Ok, I know after reading the first half outlook, most rational beings are thinking 5-1 after 6 games, get the hell out of here. I might be wrong, or we could be 6-0. Now, we take a look at the last 6 games, including a night game at home with a legit National Title contender, a road trip to Ann Arbor, and another Joe Pa visit.

Illinois-The Buckeyes will either be coming off of an incredible victory in Lincoln, or a depressing defeat. Either way the Illini are going to get kicked in their teeth. The 4 suspended players will be playing in their 2nd game with the 2011 team. The fighting Zooks have played the Bucks tough lately, but can anyone tell me how Zook still has a job??  6-1 for the season (bowl eligible)

Wisconsin-SHOWDOWN IN THE SHOE 2011!!!!! Let me start by saying I hate Wisconsin, as much as I do Michigan. Not only do I hate Wisconsin, but they are actually gonna be legit this year. Russell Wilson is BIG TIME, and this team was loaded before he came. On a positive note, OSU will be wearing the “Pro-Combat jerseys” this game, which I really hope are black. There are 2 things that have haunted OSU the last few years, Wisconsin and night games. This is not a good combination……..6-2 for the season

Indiana-A much improved Hoosier squad is up next for a pissed off Buckeye team. IU doesn’t have Gunner Kiel yet and I don’t think it’d matter if they did. 7-2 for the season

Purdue-Oh boy! We get to hear the stupid horn blare every time Purdue actually makes a play. I’ve hated Danny Hope ever since his silly little “Get over it” sound bite that the Common Man and the Torg overplay, it’s actually sort of like them…..growing old. Anywho, on to the game. The Silver Bullets dominate and we go to 8-2

Penn State- Joe Pa comes to town AGAIN! I love Joe, I really do. Penn State will be a decent team by this point in the season, that’s for sure. The quarterback battle will be long gone and they’ll be a very fundamental team. However, Penn State normally struggles in the Shoe and this year is no different. 9-2 on the season.

M*ch*gan-Brady Hoke gets his chance to shine in the game. I honestly think Hoke is a joke. He’s pulling a nasty recruiting class for next year, but ask Texas recruits don’t equal wins all the time. I’m intrigued to see what the Joke brings to the table though. I think Luke comes out looking to put an exclamation point on what will be the first of his MANY season in Columbus and what better way than to beat the weasels?  10-2 on the year….

Yep, I said it 10-2, not 8-4 or 9-3……This team still has A TON OF TALENT PEOPLE, WAKE UP AND REALIZE THAT. OHIO STATE has always rode defense to victories and this season is going to for sure start that way and will probably end that way too.

Thanks for reading and coming in my next post will be the very popular players to watch and position by position breakdowns on the offensive side of the football!

Let me start off by saying this, Ohio State fans are unrealistic. We expect undefeated seasons, national championships, and Heisman Trophy’s every season. Let’s get real, that stuff doesn’t happen, not even in the SEC. College football goes just like our economy, in cycles. This season isn’t going to be 2004, with a flippin Alamo Bowl Birth.

The last time an Ohio State football team started a season ranked outside the top ten and had this many questions……………2002!! Friends, we’re not winning another title this year, leave those hopes at the Cleaver household, because this isn’t Leave it to Beaver.

Let’s just take a look at the schedule and I’ll layout my game by game prediction.

Akron Zips-This game will show NOTHING about the qb battle. Joe Bauserman or Kenny Guiton will start this game. I honestly think we’ll see all 4 guys take snaps. We’re also going to see all 4 running backs take snaps. The Good Guys win this one. 1-0 for the season.

Toledo Rockets-A tougher test than Akron, but when it comes to football the MAC truly are “The Little Sisters of the Poor”, as only E. Gordon Gee could deem them. You’ll start to see a more stable rotation getting ready for the “showdown” with The U. Another Buckeye Victory though. 2-0 For the season

Miami Hurricanes- Here it is, the big road test, the first loss, the beginning of the end. NOPE. Miami isn’t as good as people believe. They’ve got talent, but Al Golden, c’mon my man coached at Temple. We will finally see what qb is going to take the helm for this season. I would be shocked if it’s not Kenny or Braxton. If you look back at last seasons game with The U, our offense was awful in that game. The Silver Bullets won that game for us, and will again. 3-0 for the season (halfway to being bowl eligible)

Colorado Buffaloes- A terrible team from the new Pac 12. Might stay close for a little bit, but at the end of the day we’re 4-0

Michigan State-I could honestly see this game going either way. However, we’re now 5 games into a season and our offense is going to start rolling at some point. We’ve always played Michigan State great with our D and I don’t think anything changes this year, especially since we’re playing on the banks of the mighty Olentangy. 5-0

Nebraska-Lots of story-lines here. The first conference battle between in my opinion the 2 powerhouses of the new Big, whatever we’re calling this conference now. The returns of Devier, Mike, Boom, and Solomon. It’s night, Lincoln is a great atmosphere. It all hinges on what Nebraska team shows up. I think we have a chance because it’s going to be a battle, but at the end of the day something just goes the Huskers way. 5-1

I’VE HAD TERRELLE’S BACK THROUGH ALL OF THIS, AND STILL DO.

