Chapel Hill Thrills

North Carolina 98, Ohio State 89

Last night was the first night that I've been able to really watch the Ohio State men's basketball team and the "Thad Five." It's not that I am not a big basketball fan, but more so that OSU has been playing San Francisco, Eastern Kentucky, and all these other teams that I really don't care about. Plus, until last night it was still football season for the majority of those who live in Columbus.

So, what did I really take from last night's thriller in North Carolina?

First off I was amazingly impressed with the athleticism that OSU put on the floor. I loved what I saw from Mike Conley, Daequan Cook, and David Lighty. I thought Conley was very, very quick with the ball, and made sound decisions offensively. The Cook dunk seemed to come out of nowhere, and he also showed nice range with 2 three pointers in the game. Conley was sidelined for most of the first half due to foul trouble, but ended up with 10 points and 8 assists with only 3 turnovers.

The Buckeye veterans were nothing short of spectacular. Senior Ivan Harris was 5 of 8 from outside the arc, and ended up with 17 points. I'd like to see a little more physicality from Harris on the defensive end, and use his wingspan in an effort to alter some shots attempts from the paint. Jamar Butler was solid, as his 6 points were from on 2/2 from three point-land. Butler had a couple of nice steals and both of his 3's came at critical points in the game that were huge in silencing the Tar Heel crowd.

The best Buckeye performance of the night goes to Ron Lewis. His career high of 30 points helped the Bucks stay in the game, and at times Lewis was unstoppable. Lewis was 10 of 15 from the floor and 6 of 8 from the free throw line. I never really had been a huge Ron Lewis fan, but something must've clicked for this guy over the summer because I have never seen that Ron Lewis on the hardwood before.

The story of the night was that North Carolina was a lot bigger than us and their inside presence with Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright was way too much for Matt Terwilliger and Othella Hunter to handle (UNC freshman Brandan Wright is the second coming of Tyrus Thomas-tall, long, quick and athletic, and when he learns how to fit into Roy Williams' system this team will be scary). When OSU gets super center Greg Oden back from wrist surgery in the next month, this will be a team that can win in Atlanta (the site of the 2007 Final Four). The key ingredient that OSU is missing is a solid defensive presence inside, and when Oden comes back this team should be sick.

I did think OSU committed some silly fouls and at times took some questionable shots, but you'll have that with a young team and as they mature their performances will as well. But in terms of basketball excitement on the campus of THE Ohio State University, things might have never looked this promising for a Buckeye team (my regards to Perry Carter, Jim Jackson, Chris Jent, Treg Lee, Jammal Brown, Mark Baker, Alex Davis, Bill Robinson, and the rest of those 91-93 team members).

Bring on the Trojans

Much like the rest of Ohio was doing on Saturday night, I was glued to the TV and watching USC destroy Notre Dame as the Trojans moved much closer to a BCS championship berth. USC dominated the flighty Irish 44-24, and once again this was a case of Notre Dame's defense being so atrocious that it has no business playing with the big boys of college football.

USC is now a sure lock to play our beloved Buckeyes on January 8th in Glendale, Arizona. I am very impressed with the USC WR triumvirate of Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith and Patrick Turner. This USC offense is like no other offense that Ohio State has seen in recent years, which leaves me a little skeptical on how this one will turn out for our Bucks.

But here is what I took from last night's game:
1. John David Booty, USC's senior QB, can be erratic when pressured. I wasn't overly impressed by JDB's play when under duress, and I think that Ohio State's D-line should be able to put ample pressure on the relatively slow quarterback.
2. I didn't see anything too special about the USC rushing attack. CJ Gable and Chauncey Washington combined to rush for 131 yards on 26 carries, but against the Notre Dame Defense that is quite pedestrian.
3. The USC defense was moderately impressive. I really think they've got an awesome secondary, but they are young and the OSU spread offense might create some confusion for them.

I don't want to get too deep into what will happen on January 8th just quite yet, but these are just a few observations from last night's game. I do think that the Buckeye D should be able to have success in stopping the USC rushing attack, which will make the Trojan offense very one-dimensional. However, that might not be the best thing for the Buckeye D with that stable of stud WR's that the Trojans boast.

