After surviving a lost fumble on
their opening series, the Buckeyes stormed by the ghosts of upsets past and
humbled Michigan State
by a score of 38-7. When they could only
move in reverse after recovering Beanie Wells’ fumble at the OSU 31 yard line,
it was evident that the Spartans were in for a long day. Troy added a couple of plays to his Heisman highlight reel with TD passes to Robskie and Gonzo while going 17-22 with no picks. Teddy took a punt return to the house as the
special teams responded to my request that they score last week. The real bright light, however, was the
defense. Holding the Spartans under 200 yards of offense is an
accomplishment. Granted, the Spartan
machine was missing a few important parts, but to completely
overwhelm a Drew Stanton led team is a good thing and this was the best
overall effort of the 2006 defense to date.
The only negative other than the
aforementioned fumble was the ankle injury to Antonio Pittman. He returned to the game, but we can only hope
that this does not become a chronic problem for this stellar running back. While the offensive line was
not dominant on the ground they yielded zero sacks. Quinn Pitcock
continued his All American season.
Though I think including Laurinaitis on the Butkus watch list is premature, #33 continues to amaze me
with his play. Oh, yeah, and the
kickoffs were not touchbacks. Picky, picky, picky. Thanks for the game Sparty,
good luck with your search for a new coach.
At 7-0, the
Buckeyes are about to enter a single elimination tournament for a trip to Glendale. Last week we saw Florida
and Missouri fall from the ranks
of the unbeaten. The remaining unbeatens that matter are OSU, USC, Weasels, West
Virginia, Louisville. USC has the toughest road with games against
UCLA, Cal and Notre Dame. WV and Louisville
play each other on November 2 and while the winner has a pretty clear shot at
unbeaten, Pitt may have something to say about that.
If the Weasels survive Iowa
this week, they will leave Columbus
with just one defeat. Florida,
Auburn and Tennessee
remain contenders with one loss, but the SEC usually eats it own. What about that team from Austin who got crushed on their home field by the Buckeyes? I seem to recall writing something about the
OSU-UT rematch in Glendale. It still very well could happen. First,
though, the Horns must survive a trip to Lincoln,
Nebraska to face a Husker team that wants
to show the world that they’re back.. Coach Callahan’s team is better, but not
quite good enough to take a step this big.
The ACC has the big games in the national spotlight this week. BC will take down the Seminoles. Clemson will
knock off Georgia Tech. The carnage in the SEC should slow a bit this week with
only Tennesse vs
Bama making headlines. The Dreamland Barbeque in Tuscaloosa
runs
out of pig as a fat guy in an orange shirt waddles out of town with another
win. In the Big Ten’s featured game I like the Hawkeyes to
rebound and upset the Weasels in Ann Arbor.
The Weasels won in OT last year , but the Hawks
won the two previous contests. Anytime
there is remotely equal talent you have to like Lllloyd’s
chances to lose to Kirk Ferentz.
Our
Buckeyes take on the streaking Indiana Hoosiers fresh off a victory over Illinois
and a shocker over Iowa. Terry Hoeppner has
the Hooisers playing their best football in
years. James Hardy may be the most
talented receiver in the league. He is
the best we have faced since Limas Sweed and at 6’7” he is a load. It
will be interesting to see how he fares against the Buck’s secondary. The redshirt
freshman QB is improving and has provided a spark for the IU
offense. Running back Marcus Thigpen,
however, may be
dinged up. The IU QB may be mobile, but
we just faced the two best mobile QBs in the Big Ten
(other than Troy) in the Drews, Tate and Stanton, on the road and ate them alive.
This kid does not have a chance beyond the 2nd quarter. The Hoosiers are improved and they are well coached, but they simply do not have the athletes
to stay with the Buckeyes, especially in Columbus. The IU defense will face the same problem the
first 7 opponents have
faced. How the hell do you stop
everybody; and then even if you manage to do that, Troy just goes and makes
something up and its another Buckeye TD.
Buckeyes 42-14.
The Crimson and Creamed limp back to Bloomington
with a dose of reality having been shoved down their
throats. Don’t fret Loosiers,
its almost basketball season. Oops, I almost forgot that the best
basketball talent from Indiana is
now wearing Scarlet and Gray. That’s gotta
hurt!