Yes, it’s that time again. Time to awake from my off-season slumber, strap myself back into the old fightin’ chair and start living and breathing all things Buckeye. And now that the players are practicing in full pads, the Buckeyes have returned to their regional spot on the Sports Illustrated cover and the USA/Coaches poll has them at #2, it’s time to get to it.
So to start things off I turn to you, the reader. I’ll give you a few topics to get things started:
- What do you think will be the hot topic of 2010? Predictions?
- Sport’s Illustrated cover above likes Buckeye defense. Wait till they see our offense.
- Is this the year Pryor finally lives up to his expectations? Will he be here in 2011 (he says he will).
- Will the Buckeyes bring home a national championship? (Vegas has them at +500, second only to Alabama)
- Is Miami the stumbling block ESPN commentators seem to think it is?
- What about Iowa in Iowa? Wisconsin in Wisconsin?
- Division playoff in 2011 — Good or Bad?
Anything else? It’s your thread.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Get the tailgate ready, pay up your TV subscriptions, get your gear washed, and get your Buckeye smack ready. As hank williams put ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? The defense has been our main stay for a long time now. Going back to 2002 it was our defense that won the National Championship. Last year it was the defense that shut down the mighty Ducks. I really don’t think anything will change this year. The offensive line is unproven, we have great running backs if they have a hole to run thru. The receiving corps are the same and should be better if TP can consistantly get them the ball. I see Miami as a good test early on. They are not a great team, but don’t take them lightly, Randy Shannon has them playing. Iowa and Wisconson will be the same as always a tough game regardless where it’s played. I am looking forward to and outstanding year and hopefully a trip to the BCS championship.
Go Bucks, kick ass
Fire up the grill, break out the corn hole, ink up the Block O tattoo, it’s that time of year.
Would love to see Henderson creating that big hole in the line. Now that he’s with Miami though, I hope the Buckeye D runs right past him.
i agree that our defense is the staple of our team, but to me thats just it, we know they are going to be good. we are used to them being good to the point that it is expected. and as the offense should finally break through the inconsistency that has been there since smith left, that is the bigger story to me. when it is all said and done, the criticism or praising of the season will fall on the offense. and as i think that they will come through, i just think that that is what we will be talking about at the end of the year and what i am more excited about to begin the year.
i am not trying to down play this defense at all. If Simon can plug up the middle and the new starters in the secondary can step up, we will be right where we usually are, a top defense in total yards and points allowed!
and as far as firing up the grill, i threw a nice sauce together on some grilled chicken the other day, so if anyone want a sweet/spicy sauce to throw on some meat, hit me up for the recipe!
Some good points Golf Cart Carl ……. I have to disagree with your conclusion that the Buckeyes “shut down the mighty ducks” though. The Mighty Ducks really shut themselves down and had a terrible game. The Ducks lost the game …… but, the Buckeyes did not beat them.
That being said …… I am sure that Pryor will have a breakout season. he was given quite a bit of latitude for the Rose Bowl and I am sure that will translate to an exciting year for him.
Don’t read too much into the preseason polls though. They are absolutly meaningless. Just bragging rights until the games actually start.
Tony, gotta be one of my biggest pet peeves in all of sports: saying that a team did not win a game, but another team lost it. The Buckeye D owned that game. They owned it to the point that Oregon was forced into doing things in a way that is not comfortable for them, thus they looked bad. But they looked bad because we made them look bad. Whether it was directly from play-to-play; or indirectly by taking them out of there comfort zone.
My man, those are some excellent topics you got goin to start things off for the season! I don’t even know where to start in answerin this one. I will just briefly hit a few… I just started writing a blog on the Buckeyes myself, and actually went in to a lot of what I am thinking about the topics you posted, feel free to check it out: http://buckeyesinahorseshoe.blogspot.com/
Anyway, since it was something I have been thinking about since I saw the cover, I gotta agree with your comment above, “wait til they see our offense”. I mean I get, we are The Ohio State University, so people just automatically think Defense. You could talk to a little old lady waiting at the bus stop and you mention the Buckeyes and she will tell you about there defense. But this offensive unit is going to be incredible. O-line should be one of the best we have had in a long while. A stable of RBs that may not be the most talented at the top, but has to be one of the deepest in the nation. The top 2 leading WRs from a year ago (though depth at the position scares me a little). A TE who may finally breakthrough and actually catch some balls for a team that hasn’t really used the position in recent memory. And the MOST dynamic player in college football. We should be putting up some serious numbers this year. And everyone seems to want to keep talking about how Pryor was “unleashed” in the Rose Bowl… but I ain’t buying it. He can be better than that. And I think that was his stage to prove that he could. Now that Tressel has the confidence in him, watch out.
Only other think I will comment on, because I don’t mention it in my blog, is the 2011 Big Ten Championship Game. I am sort of so-so on it. I like the idea of having a football game in December… but the same thing vould have been accomplished by changing the schedules a bit. But I think for the overall perspective the college football community has on our conference will be boosted. And a naitonal title contenders resume will look much better after beating another likely decently ranked team at the end of the season.
If it’s cool with you, I am going throw a link to your page on my blog.
Congrats on the new blog. Welcome to the world of obsessive compulsive fandom. If you don’t mind a suggestion…that black on scarlet is really hard to read. You’ll also outgrow Blogger pretty quick. If you’re interested, drop me a note (annapolisbuckeye@thebuckeyeforum.com) and I’ll help you get it set up on WordPress. I can also give you a few pointers that might help generate traffic.
Thanks for the link. I’ll be sure to get you into the blog roll.
As for football….all of the above are posts I’ve been meaning to write about but haven’t (yet). I agree that if Tress finds the confidence to unleash Pryor, look out. The offensive line should continue to improve like they did during the second half of the 09 season. If they can provide the protection he needs, open a few holes for both him and the backs, they’ll soon be talking about Big Ten speed, not SEC speed.
Yeah, I see the pros and cons of division playoffs but no matter how you slice it, something in the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry will be lost — although Rodriguez (and Carr before him) have done a pretty good job of that already.
yeah, i was wondering if that red was a little too much. i will shoot you an e-mail if I have any questions. i have had other people say that blogger isn’t the best, but i figure i will stick with it until i see if anybody actually goes and reads it.
im not sure if anything will be lost with the conference championship game. i think osy and mich gotta be in the same division. once a year is all they should play. i do like the thought of a ohio state vs nebraska championship game. in the end, it is another big ten game, so im not gonna complain.
i know it is easy to be optimistic, but i have a lot of confidence going into the year with our o-line. i think they will have no problem opening up the lanes for saine and herron (and likely hall and berry… possibly even more as the season goes on). and if the RBs are able to make things happen, pryor can pretty much do as he pleases after that.