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Football
Big Ten Countdown - Number 1 (tie)
By Tony Gerdeman

1. (tie) Ohio State Buckeyes

Predicted Finish

11-1 (7-1)

Two-Cent Overview

Nearly the same offense as last year returns, led by Heisman candidate quarterback Terrelle Pryor. But will this be the year the talent, teaching and skill all come together for him? And with Tresselball, will it even matter? Along with Pryor, the Buckeyes will have the deepest stable of running backs in the Jim Tressel era and an offensive line that is as experienced as just about any in America. Cameron Heyward returns to the defensive line, and will have two returning linebackers behind him. Three starters are back from a secondary that allowed just 172 yards passing per game last year—which was the second-fewest in the Tressel era.

Schedule

Sept. 2 Marshall (W)
Sept. 11 Miami, FL (W)
Sept. 18 Ohio (W)
Sept. 25 Eastern Michigan (W)
Oct. 2 at Illinois (W)
Oct. 9 Indiana (W)
Oct. 16 at Wisconsin (L)
Oct. 23 Purdue (W)
Oct. 30 at Minnesota (W)
Nov. 13 Penn State (W)
Nov. 20 at Iowa (W)
Nov. 27 Michigan (W)

Team Motto

“Beat Conference-Mandated Season-Ending Opponent!”

Goal

A National Championship. It's been the same since the last one, and will be the same after the next one. The old goal used to be a Big Ten Championship and a win over Michigan, but the BCS has diminished the impact of conference championships and the Michigan game isn't an important game anymore according to the Big Ten.

Best Case

A National Championship. The Buckeyes play essentially a three-game schedule this season, and even though two are on the road, they should be favored in all three games. Of course, all three of those games will be against Top 10-15 teams, so they won't be easy. Still, there's enough talent on hand to get the job done, especially if everything goes right.

Worst Case

The Capital One Bowl. The worst case scenario would be losses in all three of the games mentioned above, and likely no BCS bid. The good news, however, is that they'd probably meet up with an SEC team that they could beat.

Five Questions Looking For Answers

1. Will Jim Tressel put more of the offense on Terrelle Pryor?
2. And will Pryor be able to handle it?
3. Is Mike Adams the answer at left tackle?
4. How will new safety Orhian Johnson perform?
5. Can the defensive line live up to the hype despite losing 2.5 starters?

Something To Look For

The continued rotation on the defensive line. The Buckeyes will break camp likely five-deep at defensive tackle and four or five-deep at defensive end—and that's not even figuring in the abilities of Cameron Heyward and Adam Bellamy, who will likely play both defensive tackle and defensive end. Per usual, the staff will want to get them all in the mix this season. One key, however, is that you can expect to see Cameron Heyward on the field a lot more than you did last season. He will still be moving around, he just won't be running back to the sideline as often as he did in 2009.

Returning Starters

Nine on offense, six on defense and the place-kicker.

Best Player

Defensive end Cameron Heyward. Heyward put off the NFL for a year so that he could come back and be as dominating a player as his talent and work ethic would allow. (That's a pretty high ceiling, by the way.) Heyward admits that he needs to add more consistency this season, and by playing more, he will be producing more. He has the ability to completely control an offensive line, and he makes everybody around him better.

Second-Best Player

Linebacker Ross Homan. Perhaps the quietest guy on the team, but a guy who speaks loudly on the field—with facemask, helmet and shoulder pads all pointed in the proper direction. Homan led the Buckeyes in tackles (108) and interceptions (5) last season, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him do both again this year. It would be nice to see him make a few more plays in the backfield, but he is always going to do what is asked of him, and do it well.

Best Chance For a Big Loss

Miami, Fl. This isn't to say that Miami could blow Ohio State out, it just means that a loss in Week Two could be a bit deflating. Even though the Buckeyes responded to a Week Two loss to USC last year with consecutive shutouts, this is a game that the Buckeyes should win, and need to win. Miami will come in and likely want to land the first blow. You know, sort of like the Buckeyes did to them back in the Fiesta Bowl all those years ago.

Most Important Game

At Wisconsin. It's the first big road game of the season, and if they can get by the Badgers, then the rest of the season will come down to the Iowa game. Everything about this season hinges on the Wisconsin game. Even a loss against Miami can be overcome. A loss against Wisconsin would likely end all national title hopes.

Best Road Game To Pack Up The Family Truckster And Travel To

At Wisconsin. Because in your life, you and your family just don't get to experience the thrill of having potted meat thrown at your head. It's like bungee jumping, but without all the safety that goes with it.

Best Reason They Won't Be Undefeated

Tresselball. Inherently, Tresselball is conservative and perfectly okay with close games, because as long as you don't make a mistake, the math says you'll win. However, because Tresselball can be so conservative, every turnover the Buckeyes commit is magnified. The absolute disdain that Jim Tressel has for increasing the number of plays called per game makes every play call even more important, which also increases the impact of mistakes and negative plays. It's an effective strategy, but in a loss it can feel like drowning in three feet of water when you could have just stood up and walked to shore.

Best Reason They Will Be Undefeated

Tresselball. Defense wins championships. Special teams makes it easier. Offense makes the clock move. The defense the Ohio State Buckeyes will trot out in 2010 will suit Tresselball just fine. They will limit opponent possessions by getting three and outs and placing the ball back into the Ohio State offense's hands. Then Jim Tressel will start winding the clock until it can be wound no more. And then he will actually try to wind it some more...and then somebody will yell at him and tell him he's gonna break it if he keeps winding it.

