{mosimage} The Buckeyes' most recent victory left a sour taste in my mouth. 24-17 at home over an average Michigan State squad is nothing to be satisfied with, especially when you're ranked #1.

This was the most deceiving 24-17 game I've ever seen. Ohio State dominated this game for 50 of 60 minutes, but the score makes it look like they Michigan State was a worthy opponent. Todd Boeckman terrifies me. I know he leads the Big Ten in passing efficiency and that his numbers yesterday were respectable (15/23 for 192 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT), but he is no Troy Smith. Since even Smith couldn't lead this team to a National Title with a superior squad last year, forgive me for not being too confident in the Bucks' ability to run the table. Boeckman had two huge turnovers that the Spartans took to the house. He gave them life when he should have been choking it out of them with play action bombs over their overmatched secondary. Instead, the Bucks had to grind out a game that they should have won by at least 30.

The defense has been tremendous, allowing just a field goal to Michigan State's offense. Unfortunately for them, they weren't on the field when MSU scored their two touchdowns. This year's Buckeye defense is very similar to last year's because they are among the best in the nation in several key categories, including points per game allowed. However, they were in the same position last year before shitting the bed to the tune of 80 points in the two games that mattered (Michigan, Florida). This is another point of concern for me as a fan, although they have handled the spread offenses they have seen so far this season. I can't go too far in this article without mentioning Chris Wells's monstrous day. Wells pounded Michigan State's defense for a career high 221 yards on 31 carries. He ran inside and outside extremely effectively and busted off several huge gains.

His best sequence of the day came in the final three minutes. Boeckman handed off to Wells seven straight times, and he trucked the Spartan defense into submission, salting the game away with three huge first downs. Chris Wells has arrived. P.J. Hill gets more hype, but Wells is a faster version of Hill who is going to terrorize defenses over the next year and a half before pondering a jump to the NFL. Of course, if his second half fumble hadn't been recovered by a teammate, this section of this article would read very differently. His weakness is ball security, and it can't show up against the teams they will be facing the next four weeks.

I have to blame the lovely folks at Time Warner for the third quarter debacle that took place in Columbus Saturday. I was watching the game at my apartment with a few of my buddies. At the time, the Bucks were dominating in every phase of the game. Todd Boeckman had just hit Chagrin Falls graduate Brian Robiskie for a 50 yard touchdown and Ohio State was enjoying a 24-0 lead. Then the power went out. Enraged, I went searching for answers. Seems that the geniuses sent to work on the electric problems at my apartment complex picked a Saturday afternoon during a Buckeye football game to cut the power. I saw this as a slight against me personally. My friends and I packed up our beverages and made a bee line to another friend's place. When we arrived, it was 24-14 and MSU had the ball. As soon as we returned to our proper place in front of a television, the universe returned to normalcy and the Buckeyes stopped the bleeding.

I will never forget this Time Warner. You nearly blew the season. Saturday night's matchup at Penn State frightens me as a fan because the Bucks always, always, always stink when they go to Happy Valley. And at night? Let's just say I'll be helping old ladies across the street, reading to the blind, and volunteering at local soup kitchens this week in order to collect good karma for the Buckeyes. If Boeckman and Beanie can't hang onto the ball, then OSU will lose this game. They are the better team by far, but a night white out at Penn State is about as tough as it gets in the Big Ten. If they do escape, they still have games at home against Illinois and Wisconsin, and then the yearly slugfest with Michigan, this one in Ann Arbor. In order for the Bucks to make the National Title game, they will likely have to finish the regular season undefeated. Late season losses are much harder to recover from in the polls, and those are fairly heavily weighted in the BCS. It takes weeks of outside help to sneak back up the polls and make a significant dent in the ground lost by a defeat. If they are unblemished a month from now, expect a much better prepared team to take the field in the National Title game. 41-14 will never happen again.

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JEH45 said:

having watched MSU score twice in about a minute, you can consider yourself lucky not to have seen it. The run D of the Buckeyes was nothing short of spectacular last saturday. Special teams was solid but again a blocked field goal. Didn't seem to mean much at the time, but later in the game another 3 points would have been nice. Pass protection was outstanding, but then what happened? Beanie Wells was awesome. I approach this weeks game as I look at the rest of the season-cautiously optimistic. Can't give up 2 free touchdowns and expect to win. We have had night games and hostile environs so the white out thing doesn't scare me as much as it once did. Blitzing scares me. Go Bucks!

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October 21, 2007
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wpeery said:

Hahahah...Petrello you are killing me here... this line is great... "Let's just say I'll be helping old ladies across the street, reading to the blind, and volunteering at local soup kitchens this week in order to collect good karma for the Buckeyes." It is hard for me to envision the Buckeyes running the table the rest of the way. That defense is probably the second best in the country in my opinion, and you could even make the case that it is better than LSU's, but I just feel like Todd Boeckman is going to disastrously turn the ball over and end their hopes of a return to the national championship. I will never forget last season's national championship game last year as long as I live. I'm not even a Buckeyes fan, but I was outraged by the Buckeyes playing so terribly on such a big game, because I felt they were a team of destiny. The national title was theirs to lose. I could already see Jim Tressel hoisting the coveted waterford crystal skyward. I thought Troy Smith was going to win the Heisman Trophy all season long and the Buckeyes were going to breeze to the national championship against Florida. Well, I got half of that right and I will never understand how a team of such great destiny seemed to fold like one of those Coleman chairs on the biggest of stages. I don't think I will ever see an offensive lineman get abused so badly like Alex Boone did that night. Just atrocious. My pre-season pick for the national championship is still alive(LSU), but they are going to need some help and the team I picked them to beat(Michigan), well their problems have been well documented, but the Wolverines have rebounded quite nicely. There is absolutely no way a 2-loss team will go to the national championship game, unless their name is Florida. At this point I am thinking a game like Oklahoma-LSU in New Orleans seems pretty likely, LSU has a pretty easy finish in the regular season, but their biggest road block is coming up this Saturday as they face Alabama in Tuscaloosa--the Crimson Tide are no push over, but I like the Tigers chances as long as Les Miles doesn't try to act like an idiot again. I was pretty disappointed Auburn didn't pull out that game, and Matt Flynn threw one of the most ridiculous balls I have ever seen in my life. The Auburn defender had perfect coverage. That said, LSU and Oklahoma both have conference championships to get through. I think we'll see a Florida-LSU matchup in the SEC Championship game and if there is one team that could end the Tigers' national title hopes, it is the Gators. They should've beaten LSU earlier in the season, and that was one of the most atrocious spots I have ever seen(when the refs gave LSU the first down inside the 5). Jacob Hester was clearly down before the marker. Oklahoma is likely going to face a very talented Missouri Tigers team that is one of the better teams in college football. I could see Missouri knocking Oklahoma off in the Big 12 title game and it would be downright bizarre to see Missouri in a BCS game. Yeah I think they are better than Kansas, but the Jayhawks still deserve an unreal amount of credit. Their quarterback Todd Reesing came out of thin air this year. I mean honestly, who would've called it that the Jayhawks would be in first place of the Big 12 North at this stage of the season. Still plenty of football left to be played, so the way this season has been going for my predictions, just expect the opposite of what I say to happen.

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October 22, 2007
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