Minnesota on downs to get the ball right back. However, turning the ball over inside your own 40 against a Michigan team would probably result in points, but this is the reason that Minnesota is now 3-6 and 0-5 in conference play. Speaking of bad turnovers, one of the OSU picks was a terrible, terrible throw by Minny QB Bryan Cupito that was picked by Jamario O'Neal. Under heavy pressure by the Buckeye D, Cupito rolled to his right, then throws across his body and across the field, into the wind, off his back foot and the ball hung in the air for what seemed like forever and O'Neal jumped in front of the Gopher receiver for the ball. A senior QB like Cupito should know better than to throw that ball, but that is why he is at Minnesota and you will likely never hear of him ever again after this year.

Anybody else concerned about Beanie Wells and his fumbling problem? I couldn't find how many times Wells has fumbled this year, but it's got to be 4 or 5 now and he's probably lost 3 of them. While I'm not overly concerned about this being a long term problem, I am concerned that maybe Michigan keys on him during the November 18th matchup. I remember during 1992 or 1993 that a certain Buckeye freshman had 3 fumbles against Illinois. That freshman was Eddie George and all he did was win a Heisman three years later.

Before I get into some stats, I'd like to praise the "other" Buckeye receivers. I am really liking what I'm seeing from Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie. These are two guys that probably would be starting WRs for any team other than OSU, Michigan and Penn State, and now have combined for 28 receptions, 420 yards receiving, and 4 touchdowns. I am very confident in both of those guys abilities and I see Brian Robiskie as a mini-Tony Gonzalez right now. Both guys are deceptively fast and run well disciplined routes.

Alright, I'll leave you with a few numbers that you should be aware of:

• 7.3 Total points per game given up by the Buckeye Defense this year.
• 85 Amount of points OSU has outscored their opposition by in the last TWO games.
• 51% OSU's success rate on 3rd down this year.
• 10 Number of points allowed in the 3rd qtr by the Buckeye D this year
• 5.5 Antonio Pittman's Yards Per Carry in 2006

Also, I've noticed that OSU is outscoring their opposition 103-23 in the 4th quarter. In the second half, OSU has outscored their opponents 157-33. That stat shows that the halftime adjustments by Tressel and his staff have been very good and gives proof that he is the best coach in the Big Ten (if not the best in College Football).