This National Championship game will be something very special however, and I am fairly certain that January 8th will be the most anticipated game of my Buckeye lifetime.

I haven't said much about Buckeye Basketball yet, but I will do so after the OSU/NC game on Wednesday night.

Buckeyes 42, other team 39

"There's Nothing Special About That Defense"

Yep, that's what Michigan running back said in the post-game conference today....just after The Ohio State University beat Michigan 42-39.

Hey, Mike Hart......You've got one of THE best O-Lines in the country, and yes, you put up 3 touchdowns with 142 yards today, but let's look at what YOUR team did.

You had a couple of nice runs of over 20 yards. Your touchdown runs were of 1, 2 and 1 yards. Your 23 carries did average 7 yards a carry, but your team LOST.

Oh, and by the way, your so called NUMBER 1 rush defense in the country got ABUSED today. What happened on the two touchdown runs of 52 and 56 today? I think we know whose defense was exposed this afternoon Mike Hart, and I'm glad you got it handed to you today you piece of crap.

So anyways, I'm not going to get into the details of today's game right now, but let's just say that Ohio State dominated Michigan in most aspects of the game. The vaunted UM rush defense gave up nearly 200 yards rushing to Antonio Pittman and Beanie Wells (on 23 carries), and Troy Smith solidified his Heisman campaign with 315 yards passing and 4 passing touchdowns.

Hey Lloyd, thanks for showing up and congrats on getting outcoached again, and enjoy the 1-5 record that you've got against our boy James Patrick Tressel. I hope you and your running back like the way that one tastes for the next 365 days.

Happy Thanksgiving, Bucks fans. I'll have a more thorough recap in a day or two, but more importantly who is ready to break out the suntan lotion for Glendale?

Michigan Weekend....

This may very well be my last post before Michigan, because as most people in Columbus know that the Michigan Weekend Party starts on Thursday night. Tomorrow night will be filled by a few fun activities, and on Friday a few of my buddies will be heading up to Eddie George's by 9:00 a.m. for the Colin Cowherd live broadcast. I fully expect for this to morph into an all-day High Street bar crawl with my buddies, so I'm leaving you with this Michigan preview.

When The Buckeyes are on OFFENSE:

I'll give Michigan some credit, as they do lead the nation in rush defense. They're giving up a silly 40ish yards per game on the ground, and only gave up 47 rushing yards to Wisconsin and their quality ground game. The UM front seven is very scary, and I'm hoping that Ohio State has just enough success on the ground in order to make the UM Defense honor play-action. Michigan hasn't seen a group of WR's with the skill of Ohio State's, and when Tressel goes to the spread there will be mismatches. Crossing routes will be key, and having a Heisman QB and senior at the helm will be huge for Buckeye success. The UM DB's are a shade above average, but when OSU goes 5 wide UM won't be able to hang.
Another key is the running ability of Troy Smith. I believe that this is and will be the X factor that will give OSU the edge. Smith's scrambling ability could force Michigan to have a spy on Smith, which would just provide another advantage for OSU. I see Troy Smith getting 50 yards rushing, Pittman netting 45, and Beanie Wells will play a big role with 50 yards on limited carries(9 maybe?). I know it is crazy to think 140 yards rushing on this Michigan D, but I think it will happen. The passing game will be successful, and that will open up the opportunities for the success in the running game. Once again Anthony Gonzalez is the key in the passing game, and I also see a Roy Hall TD on Senior Day, and Brian Hartline being a key contributor as well.
I see the Bucks putting up 23.