Game They Shouldn't Lose, But Could

Miami, FL. People are going to look to last year's bowl game against Wisconsin and just assume the Buckeyes will be able to shove Miami around the way the Badgers did. The irony in this, however, is that that's what got Miami in trouble in 2002, because they were expecting Ohio State to be just another Nebraska, which they smacked around the year before. Last year has nothing to do with the game on September 11, especially since Ohio State had nothing to do with last year's bowl game. It's a completely different day.

Player People Are Expecting Too Much From

Safety Jermale Hines. Hines is actually one of the more experienced defenders on the field, but only a handful of his 17 starts has come at safety. Normally the team's nickel back, Hines will be called upon to play Kurt Coleman's old spot, and because Hines was fantastic in his old role, most expect him to pick up right where Coleman left off. But keep in mind that Coleman was a three-year starter, and this will be Hines' first real go-round at strong safety. Things may get iffy here and there.

Player People Will Be Pleasantly Surprised By

Linebacker Andrew Sweat. Sweat missed last season due to injury, and was also held out of spring practice. In his absence, it looked like Etienne Sabino would take over the open job at strong side linebacker, but since Sweat has gotten healthy, he has been nothing but spectacular in practice. He has quickly overtaken the open job and appears to be a bigger version of Ross Homan. There will be no drop off at linebacker this season for the Buckeyes.

Best Newcomer

Wide receiver Corey “Philly” Brown. The moment Brown stepped on campus, he became one of the fastest Buckeyes on the team. He is in the battle for the fourth or fifth receiver, but will have some plays specifically intended for him. He may also win the punt return job, and if he does, he will return at least one touchdown this season. In fact, if he gets enough touches, he could be the first freshman to record a receiving, rushing and return touchdown in the same season since Ted Ginn in 2004.

Something They Do Well

Stop the run. In the Jim Tressel era, Ohio State has given up an average of just 96 yards rushing per game. Last year, they were five yards under that 96-yard average, which was good for seventh in the nation.

Something They Don't Do So Well

Score touchdowns in the redzone. Ohio State scored 25 touchdowns in 47 redzone opportunities last season. For comparison's sake, Wisconsin found themselves in the redzone 56 times and scored 42 touchdowns. In fact, the Badgers were only denied points three times in those 56 opportunities. Wisconsin's touchdown percentage (75%) is almost better than Ohio State's overall scoring percentage (78.7%). The only team who failed to score in the redzone more times than Ohio State was Michigan—and Michigan turned the ball over in 25% of their redzone trips!

What's Improved?

The quarterback. This will probably be the same answer until Terrelle Pryor leaves, because he keeps getting better every year. People are expecting a Rose Bowl performance every week, but not even Troy Smith did that. The hope shouldn't be that there will be more Rose Bowl performances, but rather no more Purdue performances. Eliminating the bad performances will be all this team needs to go undefeated during the regular season.

What's Gotten Worse?

Experience at safety. The Buckeyes lost 73 combined starts when Anderson Russell and Kurt Coleman graduated, and are replacing it with about seven starts at safety from starters Jermale Hines and Orhian Johnson. Johnson is just a redshirt sophomore, but has good size (6'2” 205) and has been called the best athlete on the team. But until the footballs start flying, this duo can't be considered anything but unproven.

Anything Else We Should Know About?

There are plenty of running backs to choose from. This isn't like 2004 when Ohio State had to move a safety to running back in order to get to four deep on the depth chart. There are five talented options to choose from, and they all provide a little something different. Brandon Saine will be the starter, and get 14-17 touches per game. Boom Herron will get a similar workload, and we can expect him to be more productive than his 3.9 yard per carry average last season. The interesting part to watch will be the way the ball is distributed between sophomore Jordan Hall and freshmen Jaamal Berry and Carlos Hyde. Berry brings the homerun potential that isn't always on display by Saine or Herron, and Hall brings the moves of a mogul skier, which nobody on the team can duplicate. Carlos Hyde has already drawn comparisons to Raymont Harris and Beanie Wells, so that sort of gives you an idea of the type of runner he is.

Anything Else?

Devier Posey and Dane Sanzenbacher will put up some lofty numbers this season. There's a decent chance that these two receivers will out-produce any previous receiver tandems of the Tressel era this year. Last season, they combined for 96 receptions, which was just eleven short of Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline's 107 in 2007. They do, however, have a ways to go to catch Ted Ginn and Santonio Holmes' total of 1,780 yards. But the 400-odd yards they need doesn't seem impossible given that the ball will be thrown more, and Posey and Sanzenbacher will be the two most popular targets.

One Prediction

Much like 2003, the Wisconsin game will break on one bad play, and it won't go in Ohio State's favor.

Quote Most Likely To Be Mistakenly Attributed To Somebody Who Should Know Better

“However they do it is going to be exciting. However they do it, it's going to create new things for us. And I'm sure that people in charge of that—our athletic directors, our Big Ten office, our college presidents, they're going to set us up with the best possible deal we can have.” – Jim Tressel on divisional alignment

Coach Speak

“I think we do have a number of teams that can compete with anyone in America. And I think what the world remembers is what we did most recently. Now, they may love to think back and do some historical perspective of whatever we haven't done or whatever, but I think the most recent evidence of Big Ten football is pretty good from this past December and January.” – Jim Tressel on the perception of the Big Ten.

Translation

“ESPN is the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.”

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