Ohio State Football 2K8 Week Six: Poisonous Nuts Versus Rabid Badgers

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Don't have much time for a write-up this week, but here are a few thoughts about last week's game versus Minnesota.

1. Beanie Wells + Terrelle Pryor = EPIC WIN!

2. When in doubt about your bowl aspirations, have faith that other marquee teams are just as capable of losing games as you are.

3. I know by the time the fourth quarter rolled around the score was Ohio State 34, Minnesota 6, but why on earth weren't the Buckeyes' third stringers able to stop Adam Weber?

Here are some links to check out courtesy of the fine writers at Bleacher Report.

Gray Ghost (an avid UGA fan) offers you some Bulldog-flavored humble pie.

Unsure what certain football terms mean? Lisa Horne explains them to you.

Justin Hearn analyzes five up-and-coming teams in the Big Ten that will give Ohio State trouble in the future.

Chip Minnich goes more in-depth about the defensive issues still plaguing Ohio State.

There is no theme song this week because a) I didn't have time to think about one and b) I can't access YouTube at work.

Maybe I'll give you two theme songs next week (does anyone even listen to them!?).

I was ecstatic on Saturday because the Gators were upset by Ole Miss, and I'd heard on the radio that the score at halftime for the UW-UM game was Wisky 19-0. Imagine my surprise when I got home from work to find that scUM had come back from a 19-point deficit and went on to beat Wisconsin.

Honestly, I still believe that Wisconsin is still one of the top two in the Big Ten (the other being Penn State), and it really doesn't help the Buckeyes that this game is being played in Wisconsin in front of fans looking for their team to redeem itself after a surprising loss the previous week.

Of course, Ohio State hasn't played at Camp Randall since 2003, when their 19-game winning streak was snapped in a 17-10 loss to the Badgers. Fortunately, as Ken Gordon of the Dispatch points out, nobody from that 2003 Buckeye squad is still on the team, and a number of these guys on this year's squad waltzed into an always-hostile Beaver Stadium last year and killed Penn State.

Still, I'm a superstitious person at heart, and I don't like the Buckeyes' track record at Camp Randall (their last win there was too close for comfort in 2002), not to mention the fact that Bielema is still undefeated in Madison, and Wisconsin is the only team in the Big Ten against which Tressel has a losing record (2-3).

Let's not forget that last year's game at Ohio Stadium (Ohio State 38, Wisky 17) was closer than the score indicated, and in that game, the Badgers were without star back P.J. Hill.

Adding two more roadblocks to an Ohio State victory in Madison are the return of tight end Garrett Graham and H-back Travis Beckum.

If Ohio State's defense isn't able to rise above the mediocrity that's affected them the past four games, I'm personally going to start a campaign to get defensive coordinator Jim Heacock fired and will spearhead the search for someone who can maximize the potential of Ohio State's defensive talents, especially against those pesky spread offenses.

I figure Pryor (29-46-291-1 with five touchdown passes this season) will be starting, but it was nice to see Boeckman regain some of his confidence in a few key plays against the Gophers. That touchdown pass to Robiskie in the third quarter was icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.

All in all, this game depends on how the Buckeyes defense handles Wisky's explosive offense and the raucous crowd at Camp Randall on Saturday night.

Two high-powered offenses versus questionable defenses should make for an interesting game, but I'm giving the edge to Wisconsin, which is looking for revenge after last week and playing in front of an always insane home crowd at night.

My prediction: Wisconsin Badgers 38, Ohio State Buckeyes 31