When Michigan is on offense:
I like the pressure that Ohio State brings week in and week out. The pressure is the reason for all the interceptions this year compared to last. The Buckeye knack for timely turnovers will continue on Saturday, as I think the Buckeye D and crowd will rattle junior QB Chad Henne. I haven't seen the progression from Henne to this point, and we're still yet to see if he can handle the pressure of the big game. In their biggest win of the year, Henne really didn't have to do much at Notre Dame as Michigan jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead in the first half. Mike Hart hasn't had much success against Ohio State, as he has only 1 career TD in 2 starts and had only 15 yards on 9 carries against the Bucks last year.
The Michigan weapon that does scare me the most is WR Mario Manningham. Manningham seems to be back close to 100% after knee surgery a month ago, and has had a very nice sophomore season. I like the speed in our secondary and I am fairly confident our corners will hang with him. With Malcolm Jenkins and senior Antonio Smith manning the corners, I think they should be able to keep Manningham, Arrington and Breaston in check. Michigan's offensive line is very good, and is probably just as good (if not better) than what OSU faced at Texas. The game plan should focus on being committed to stopping the run and forcing Henne into pressure 3rd and 8s when the Buckeye crowd will be going nuts.

What happens if OSU isn't having offensive success in the first half?
If OSU is somehow (I don't think it will happen though) not moving the ball in the first half, the halftime adjustment for Tressel shouldn't be too tough. He would need to look no further than what opposing teams did to the Buckeyes in '04 and '05, and that would be just moving the pocket away from the teeth of that Michigan D. Pull a guard and move the pocket to the opposite side that Lamar Woodley lines up on. We saw Cincinnati, Iowa, Michigan State, and Northwestern use this tactic against the Buckeyes and had quite a bit of success with it in '04 (see the Iowa beating we took at Kinnick Stadium, 33-7).

Where OSU's biggest advantage lies?
I think that there are three huge advantages for Ohio State in this game. The first is fairly obvious, and that is the home field advantage. Once again, Henne in a hostile environment/big game situation doesn't bode well for UM, SO BE LOUD BUCKEYE FANS!!!! The second advantage is having a senior qb running the show, and I am very confident that Troy Smith will play well enough to win on Saturday. The offensive weaponry that Smith has to work with is a touch better that what Henne has to operate with as well. The third advantage that OSU has is coaching. Tressel is 4-1 against Michigan, with the lone loss coming at Michigan in '03. Tressel seems to have Lloyd Carr's number, and that basically boils down to Tressel outcoaching Carr. I am 110% comfortable with how Tressel game plans and schemes, and I see good things happening on Saturday in The Horseshoe against Michigan.

I'll call Ohio State 23, Michigan 10. Enjoy the game Bucks fans, it will be one that you will never forget. GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!

Revenge in Evanston

Ohio State 54, Northwestern 10

The Ohio State Buckeyes ran their record to 11-0 today with a 54-10 thrashing of Northwestern Wildcats. It was a very convincing win for the Buckeyes, who posted 21 first quarter points to KO the Wildcats early. The Buckeyes took advantage of 3 early Northwestern turnovers by turning them into 21 easy points, which quickly negated any sort of late season upset that Northwestern might have envisioned.

Highlights of the game belong to, well, everybody. Buckeye quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Troy Smith had another nice day, turning in 4 touchdown passes on a 12 of 19 passing performance. Smith passed for 185 yards but also threw one interception on the afternoon, which raises his season total to FOUR for the year.
The Buckeye ground game shook Ryan Field this afternoon. Freshman running back Chris Wells had 98 yards on 11 carries, which included a touchdown plunge from 2 yards out. More importantly, is that the young back from Akron did not fumble and ran with authority today. Antonio Pittman became the 5th running back in Buckeye history to rush for over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. Pittman's 82 yards on 19 carries included one touchdown, and also put him into the record books with Archie Griffin, Tim Spencer, Keith Byars, and Eddie George.
The defense once again played extremely well this afternoon. It was one of those "pick your defensive highlight for the day" afternoons for the Buckeye D, which was highlighted by a 46 yard Brandon Mitchell interception return for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter. Other defensive highlights included an early first quarter forced fumble by sophomore James Laurinaitis (recovered by Antonio Smith) and freshman linebacker Ross Homan's first career pick. The play that I was superbly impressed by occurred in the second quarter. It was a wide receiver screen that Bacher tossed to his left, and Malcolm Jenkins was all over it. Jenkins shed the lineman that was blocking for the WR, and then managed to strip the ball and recover his own fumble. An awesome play by the Buckeyes best corner, and I cannot believe this kid is only a sophomore. It will be a heck of a matchup between he and Mario Manningham next week.
There were a couple of very minor miscues today that probably should be mentioned. Antonio Pittman did fumble on the Northwestern one yard line, and OSU did have a couple of errors on two extra point attempts (one blocked, one bad snap). Today was a good time for those to happen, primarily just to remind Ohio State how important ball security is and to work on PAT's this week in practice even more.

