Maybe its because I'm sick and tired of reading baseless attacks from "experts" and fans of certain colleges down south and out west who think they're God's gift to college football (but seriously folks, the SEC, Big XII and Pac-10 are arguably the best conferences in the country, there's no denying that).
What drives me nuts is the assumption that football teams from the Midwest and East are inferior. I'm going to try and turn these weekly previews into a weird form of experimental optimism wherein I don't criticize anything about the Buckeyes unless its absolutely deserved (and believe me, I will miss making asinine comments about Tressel and his sweater vests).
And as part of my contrition, the first order of business is admitting that I'm wrong, as Kristofer Green generously pointed out last week. I criticized Tressel for keeping Beanie in the game too long just to run up the score, without stepping back and checking the stats.
As it turned out, Beanie only had 13 carries before he left the game injured, and further analysis shows that Tressel and his coaches were actually doing a pretty good job of rotating players so that everyone could see some action.
Which is why I get pissed when someone who gets paid to write about sports rips the Buckeyes and Sweater Vest for keeping Beanie in when the Bucks were up 26-0 without first consulting videos and stats of the players, which clearly shows that all around, Ohio State is a great team and beat the hell out of the Penguins with help from second- and third-stringers.
Kudos to the Buckeye faithful on ESPN (how do you guys put up with the crap that goes on over there?) for trying to set the record straight. Its just a shame that hardly anyone is willing to listen.
And really, if it weren't for these cream puff games, how else would teams know if playbook scenarios that might look good in practice will work during game time?
Rip on the Buckeyes for playing YSU and OU all you want, but its games like these that allow Tressel to get the kinks worked out of the system before playing a juggernaut like USC.
And lest we forget, lets take a look at the out-of-conference games a certain SEC team plays in 2008: Appalachian State, North Texas, Tulane and Troy*.
Amazingly, there's a couple of great analysis of teams who routinely schedule cream puffs over on ESPN's Page Two, which can be read here, here and here.
As much as people like to bag on Ohio State for scheduling allegedly weak competition, its nice to know that in the real world (at least from a statistical standpoint), we don't even crack the top 20 for "bully teams" who play easy opponents.
One more item before we get into the pregame analysis: I'm sure most Buckeye fans have heard by now about Tressel's marbles (if you haven't, check out Adam Jardy's article on the subject) and also check out Cody Blubaugh's excellent analysis of Adam's article.
Tressel has made it clear that Mo Wells will the starting tailback against the Bobcats. For all intents and purposes, we should see a repeat of last week, wherein everyone should get some playing time (except, of course, Beanie).
Taking Beanie out of the equation, Terrelle Pryor is currently the Buckeyes top rusher. He had nine carries for 52 yards against the Penguins last week including an 18-yard touchdown run. Zippy had five carries for 20 yards, and Boom had five carries for 17 yards.
If Boeckman's going to beef up his passing stats, Saturday's game is the perfect opportunity. As easy as it should be to run through the Bobcats' defensive linemen, lets not forget who's on the schedule Sept. 13.
If anything, I really hope Tressel's been emphasizing the importance of the passing game. Brian Hartline is currently the top wide receiver with a whopping two receptions for 59 yards.
Lets face it folks, there's really not much to get excited about when it comes to the Bobcats. On paper, QB Theo Scott (26-35-1-224 with one TD pass) looks alright compared to Boeckman (14-19-0-187 with two TD passes) from a purely statistical standpoint, but he can't run the ball as well as Boeckman (-2 yards compared to Boeckman's 10) nor Pryor (52 yards), and their top rusher Chris Garrett went 12-30 against Wyoming compared to Mo's 5-32 against YSU.
The only stat the Bobcats currently have the Buckeyes beat is their passing. Wide receiver Taylor Price went 14-139, but had a 9.9 receiving average, compared to Hartline's 2-59 with a 29.5 receiving average.
There's only one game apiece to compare stats, and Ohio wasn't that impressive considering they barely lost to Wyoming 20-21. Clock control isn't a specialty of Ohio's, and that's suicide when facing a team like Ohio State.
My prediction:
Ohio State 45, Ohio 7
The funniest thing I've heard this week are the five or six OU fans convinced that the Bobcats will go up to Columbus and pull off a massive upset.
One even went so far as to call OU "This year's Appalachian State!" which would be funnier if that person realized that theoretically given the talent on both teams, the Mountaineers would probably beat the Bobcats if they ever had the opportunity to play one another.
*Troy as a creampuff is debatable, since they've shown in the past that they're able to hold their own against tough SEC opponents.
**Stats courtesy of CBS Sportsline
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