Two-Man Roundtable: What If?

1. Can Ohio State beat Southern Cal without Beanie Wells?

P: Could Ohio State beat USC without Beanie? Sure.  But then again you could also try crossing a highway by dodging speeding cars, but it'd be a hell of a lot easier to cross at the crosswalk.

Watching ESPN as of late, I’m getting the feeling Ohio State isn’t even in the same league as USC. The Buckeyes should probably just be thankful they were invited. I’ll take this as a theoretical question since all indications lead me to believe that Beanie Wells will be back for USC (and possibly even Ohio).

Ohio State could beat Southern Cal without Beanie. In fact, I hope they have a plan to win without Beanie. USC is very good defensively and what happens if Wells (or the other trio) can’t get any space? The last team to hold Beanie to less than 100 yards was Illinois and we all know the outcome of that.

What if Wells has to leave the game? Beanie’s been a warrior but he does have some bumps and bruises. The key to this game, to me at least, is the play of the defense. It’s been hard to win big games recently with the opposition laying down 41 and 38 points in regulation.

If the defense can hold the Trojans around 21-24 points, you have to like the offense’s chances. If possible, Beanie should have 35 carries. There’s a reason why elite backs are called workhorses. Tresselball Coach, Tresselball.

M: I will come right out and say it—no. That is not a slight of the Buckeyes. Florida would lose without Tebow and Georgia would lose without Moreno or Stafford. There is a reason the elite teams are elite; they have the best players. Without those players, they are just very good.

Like Poe, however, it seems to me all signs are pointing to the return of Beanie on or before September 13. The alternative question he poses is a good one: what if Beanie does have to leave the game? Can the team make up the difference?

Put it this way, I do not want to find out. I agree the defense is extremely important, but the last two dynamic offenses OSU faced hung 28 and 34 points on them, respectively. So, you will have to excuse me for not expecting the shutout.

If Beanie is full-go, I think the defense can surrender up to 24 points. If he is out for any appreciable length, I think 14 is the max.

2. Did you see any marked improvement from Todd Boeckman?

M: Boeckman started slowly, which signals to me that he had some opening game jitters. Nerves are expected and he turned it around (relatively) quickly. I just hope those nerves are more steeled in front of 90,000 in L.A.

I am not anti-Todd, but I am also not an Ohio State apologist. Boeckman needs to improve on last year’s big game performances. Without dong so, Ohio State will enter October with a loss.

It is hard to judge from the Youngstown State game. He has always looked the part, with a nice touch on deep passes. But it is the decisions that lead to throws off his back foot and/or holding the ball for about three seconds too long that drive me crazy.

He was not sacked against the Penguins while taking some hits, so to me that means he is becoming more aware of pressure and the “rush count.” In that way, I saw improvement.

P: Who’s this Todd Boeckman you speak of? Oh, the starting QB? I’ve never been a Boeckman hater. I’ve also never changed my name to Uno Siete. There was a point where Todd was 5 of 10 passing, he ran around in the pocket, and generally looked like Bad Todd.

Don’t ask me why the Penguins were getting pressure and why Boom and Zoom didn’t have a lot of space to run, ask the offensive line.

Then Todd seemed to find Good Todd, or the coaches found it for him, and he went on to complete his final 9 passes and had 2 TDs on the day. I can’t say Youngstown is a great game to freak out or proclaim Boeckman is Tom Brady.

He seemed to hit the deep ball, have a little stronger arm (or lower trajectory) and even led Brian Hartline on a pass. I think you’ll see more passes to the Tight Ends and the Backs as the season progresses. Todd is a good quarterback with the opportunity to be great, we just can’t tell from one game against YSU.

But, if the defense does its job, Boeckman won’t have to be the superstar.