HOW TO BEAT MICHIGAN will come this week, probably by Wednesday afternoon. If Coach Tressel emails or calls me this week and doesn't want me to disseminate this critical information on how to beat Michigan on Saturday, that would be the only reason I would not post this information for you. However, Coach Tressel, my silence will cost your two tickets to this weekend's game if you'd like to purchase my silence. Love ya JPT.
More Michigan stuff all this week. GO BUCKS.....bds

Northwestern and History Lesson

Ohio State @ Northwestern, 3:30 p.m., ABC

Here we are. November 10th, 2006, and only about a week and a few hours from the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. I know we're supposed to be focused on Northwestern at this time, but if you could show me a fan who is actually more concerned about Northwester than Michigan at this time, then I'll show you a liar. But this is the final road game for this class of Buckeye seniors, and let's look at this game a little bit and discuss what happened the last time Ohio State visited Ryan Field.

Old Memories
Fall quarter of 2004 was my last quarter as a student at The Ohio State University. I vividly remember this game and the entire afternoon leading up to it, but not so much the night before (bowling alley at our hotel=many pitchers of beer and the nickname of "The Rocket" for this guy). For those who don't know, I was the color commentator for the 2004 Ohio State football season for Ohio State student radio (visit their link at http:www.underground.fm) and this is where knowing Tressel's system comes from. My brother Austin and good friend D. Brown also took a class called Coaching Football EDU PAES 620 in the Fall of 03, which was taught by James Patrick Tressel and other Buckeye Coaches. In this class, Tressel schooled us well on his brand of football and also served as the genesis to understanding how he runs a football program.

Sorry, off on a tangent.....I get that from my dad.....but now back to football. What I remember from this game was that I expected us to go in and totally shut down Northwestern. They had a decent, almost poor man's Craig Krenzel-type QB in Brett Basanez, a shifty little back in Noah Herron, and a couple of WRs. But we were Ohio State, with a defense that only was yeilding something like 13 or 14 points per game to this point, and only giving up about 250 total yards.

And then we just got dominated by Northwestern. This game went into overtime, but from what I remember we were scrapping all game long just to get it into OT. Ohio State lost this game 33-27 in overtime, and if you didn't know any better you would've thought NU just won the National Championship after they beat us. Basanez threw a bunch of little passes across the middle of the field, and give the late NU Coach Randy Walker credit as they totally out-schemed Tressel and his staff. Noah Herron had a hell of a game, and Basanez and those WR's killed OSU with their well-executed crossing routes. That NU offensive line was probably the best they'd had in 12 or 15 years, that was led by 4 seniors, as Trai Essex is now in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Northwestern defense was also anchored by DT Luis Castillo, who is now with the San Diego Chargers (altough check this out http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2005/04/14/castillo_tells_nfl_he_took_steroids/ ...not very cool).

So, what should we take from the memories of this game? DON'T TAKE ANYONE LIGHTLY!!
This NU team isn't nearly as talented as the 04 version of the Wildcats, but they do have 2004 Ohio Mr. Football at running back, and his name is Tyrell Sutton. Sutton is an awesome back, althought the O-line isn't really that great this year. Sutton's numbers are handicapped because of their lack of a passing game, but is still capable of putting up solid numbers. Sutton is rushing for 83 yards per game, but is getting 5.8 yards per carry. There are no NU WRs that are in the Big Ten in receiving, and as a whole this team has nothing to offer on offense except for Tyrell Sutton. They have been unsettled at QB this year, and both times I've watched them they've had a terrible guy named Bacher (or some ridiculous French name that isn't as cool as Bobby Hebert). I watched the first half of the Michigan/NU game a few weeks ago, and whatever QB they had in there would repetitively shoot the NU offense in the foot.

