OSU IS STILL BETTER THAN MICHIGAN

By mhblatt • August 4, 2007

Mitchell Blatt

Preseason Polls Wrong on OSU

The preseason rankings were released today, and Ohio State was #10. Alright, so they lost some key offensive players. Still, I’d like to see how their opponents try to score on James Laurinaitis, Malcom Jenkins, Mike D’Andra, and company. They allowed 10.4 points per game last season. Some of that was due to a weak schedule, but most of it was due to an outstanding defense made up of no seniors and quite a few freshman. They still kept top teams like Texas (this preseason’s #4) to 7 points, Iowa to 17, and Penn State to 6.

But, the most important matchup, the one that’s going to decide which Big 10 team advances to the championship against Florida, comes as the last game of the season. And against Michigan last year, they gave up 39 points. Michigan’s offense is all returning.

Jim Tressel may be 5-1 vs Michigan, but that 1 means he can still lose. However, Ohio State’s defense has also aged one year along with Michigan’s offense. Furthermore, the gameplan last year–throwing the ball and throwing it deep–encouraged high scoring for both teams, as they scored quickly and kept the clock running slow. The Buckeyes have gone from a passing-oriented team with a young defense to a pound-the-rock, defensive dominator. And that’s just as well because Tressel’s conservative coaching strategy fits that type of team better. That’s the team that won the 2002 National Championship. When Tress was building last year’s team in the early years, he had real trouble letting Smith and Ginn do their thing. He kept trying to limit them up until last year. Now he has his kind of team again.

In 2002, the national media was surprised to see OSU undefeated at the end of the season. They had no offense. Craig Krenzel at QB? And who could have predicted Maurice Clarett? Krenzel did what he needed to to keep the Bucks in the game, and Clarett did what he needed to to win games. He put up 5.6 yards per carry that year. Chris Wells put up 5.5 last year. He won’t have Pittman to lighten the load, but the 2005 Mr. Ohio of football, is a bruiser either way.

With their gameplan and offense, the Bucks won’t need to do what they did last year–put up 36 points per game–to beat teams like Akron and Youngstown State. They don’t really have to start playing football at all until October 27th, when they go down to PA State, home to Wisconsin and Illini, then up to That State Up North, for the annual Big 10 Championship (that’s Michigan, just so you know.) National media, you better be ready.

USA Today Rankings
1. USC (45) 0-0 1,481
2. LSU (4) 0-0 1,372
3. Florida (9) 0-0 1,278
4. Texas 0-0 1,231
5. Michigan (2) 0-0 1,218
6. West Virginia 0-0 1,205
7. Wisconsin 0-0 1,114
8. Oklahoma 0-0 1,026
9. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,005
10. Ohio State 0-0 919
11. Louisville 0-0 836
12. California 0-0 763
13. Georgia 0-0 604
14. Auburn 0-0 595
15. Tennessee 0-0 583
16. Rutgers 0-0 466
17. UCLA 0-0 454
18. Penn State 0-0 440
19. Nebraska 0-0 388
20. Arkansas 0-0 360
21. Florida State 0-0 301
22. TCU 0-0 233
23. Boise State 0-0 222
24. Hawaii 0-0 214
25. Texas A&M 0-0 209