The Badgers have been our nemesis at home - actually holding a winning record against Tressel - beating us handily the last 2 or 3 trips to Columbus. The Badgers appear to have the recipe for dealing with the Buckeyes based upon what I saw Saturday -v- PSU. A big, physical O-line paving the way for a punishing tailback. Our DT's had a weak effort -v- the Nits allowing way too many hats to get to the second level and effectively deal with Laurinaitis and Co....not a good thing when you're going up againist the Badgers. That said, there is some question about Hill's health and availability. Wisky defense has been suspect but if their horses can keep the ball away from Boeckman and Co anything can happen.... Big game from a variety of perspectives.....BCS implications for sure but in addition to that, a number of streaks are on the line. A victory will give the Buckeyes an all-time record 20 consecutive conference wins as well as extending their streak to 28 consecutive regular season wins - another record that had been on the books since 1905. In this day and age of parity in college football, I think its extradordinary the record Coach Tressel and his staff have put together. Tressel and Co have only lost 3 games in the last three years. One to eventual national champion Texas, one to eventual national champion Florida and the other to a Penn State team whose only loss was by one on the last play of the game -v- the Stripeheads in the Big House. Not to shabby, imho..... I sure hope I didn't just put the big hex whammy on my boys!
Ohio State under Tressel has done extraordinarily well. And as you pointed out it's not with a whole raft of 5* players. To be sure you've had a few 5* players but not like USC or UF. Right now you'd have to say that Tressel is the best coach in college football in terms of evaluating talent, then developing that talent and finally winning games. This team to me looks better than the Troy Smith team from last year. This game will be pretty interesting, as that Wisky team looked pretty ordinary when I saw them play Illinois, they did not look to have a powefull OL and punishing RB's. They didn't play a challenging non-conference schedule. But it could be that they are just rounding into shape and will give you guys all you can handle. However based on what I saw last Sat night at Happy Valley, you should handle them with ease.
Buckeye Terry, Do you have a dish? My understanding is that the Wisconsin/OSU is only being carried by the BTN. I was hoping that this game would be the ABC night game given that the Buckeye/Badgers have, at least since the Alverez era, been a competitive series with Wisconsin winning 3 out of the last 4 match-ups.
TOK, PJ Hill is a beast and when healthy he's as tough as any back in the game behind an O-line that averages 320 or so.....coming off of a 1600 yard season and well on his way to another when he got dinged. Banging iso's and powers running downhill between the tackles 40 tmes or so a game can get old if you don't stop it.....young QB has been making lots of mistakes and the defense has not been up to tough, hard nosed Wisky standards.....I hope they don't start this weekend. If they play well, they will be a formidable opponent. BobDa, No, I do not have a dish. Were it not for the local sports pub, I would not be able to see the game as my cable provider has not picked up the BTN. I will have to suffer through the game with a couple dozen of my closest local Buckeye friends and a veritable plethora of cold draft options.....it will be a struggle. :wink:
True Wisconsin has had our number here at home in the past 10 years. I think Tressel wil really have the team up for this game and all appears to be in our favor. Of course strange things do happen on the football field, especially in conference play. Here's hoping we are not embarrassed. Don
Ohio State is a 15 point favorite in this game. Are you guys surprised? I'm not given how you beat down PSU in a big night game white out at their place. Unless you have an emotional letdow, always possible...in theory you should beat Wisky at least as bad as you did PSU.