What to look for....
Here is what I'd look for in this game:

• Run the ball. Work on offensive line execution and build confidence back up after a horrible performance in Champaign last week. NU gives up 145 yards a game rushing, so let's work the clock, minimize offensive plays (partially to lessen the chance of injuries), and also get Beanie Wells 12-14 carries in which he doesn't fumble the ball once (talk about a guy who needs to build confidence!).
• I really doubt we see much Troy Smith in the second half, that is unless we're only up by 10 or 13 late in the 3rd quarter. We will also rotate in some of the younger O-line guys in the second half, in order to give guys like Datish and Downing a little break (less wear and tear on the knees).
• Get Roy Hall some touches. The fifth year senior from Cleveland deserves it, and who really knows how many times his number will be called next Saturday.
• MOST IMPORTANT....COMMIT TO STOPPING THE RUN. This is and has to be the key for the defense on Saturday. I understand that Michigan's O-Line is 400 times better than that of what NU rolls out, but OSU should focus on stopping Tyrell Sutton and key on the fundamentals of tackling a very good running back. Next week when OSU plays Michigan, that will also be a day in which OSU will have to stop the run or they will not beat Michigan.

Fun Tidbit from 2004 NU game. We (Jeff Svoboda of the Buckeye Sports Bulletin, Ed Collari of the Winston Salem Warthogs, and myself) interviewed then Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger during halftime of that game, and I noticed that he had his initials sewn into the cuff of his sleeve. I thought this was really cool, and when I become successful that is the first order of business for this guy's dress shirts. (Always amused by the little things).

So what am I predicting for Saturday? I'll take the Bucks, 41-6. The D will again be successful, and we will have the offensive swagger back on the offensive side of the ball. Enjoy the game Bucks fans, because we've only got 120 minutes of Big Ten football left this season.

