Ohio State Football: Bowl Game and Other Thoughts

This is my first article, so be easy.

So here we are. We are at the end of the regular season for Ohio State football. All we have now is the excitement and anticipation of watching this unique sport to find out who Ohio State's bowl opponent will be.

I am a college football fanatic. I love every bit of action I can get. But when Ohio State's season ends, I feel a certain part of me die inside. I wait all year long for football season. When it arrives, it is one of the best days of my life.

But all the excitement comes with a certain bittersweet feeling knowing that it will all come to an end in just a matter of weeks. Nonetheless, there are plenty of topics to be touched on before the bowl game.

I will briefly touch on two of the topics on my mind.

1. Who will our bowl opponent be? Which bowl will we go to?

Looking at the BCS bowl situation as it is today, it is all but certain that we will end up the in the Capital One bowl against an SEC team. That team will most likely be Georgia, unless there is a complete breakdown in most of the teams ranked above us and they lose.

Aside from that hypothetical situation, which I am hoping for, the Capital One bowl is where we will end up.

I currently live in SEC country, and it is probably the worst experience of my entire life being a Buckeye. I have to listen to the most ridiculous arguments regarding the SEC almost everyday of my life.

However, if we are going to play a good SEC team, Georgia would definitely be my pick. They are talented and tough. But they are inconsistent, which is unexpected considering their senior leadership and preseason expectations.

I have had the "privilege" of watching Georgia every Saturday for the past 11 weeks. I have been unimpressed by their showings.

Matthew Stafford, whom I think has the strongest arm in college football, is not as accurate as one would expect. His completion percentage for the year is less than 62 percent.

That's far from horrible, but for a man being talked about as the possible No. 1 overall draft pick preseason, that certainly is less than impressive. In addition, his composure under pressure and in big game situations has been less than stellar.

Knowshon Moreno is one of the better running backs in the country. He is physically talented and tough. But when I watch him, I do not see anything that deserves distinguished accolades or high praise.

His best assets is his quickness. He moves from side-to-side as well as any back in the country. He catches pass, he runs up the middle, and he runs from tackle to tackle very well.

But he lacks one huge factor: top end speed. Once he is in the open field, he does not break away from every defender like one would expect. Beanie Wells, who has close to 35 pounds. on him, and does not possess the same side-to-side quickness, has the top end speed to outrun EVERYONE on the field.

When I watch Knowshon Moreno, I am always surprised by his lack of straight line speed.

Georgia is one of the few GOOD SEC teams that we can match up against. They are not overwhelmingly talented or consistent at any one position group.

On defense, I think our linebackers match up well with their running backs, both in pass coverage and run defense. Our D-line is a slight disadvantage. No single player has been stellar on our D-line.

Nader Abdallah has established himself as a force in the last few weeks, but he certainly lacks all-star talent.

Luckily, our defensive backfield and linebackers compensates for their lack of skill in this case. One player on their roster worries me: A.J. Green. A.J. Green is simply amazing.

But, if you man him up at all times with Malcolm Jenkins, I think his down the field threat is eliminated for the most part. I will take our defense against their offense any day of the week.

Defense has been our specialty this year, aside from the USC game, during which the defensive play calling was questionable. As of late, Heacock has been utilizing our defensive speed by running many blitzes and using many packages (in terms of personnel).

Offensively, however, it is a different story. Post USC game, we have varied in our offensive production. Without Beanie, the best pure running back in the entire game of football, we were a completely different team. He is the difference. With Beanie in the game there is no excuse to lose.

When I watch Beanie Wells, I see the next great professional football running back. He has the size and speed to do it all. When he hits the linebacker level untouched by D-linemen, he is guaranteed to get 10 yards. He just does not go down with tackler. He is the perfect example of a player so perfectly fit for his position that it gives you chills inside.

Position-wise, he is the equivalent to a Julius Peppers or a Randy Moss. His production depends on our offensive front five, as with any running back. Our offensive line is talented. I saw them live last year, so I know just how good they can be. This year, however, they have been so inconsistent it makes me ill. Simply put, when they put a helmet on a defensive body we win.

Terrelle Pryor is inconsistent as a passer. He has just enough skill to be a productive passer at this point, though. So with the proper play calling and offensive line effectiveness, which is most crucial, he is one of the most dangerous players in all of college football.

All in all, I know we can take Georgia, it’s just a matter of us actually playing "Ohio State" football.

2. How good will we be next season?

I know I am not the only one to think about this. Yeah, yeah, we are in the 2008 season, but come on, you know you thought about it. Terrelle Pryor has been amazing so far in my opinion. The best part is that he is a TRUE FRESHMAN!

I see many flaws in his game and his throwing just like every one of you. With coaching and an entire offseason to work, he will be close to Heisman ability next year. Opponents cover the run so heavily right now due to Beanie and TP's running ability.

Our play calling has been such to loosen that run coverage up. We have been going down the field and stretching the defense with play calling in order to open up the running game.

TP does not quite have the accuracy to hit receivers 20-45 yards deep on a consistent basis. He also does not yet have the experience or vision to see the field exceptionally either.

But next season, he will have drastically improved in this area. Our coaches are too good to not make that happen.

I am a Buckeye. I hope fellow Buckeyes agree with some of my points. Again, this is my first article, so don’t blast me, if you can help it.

-Thanks,

CB