Another prime time, night game for Ohio State on ABC, here in Columbus. Penn State worries me a bit, coming off a bye week and their recent victory over Michigan. They have won in Columbus two of the last three meetings, 2008 & 2011. Our pass defense has been rather porous this year and the Nits freshman QB may well cause us some problems. Our offense if all cylinders are working, should be in our favor. Home crowd certainly will be a help. Should be a good contest. As they say, we just have to keep wining!
Which Penn State team will show up, the one that got steam rolled by IU or the one that played Michigan toe to toe and won? That PSU Freshman QB really looks good, he was the top rated Pro Style QB in last years class so it's not surprising that he is good and O'Brien worked with Brady so he's got experience coaching good QB's. If the game was in Happy Valley I'd give PSU a shot at the upset, but road game in Columbus with true freshman...not so much. But hey that's what I said about Iowa!
who is the last opposing true freshman qb to win in Columbus?!? Matt Barkley?!?! It's too steep of a road to climb. I think OSU rolls.
Thread drift...did you see Matt Barkley on Sunday for the Eagles...he was horrible. In 2005 if you had told me that Matt Barkley and Brady Quinn would be failures as NFL QB's I'd have just laughed at you.
yeah the NFL is a tough road. Maybe he'll get it together. It's not like he's a fit for that system, either. Back on topic, I hope Ohio State nukes Penn State.
Urban Meyer is predicting a street fight with the Nittany Lions, and I would agree with that assessment. Hackenberg can not be left to sit back in the pocket and throw completed passes. On the other hand, we have not been very successful this season in rushing the passer. If we blitz more, we might be in for some embarrassing situations. Guess we will just have to wait and see what develops. Buckeyes are favored by 12 1/2 points at the moment.
Well, George, it won't come in the following week. :? Seems like we've been playing a bit of a rubber band defense this year...soft coverage...giving up long drives, tough first downs, and a fair amount of yardage...but toughening in the red zone. Everybody around here bitching about it...I remember back 15 or 20 years ago when the Cleveland Browns had a D like that and everybody bragged about it. Will be an interesting matchup...who'd a thunk that a PSU-OSU game would be discussed in terms of their passing attack against our soft defense? Everybody talks like we barely beat Iowa last week...well, they are a pretty good football team and they beat us by 7 in the first quarter...we tied them in the second quarter...we beat them by 7 in the third quarter...and we beat them by 10 in the fourth quarter. All in all I thought (other than the slow start on defense) that it was quite workmanlike.
Seems like since Iowa gave Frenetz that big contract and he said he wanted to finish his career there that they haven't been as good as they were when he first got there. Loss to N.Illinois, even though they are obviously a pretty good team, had to have hurt...but they were 4-2 coming to Columbus.
Another interesting tidbit for to nights game: In the 11 games played between Ohio State and Penn State since 2002, the Buckeyes have returned eight interceptions for touchdowns. I hope we can continue this tradition.
Game far different than I anticipated. We pretty much had our way after a fast start, amassing almost 700 yards of offense. Hackenberg did not have a good night and ended up leaving the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter. Braxton Miller was again very effective throwing for several TDs and running for a couple to boot. Carolos Hyde was not held in check and rushed for 150 yards. Win streak now at 20 straight and the 1968 championship team was honored this evening. Their streak was 22 games.
One ironic thing about last night's game was the score 63-14. John Cooper's team lost to Penn State in 1994 in Happy Valley by the same exact score!
That score was for the BCS voters. edit: BTW I don't blame him. This time of year if you are in the position that tOSU is in you have to do something to show the voters how good you are.
Meyer knows the pageant aspect of college football and he takes care of business. I have no problem with that. Miller is really rounding into a very good QB which makes this team a legitimate contender. The O-Line also seems to get better each game. The 1968 team was one of my favorites. I loved that team.
Meyer knows he and the Buckeyes would be a legitimate threat to beat Bama in the title game..... and he is trying to give the Buckeyes that shot. If FSU and or Oregon win out and Auburn or SC ( SEC Title game ).... can't find a way to upset the Tide then the Buckeyes won't get that shot.
Hah! You win close or moderate and it proves you don't belong. You win big and you're running up the score. 42 points in the first half. 21 in the second. One score from our 2nd string QB and one from our third string. Pulled everybody but the waterboy at the end. Took a knee at the end when could have "run it up" more. There was no running up of the score. That was an old fashioned methodical death by a thousand cuts. Not trying to brag up our chances here...just sayin' running up the score won't matter any...no matter what scores we run up we're not going to pass anybody unless they lose...and if we don't lose they won't put a one loss team in front of us...and Meyer knows that...the only "statement" he can make is to keep winning. And I'm ok with it, other than to wish that next year's system were in place this year. Those teams above us deserve to be there.