My Cubbies' Off-Season

I'm throwing in a little baseball hot stove action today, since I've started to think about what my Chicago Cubs might do this off-season. The free agent signing period starts on Sunday, November 12th, and I doubt that I'll be much into baseball for a while once I wake up on Sunday morning. Keep in mind that there are 84 million different scenarios out there, and that these are just one man's thoughts.
First off, the Cubs situation is pretty atrocious right now. The Cubs elected not to lock up 3B Aramis Ramirez this past summer, and two weeks ago he opted out of his contract and is now a free agent. I've heard that the front runners for signing Ramirez are the Angels, with the Cubs still being in the mix. CF Juan Pierre is also a free agent, so there is currently a hole in center as well. The starting pitching is of course up in the air, because Kerry Wood is also a FA and who really ever knows what the heck is going on with Mark Prior's elbow.
So the Cubs really need 2 starting pitchers, a 3B, a CF, a SS or 2B and maybe even a LF because Matt Murton wasn't too great last year in full time duty. The bullpen was actually very good last year, as Michael Wuertz, Bobby Howry, Scott Eyre and Co. were effective last year. Ryan Dempster as a closer is still a debatable issue, but he's been relatively serviceable for the past 2 seasons.
So where do we really begin? I guess we should identify who the big time FA's are and then develop a reasonable wish list of players that the Cubs could feasibly sign. The biggest names available are OF/2B Alfonso Soriano, LF Carlos Lee, SPs Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, 1B/SS Nomar Garciaparra, SP Adam Eaton, CF Gary Matthews Jr., SPs Mark Mulder, Jeff Suppan, OF Luis Gonzalez, and Japanese imports SP Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kei Igawa, and 3B Akinori Otsuka.
I think the first order of business is to get a big time bat that will help replace the possible loss of 3B Aramis Ramirez. I am foreseeing Ramirez in Anaheim next season, so I believe it is a foregone conclusion that he is not going to be a part of the Cubs future. Soriano will be seeking a 5 to 7 year deal, that will likely be in the neighborhood of 15 million per season. I don't have a problem with those numbers, and I would love to see the Cubs get him. But I'd want the Cubs to sign him only if he agrees to play 2B again....which I don't think would be a problem. Adding Soriano would give the Cubs the premiere leadoff hitter with great power and speed, which is what the Cubs haven't had in quite some time. (Another decent option could be a trade for Atlanta 2B Marcus Giles, who has reportedly been on the trading block but is a FA after 2007).
To fill the void at CF, I would sign ex-Padre Dave Roberts. He is also a guy who brings a lot of speed to a team, and can also handle the bat well and be a big part of playing small ball, which the Cubs haven't been able to do for 10 years either. So with Soriano at leadoff and Dave Roberts as the CF and in the 2 hole, but all of the sudden you've spent nearly 20 million dollars and still have holes at 3B and could use a starting pitcher or two.
This kind of goes against conventional wisdom, but I'd sign Luis Gonzalez to a two-year deal. Gonzo is a great clubhouse guy and would play left, and this would allow you to platoon Murton with either Jones in right or with Gonzo in Left, depending on pitching matchups. Gonzo really wouldn't cost that much to sign, as he could probably be landed for 3 or 4 per season. Now we're looking at having about 22 mill on the books.
I'd also go after Adam Eaton as soon as possible. If Barry Zito, Suppan and Jason Schmidt fly off the board early, then Eaton's price inflates dramatically in an all of the sudden thin pitchers market. So if you can sign Eaton early, you'll probably be looking at a 3 year deal for about 20 mill, or 6.5 to 7 mill a year. This gets your new payroll to roughly 28 mill of new payroll, but you now have to try to find one last starter and a 3B.
So if this all shakes out, you're still needing a 3B and could use a left-handed bat in the lineup as well. The perfect fit here would be Aubrey Huff. Huff is a .300, 20-25 home run type that would fit nicely into the Cubs lineup, and I'd prefer to have him hit cleanup behind Derrek Lee rather than Jacque Jones. Huff would probably be about a 5 or 6 million per signing, but he would be the perfect solution for third.
To round out the perfect bench (with John Mabry already on the pine for 07), I'd add Rich Aurilia. Aurilia, 35, is still very good with the glove and could play some 2b and 1b in order to give D. Lee and Soriano days off. Aurilia would be another 2 mill on the books, but would really give the bench phenomenal versatility.
With 35 mill in estimated new payroll, you still have to find another pitcher. I'd look at Randy Wolf or Miguel Batista, as you could probably sign these guys to a 1 or 2 year deal for about 3 mill per. I like Wolf, as he would be a crafty veteran lefty who has good upside but also had TJ surgery just over 2 years ago.
Now we've added nearly 39 million dollars in new payroll, and this outlook isn't sounding as feasible as it once did. But you have to remember the Cubs were looking at spending about 20 million before the loss of Ramirez to FA, so it's not ridiculously far fetched. Ramirez' salary was for 13 mill for this year, so we may be a little over budget, but that's okay, the Tribune has deep pockets.
The lineup would be: 1. Soriano, 2. Dave Roberts, 3. Derrek Lee, 4. Huff, 5. Jones, 6. Barrett, 7. Gonzo/Murton, 8. Izturis. The pitching staff would be 1. Zambrano, 2. Eaton, 3. Rich Hill, 4. Wolf, 5. Whoever (Donald Veal, Prior, Sean Marshall?).
Either way, this is a huge off-season for the Cubs and failing to land at least one marquee FA (Soriano, Carlos Lee) and a couple of other key components would lead to disaster for the Cubs. Keep in mind they are now fighting the White Sox to be "Chicago's team" and not by not putting a quality team on the field in 07 would be a critical blow to northside fans.

Bucks crawl by Illini

The Ohio State Buckeyes survived a bit of a scare at Illinois on Saturday. Ohio State snuck out of Champaign with a 17-10 win on Saturday, but for Buckeye fans abroad it didn't really feel like a win. But so it goes when you're on the road in the Big Ten, just take your win and go back home and be happy.

A poor 2nd Half
This game was really a tale of two halves. In the first half Ohio State jumped out to a 17-0 lead, as the offense produced 13 first downs on 195 yards. The second half was another story, as OSU trudged to only 4 first downs and gained only 29 yards. Not exactly what you're looking for as you approach your final two games of the season.

