This weeks round table is hosted by “Michigan Sports Center.” Take a moment to check out his blog. For a Michigan fan, he seems like a good guy. (He claims he hasn’t started college yet so not all hope is lost. Maybe we can offer him a starting position on the Ohio State Blogging Team before it’s too late.)
1. Now that two weeks of play are behind us, what is one encouraging surprise and one downing disappointment from your team? (Easy answer to the latter part of the question for Michigan bloggers)
As expected, I think the Buckeye defense is very encouraging. Although they haven’t really been tested they held Akron and really allowed the offense to play as poorly as they did. I also think we saw the defense improve from week one to week two. Washington will be a good test as they have an out of the pocket, scrambling quarterback in Jake Locker. They also have a lot of confidence and are getting a lot of attention after ending Boise State’s winning streak. I think our defense is ready for him.
If anyone remembers Corby Jones from Missouri, he was a confident, scrambling quarterback. That was until he met Andy Katzenmoyer in his home field. Jones didn’t play the same way the rest of the game and personally, I don’t think he played the same way the rest of the season. I say we let the Little Animal line one up on Jones and things will be under control.
As for the biggest disapointment, that would have to be the offense. We all knew that this would be a rebuilding year but I had confidence that they would come out and surprise everyone and prove that they were underrated. After last weekend, I’m not so sure. It will be interesting to see what they can do this week in practice. We haven’t seen much improvement yet but they haven’t really been tested. The first half against Akron though was painful at best.
2. A look at the current Big Ten standings shows things dead-locked record-wise for the most part. Once conference play actually begins, which two or three teams pull away from the rest of the pack?
Naturally, I think the Buckeyes have a good shot. Barring a miracle at Michigan, I don’t think they will be much to worry about.
Penn State could be interesting but they haven’t been tested and they won’t be this weekend. Sure, they looked good against Notre Dame but what does that say? The whiteout was impressive and I think it had a big impact on Notre Dame. They are a struggling team with inexperienced quarterbacks to say the least. The crowd took care of any hope Notre Dame might have been able to muster. The problem is, you only get an impact like that once a season. After that, everyone is prepared. I think the cashed it in a little too early against a fairly easy opponent.
Ohio State was thrown of their game in ’05 by the whiteout but I can’t see it happening again. The Buckeyes are used to loud stadiums and you know that somewhere in that new training facility there has got to be a virtual stadium of some sort that can simulate Penn State’s Whiteout conditions.
That leaves Wisconsin. They did struggle against UNLV. (I wasn’t expecting that but then again, I wasn’t expecting Michigan to lose to App. State.) If they show any sign of weakness against The Citadel, their off my list.
3. Has your team ever played in a game that was just downright boring and impossible to watch? I ask this because going into the Michigan-Notre Dame game, looking at it on paper, it is shaping up to be one of the ugliest we may see all year.
We tend to remember the exciting games, the games that go down in the record books, the games that we will be proud to tell our grandchildren that we were there. There have been lots of boring Ohio State games. They usually take place early in the season against some smaller conference school.
The most boring game I remember has to be early in the 1988 season. I don’t even remember who the Buckeyes were playing but as I remember it (correct me if I’m wrong) that was the year they stopped selling beer in Ohio Stadium. I don’t know what it was but suddenly things in the stadium were different. In the early days of my college career, a bota bag filled with whatever was standard fare for the Ohio State fan. Then all of a sudden, fans not only couldn’t buy beer inside the stadium, they had to smuggle flasks tucked into all sorts of obscure crevices. It took a while to recover but there were some real slow games back then.
