Ohio State Headshots: Beanie's Yards, Booming Punts

It Was All a Trap-asso.

You should probably thank me for calling out A.J. Trapasso earlier this season. Not only was Trap not kicking the leather off of the football from Ohio State’s side of the field, he was also booming punts into the end zone on the opponent’s side.

No doubt in my mind that Trapasso ran to his sideline laptop (Charlie Weis would like you to believe they don’t exist in the press boxes either) and logged on to BuckeyeCommentary.com. My overreaction in the comments section of an Open Blog caused him to do a little self searching and self reflecting, and then come out the next play and kick ass.

Job well done, me.

Trapasso, since the Troy game, has been stellar, averaging 46.6, 54.4, and 48.8 yards per punt. His average for the year is 44.9 yards per punt, or roughly four yards longer than his career average. Just for good measure, he knocked a 67-yarder in Camp Randall. Somebody must have got the “punt is the most important play in football” talk...

Texas is Florida, LSU, and USC?

Everything is bigger in Texas, especially misconceived thoughts. You would almost think Texas applied for admission into the SEC with this statement from Scout’s Texas Longhorns website:

“OU is Ohio State up front; UT is Florida and LSU and USC and whoever else good is playing against the Buckeyes. Speed whips strength every time; the story about the tortoise and the hare is crap.”

So Texas is going to beat Oklahoma because Ohio State’s offensive line couldn’t handle Florida, LSU, and USC? Good argument.

When they say “Ohio State has one of the best offensive lines in the country,” they actually meant to put a "should" in there somewhere. Even stranger when you consider it was only two years ago that Ohio State soundly beat Texas in Austin.

Overall lesson? Use something related to "Buckeyes" and "sucking" if you want to prove a point outside of the Big Ten.

Defenses be damned, Beanie is going to get his yards.

With his limited touches (and thanks to Pryor), he’s averaging 7.9 (!) yards per carry. Which is more demoralizing for an opposing defense: being knocked down by Beanie’s stiff arm, or taking a ride for seven yards and having to pay the bus fare?

It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend with Beanie at 75 percent, Boom out with a concussion, Saine still not up to game speed, and Mo Wells just out a couple weeks ago with a back issue. Pryor should be able to account for 100 yards himself, but are the rumors of speedy freshman Lamaar Thomas seeing the backfield true?

Trivia: Thomas and Pryor shared a backfield together at the US Army All-American Game. Lamaar Thomas is also expected to help out in return duties. Tressel describes him being “very, very steady,” and hell, that’s as ringing of an endorsement as I’ve heard from him (for those not named Pryor).

National Championship talk is overrated.

A BCS bowl game victory is not. Ohio State has not shown it is one of the best two teams in the nation. The Wisconsin win is a step in the right direction, but unless the team starts throwing down 50 on quality opponents and the defensive interior shows up, this is merely one of the 10 best teams in the nation.

Would you rather have your national champion have a 35-3 loss at USC, a loss at Oregon State, or a loss to Ole Miss at home? Gosh, it’s like trying to decide who to vote for. Everyone has their flaws.

Right now, Ohio State is not scary. They do, however, have six more games to prove everyone wrong.