On the drive to Champaign, my mind started to wander and I found myself thinking of different aspects of this Buckeye football team. I had realized on Friday night that this was easily the best offensive line we've had since the '02 National Championship season, which was anchored by NFLers Alex Stepanovich, Shane O'livea, and Rob Sims....and this made me feel really good as we were approaching the last few furlongs of the 2006 football season. Then, in the second half, I had to witness what was probably the worst OSU offensive line performance that I've ever seen.
Give some credit to the Illini defense. They made great halftime adjustments (something that Tressel usually befuddles opposing coaches by doing) and committed to stopping the run by putting 8, even 9 in the box. The poor offensive line performance helped the Illini D look awesome, as Troy Smith, Antonio Pittman, and the rest of the Buckeye O couldn't produce anything.

Smith, Tressel, Doug Datish, TJ Downing, etc. have too much invested in this season to get down on themselves over 30 minutes of football. This terrible half of football is probably the best thing for the 10-0 Buckeyes, who will visit Northwestern this weekend before playing host to Michigan on November 18th in what could be an epic battle. This will give the Buckeyes a chance to refocus and really is the perfect timing for a minor offensive meltdown. With a good and disciplined week of practice, the Bucks have the opportunity to get another win on the road and build confidence again as they move towards the last game of the season.

Worry not Buckeye fans, because a game like this only means what you take from it and how you learn from it. And I think most of us know that with Coach Tressel at the helm, The Ohio State University football team will come out with renewed motivation and an unseen dedication towards finishing off the last two games of the 2006 season.

Ohio State at Illinois, Saturday 3:30

Ohio State travels to Champaign this weekend to take on Illinois, then will follow up with another road game at Northwestern before the big game.

What can you really say about the Ohio State-Illinois game from last year? Ohio State won that contest 40-2 last November, in what was a truly beautiful afternoon in Ohio Stadium.

For Illinois, there was nothing beautiful about that afternoon at all. The Illini offense never possessed the ball inside the Ohio State thirty yard line, and a Ted Ginn muffed punt was their best chance to score just before halftime when Ohio State's lead was only 13-0. Illinois subsequently had to to punt after losing yards on their offensive posession, and it was never a game from there on out.

OSU's offensive stars from that game were RB Antonio Pittman who had 2 TDs on 22 carries and 96 yards rushing. The passing game had a field day as well, as Troy Smith went 13 for 21 and 298 yards, and three of those 13 went for touchdowns. This was a definite case of Illinois not being able to keep up with the OSU team speed, as Ted Ginn had 138 yards receiving and one touchdown. Ginn's receiving touchdown was a 73 yarder in the third quarter that sent most of the Ohio Stadium crowd back to their tailgates.

So really there isn't too much to discuss about what this Illinois team will bring at OSU this weekend. Illini coach Ron Zook is doing a better job of bringing in talent, and he landed big time recruit Isiah "Juice" Williams last year. Most D-I programs that offered scholarships wanted to make Juice a running back, but convinced that he was a quarterback Juice selected Illinois because Coach Zook promised him a shot to be the QB in Champaign. It didn't take long for Juice become the starter, as his first start was the Illini upset over Michigan State five weeks ago.

Williams represents the majority of the big time talent that resides in Champaign. Zook has the program on the upswing, however, and taking back Chicago (where Juice is from) is high on the priority listing for Illini recruiting. There won't be much of a battle on Saturday when OSU takes on Illinois at 3:30, although injuries will be the issue of importance as we approach the Michigan game. Ohio State left tackle Alex Boone is questionable with a tweaked knee, and Quinn Pitcock probably won't play either (concussion). Anthony Gonzalez didn't play in the second half against Minnesota, but will probably gain clearance to play at Illinois. Roy Small is progressing nicely from his concussion, and will probably be held out of Saturday's action. I'd like to see Gonzo held out of the game, and give as many reps to Hartline, Robiskie and Roy Hall (along with Ginn) to get them as comfortable as possible as we head towards November 18th.