Let’s look at Pryor ON the football field:

31-4 record 

wins in the Rose and Sugar bowl

3-0 against Michigan.

If we knew in advance that we could have that sort of stat line from a QB, every Buckeye fan in the nation would say Hell Yes we want him, and every one of them did.

As I’ve stated before, it’s quite obvious that this whole memorabilia scandal occurred, and because of an NCAA rule, it is wrong. However, I don’t think anyone felt as if it went on at the pace that ESPN is now claiming with TP being paid 20-40k. I don’t know how much stock I put into it, considering every single person with something to contribute to either the SI article, or this new ESPN one is someone with an axe to grind against either Coach Tress, OSU, or TP2.

I had huge hopes for Pryor when he announced his decision to attend The Ohio State University. I actually had told my friends that when it was all said and done he could be better than Troy Smith. There were a lot of things TP did better than Troy, but I don’t think you can even put them in the same breath. I am very happy with the way Pryor played on Saturdays, and for that commend him.

However, the off the field version of TP2 is obviously something to be skeptical of. I’ve met TP2 twice, and both times felt as if he was a super nice young man with a hint of being humble. I don’t agree with his choice of driving a new car to a team meeting the night Tress stepped down, but given my experiences with him, I don’t see the egotistical young kid most do. I’m not saying that he wasn’t smug, arrogant, or just an asshole, but when I’ve talked to him he wasn’t.

For the greater good of the program, I am glad that he’s taking his talents somewhere else. I’m sad to see TP2 the quarterback go, but the drama just had to go. Now it’s time to focus on the future, and yes sanctions are coming and coming hard. We have a quarterback that enrolled early, and has shown a willingness to work hard in Braxton Miller. I look for Coach Fickell to give Bauserman a courtesy start in the 1st game, but soon thereafter it’ll be Miller time.

Jim Tressel is a great person, as a matter of fact if I could teach my son to grow up to be someone, it would be Jim Tressel. I understand that this is a man that just lost his job, and rightfully so. That doesn’t mean I agree with how this whole thing went down. Tress was protecting his players, just like any father would a son. Numerous former players have spoke of Jim like he is a father to them. Most of these kids might now have the best home life or the best economic situation, so seriously can you blame them for selling something with their name on it?

Jim Tressel did break an NCAA rule, the cardinal rule actually. You can’t lie to the NCAA and not expect to be caught. However, the underlying issue here is that the NCAA is a joke. Cecil Newton got 180k for his kid to lead Auburn to a National Title and win a Heisman. The NCAA acknowledged that Cecil did wrong, but because Cecil benefited and not Cam no punishments were handed out. Granted, the NCAA has since modified their stance on that whole situation as well. Back to the Buckeyes though, how are you going to tell a 19 year old kid who is struggling to pay his rent, let alone have any sort of social life that he can’t sell something with his name on it? Up until like 2003 the NCAA didn’t care if they sold memorabilia as long as they were given fair market value. News flash, these kids didn’t get fair market for their stuff either. Anyone that knows me, knows I have a pretty big collection of memorabilia, 99 % of which is OSU stuff. A grand for a Big Ten Champions ring, pfft, check out www.sportsrings.net. Amongst OSU collectors, Gold Pants are some of the most sought after pieces to their collections, selling in the neighborhood of 5-600 bucks, and these guys were lucky to get that out of theirs. Eddie Rife was ripping them off, and they didn’t even realize it.

At the end of the day, I’m sad that Tress is no longer our coach. However, JT has nobody to blame but himself. I just wish this whole thing would’ve gone down the way it should’ve, with OSU taking care of this matter last April when it got brought up. Sit the players their 5 games still, odds are we’re 5-0 anyway, because God knows our offense didn’t win us the Miami game. If we handle it the way it should’ve been handled, Tress still has his job, TP2 is not the most hated man in the state of Ohio, and Urban Meyer could live his life as normal. I have no doubts though that Tress is content with all of this, he followed the G code to a T.