We’re diving deep into enemy territory for this week’s Big Ten Blogger’s Round Table. This week’s host is Black Shoe Diaries, a Penn State blog. So damn the white shirts, dodge the urine filled balloons, we’re going in.

Pretend for a moment you’re the little Japanese guy on Heroes. You can close your eyes, clench your fists, crap your pants and go back in time. If you could go back and change one play for your team this season, what would it be?

O.K. Am I one of the two people who hasn’t seen Heroes? Regardless, if I could change one play, it would be the end zone celebration after Teddy Ginn made that incredible kickoff return on the opening play of the BCS Championship…oh wait…you said this season. That’s a little more difficult.

What separates Ohio State from the rest of the Big Ten is that at this point in the season, we haven’t played that season ending game. If the results were different, I would suggest we scrub the three offensive plays against Michigan State that resulted in two defensive touchdowns and a near fumble recovery for yet another defensive touchdown. The only reason MSU didn’t get the ball on that one was because they were getting greedy. Those 300 pound linebackers were seeing visions of the end zone and forgot to actually pick up the ball.

However, I’m not sorry for those plays. They gave the Buckeyes a chance to face some adversity –something we haven’t seen all season. It also pointed out weaknesses that can be remedied in practice as opposed to a make or break game situation.

We’re now two-thirds of the way through the season. Everyone likes to debate who will be the Big Ten Coach of the Year. I want to know which Big Ten coach is a complete moron that should be demoted back to fullbacks coach on a team that runs the spread offense?

I’m going to step outside of the Big Ten for this one and go with Charlie Weis. Beloved Notre Dame is having one of the worst seasons in the history of the program yet he gets up there every weekend smiling and joking about another loss. And why not, with a 10 year contract, what does he have to worry about. So they buy out his contract and fire him. What does he care? He still gets paid.

This season has shown why Weis should have stayed in the pros. He may know how to coach experienced players but he knows nothing about building a program. When he had the chance last year, he failed to give any of this year’s players experience. Now they all look like a bunch of deer stuck in the headlights of a car and it’s too late for Weis to do anything about it.

Naturally, we would never hope for LLLLLLoyd Carr to be demoted. We Buckeyes like him just where he is.


Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife. But the Bible doesn’t say anything about your rival. Which current Big Ten player do you most wish played for your team?

I’m going to burn in hell for this one but I’m going with Mike Hart. He has lived up to his name this season and when the rest of the team was crying in the locker room, Hart was still out there trying to pull things together. Last year at the Ohio State/Michigan game, he almost seemed to walk on air at times.

It is really too bad. If he were a Buckeye, he would probably be a top Heisman candidate.

Poor guy, hindsight can be so painful.

Bonus Question
It’s probably too early to start thinking about next year. Well, unless you’re Minnesota in which case you’ve been thinking about next year for a month or so already. Assess your team’s future. Was this year your chance to make a run or is this just a rebuilding year with greater expectations in 2008? Or do you plan to suck in 2008 just as much as you suck now?

Remember all the preseason talk about this being a rebuilding year? They said the Buckeyes lost too many players, they are too young. Granted, there were a number of bizarre upsets that got us to where we are today but I can’t believe that next year won’t look even better. I haven’t gone through the list to see who we may lose at the end of the season but most of these guys are young. Next year the Buckeyes should really be a powerhouse.

With Tressel, it’s true. Buckeyes don’t rebuild, we reload.

Related Articles: