Does The Coach find the OSU offense offensive? That and the rest of college football this week.
The Ohio State defense reminds me of the old Pittsburgh Steeler's "Steel Curtain" and their offense reminds me of the new Cleveland Browns. That defense is absolutely amazing. They opened with Navy and their triple option and basically shut it down for three and a half quarters before they started thinking about USC and gave up two cheap scores at the end of the game. Then they shut down the pro set of USC for 58 minutes. Since then it's been lights out every week.
They shut down and shut out the spread offenses of Toledo and Illinois and made the pistol offense of Indiana shoot blanks. And this week they shut down the best power running offense in the country. Wisconsin had given up two sacks all year and the Buckeyes put six on them plus two pick-six interceptions. John Clay was held to 50 yards. No one else this year will do that. I can't find words to describe how good this defense is and I find it impossible to come up with words to describe how bad the offense is. Nine years of defenses and special teams that are the best in the country and nine years of offenses that are somewhere between the worst team in the Big East and a sixth grade sandlot team. How Tressel continues to get five star recruits on offense is beyond me. If they come to the games at the Horseshoe they have to be thinking "This is the worst offense I've ever seen, if I come here I will be an instant star."
Is the Zooker gone at the end of the year? Benching his three and a half year starter that took them to a Rose Bowl didn't seem to work. I think it may be a sign of desperation, kind of like DickRod benching the Tater Tot this week. Then his substitute, Denard Robinson, comes in and immediately throws an interception to give the game to Iowa. Do you suppose Tater's benching will effect his Hiesman chances for this year? Hey, don't laugh, Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing a lot less than Tater Tot.
Any week that we win and meeeshitagin loses is a good week in college football. Add to that two undefeated teams from the SEC losing and life is just one big peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We started the weekend with thirteen undefeated teams and ended it with just nine. LSU, Auburn, Missouri and Wisconsin all bit the dust. This week Texas faces Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout, Cincinnati travels to South Florida, Iowa travels to Wisconsin, Florida gets Arkansas at home, Alabama gets South Carolina at home, TCU plays somebody from the WAC, Kansas travels to woeful Colorado and Boise State doesn't have anyone left on their schedule better than La. Tech. Boise State and who in the national championship game?
THAT WHICH WAS:
Army beat an SEC team. It was Vanderbilt, but still....?
Arkansas beat Auburn like the Taliban beats women, decisive and with joy.
Virginia Tech beat Boston College 48-14 to stay in first place in the ACC.
BYU moved to 5-1 with a 59-21 flogging of UNLV. The game was in Los Vegas and you know what those Mormon's say, what happens in Los Vegas stays in Los Vegas.
Duke beat NC State 49-28. Wow, how bad is NC State?
In an offensive battle surpassed only by Ohio State's was Florida beating LSU 13-3. This is our #1 team with twenty starters returning from last year and Tim Tebow at the controls? Ouch.
Georgia Tech handed Bobby Bowden his fourth loss in six games on a week when the trustees at Florida State were calling for Bobby's head. I'd say Georgia Tech put a little salt in that wrinkled old wound.
Indiana lost to a really bad Virginia team 47-7. They soooo suck. Thank God there is basketball in that state.
Iowa beat meeeshitagin 30-28 to stay undefeated and a half a game behind Ohio State in the Big Ten. Tater Tot started throwing long balls at the end of the game when DickRod wanted him to keep dinging Iowa with those little five yard passes and DickRod benched him after having some serious words with him on the sidelines. God, I loved it.
Mississippi looked so bad against Alabama they dropped clear out of the top 25. ESPN will tell you that just shows that the SEC is competitive from top to bottom. Mississippi would still beat any team in the Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, ACC or Big East.
Nebraska upset Missouri 27-12 which surprised no one that follows college football.
Oregon beat UCLA 24-10. Remember that Oregon running back that punched the guy from Boise State and then tried to punch a couple of cops dragging him off of the field and then tried to break away and go up in the stands to fight with the fans and was suspended indefinitely? Well, maybe it wasn't indefinitely after all. The University is trying to get him reinstated in time to play USC. Did Oregon join the SEC?
Penn State beat Eastern Illinois of division II fame, 52-3. Add that win to the other behemoths they played, Akron, Suckacuse and Temple and you have one hell of a non-conference schedule. Old JoePa didn't get to be 82 and still coaching by playing the big boys.
Last week I told you that Stanford was in first place in the PAC 10 and that it couldn't last. I was right, Beavers over brains every time.
Lane Kiffin got his first SEC win as Tennessee beat Georgia 45-19. Georgia has now lost three games and is officially out of the national championship picture. Now they can be the spoilers.
West Virginia took their turn and like all good Big East teams, beat Suckacuse until their noses bled orange.
#1 Mount Union traveled to #16 Capitol and had to come from behind in the fourth quarter to pull out a 28-21 win. The fact that they almost lost their first game in three years caused them to drop to #2 behind Wisconsin White-Water. The pollsters are just as bad in division III as they are in division I.
THAT WHICH WILL BE:
Well, we're half way though the season so its time for me to start telling you who we should root for to make this a wonderful year of college football.
South Carolina at Alabama. Steve Spurrier and Nick The Snake Saban battle it out at the home of the Crimson Tide. You know that famous painting of a fifty's diner with Elvis and James Dean and Maryland Monroe and Bogart and Sinatra? How about one with Spurrier and Saban and Urban Meyer and Hitler and bin Laden? You could call it Lunch at the SEC Cafe. Anyway, when two SEC teams play each other always root against the higher ranked team. Go Cocks!
Colorado State travels to TCU. This TCU being undefeated stuff can't last, but this probably isn't the week. But root for Colorado State to end this madness.
Arkansas at Florida. If this were at Arkansas I would go with the Razorbacks but it is in the swamp and St. Tebow is cured. I just wish that during Saturday's games they would have updated his status a little more often. Did you know he had a concussion? Florida is ranked #1 so go Hogs.
The once mighty Cal Bears travel south to take on the UCLA Bruins. Bear with me here and it shall Bear fruit. I can't Bear it any more, Go Bruins.
Undefeated Cincinnati travels to the tropics to take on undefeated South Florida. I would have told you to root for South Florida because Cincinnati jumped us in the polls last week and started shooting their mouths off about being the best team in Ohio BUT this week the pollsters came to their senses and jumped us back to our rightful spot. Obviously, the poll voters saw our score and didn't look at the stat sheet. Root for Cincinnati and bring that oh so wonderful and meaningful Big East championship back to Ohio.
Rice at East Carolina. Always, I repeat, always root for East Carolina. Win or lose I get to do pirate jokes but I have friends that are alumni and I personally know one of the students plus I have adopted them as my condo team. Arrrgh.
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech. This should be a great game. Both teams are 5-1 and seem to be on a roll. VT is ranked ahead of us so root for Georgia Tech.
Iowa at Wisconsin. Iowa is coming off of a big win over Tater Tot and will be a little chirpy. Last year Wisconsin lost a game to the Buckeyes that they should have won and the wheels fell off of their season. They do not want that to happen again this year. Root for Iowa because we want them to come to the Horseshoe undefeated and ranked in the top ten.
Colorado at Kansas. Root for Colorado even though it won't do any good.
Delaware State at meeeshitagin. I remember the Delaware Blue Hens but I didn't know there was a Delaware State. How did Joe Paterno miss them? I would normally say to never root for meeeshitagin but after losses to Appalachian State and Toledo by the wolveretttes I just don't think the Big 10 can take another embarrassing loss by Big Blow.
Texas Tech at Nebraska. A game worth seeing and you can root for anyone you want.
USC at $Notre Dame. Both teams had a bye week last week to get healthy, wealthy and wise. If Ohio State had an offense even slightly above abysmal they would have beaten USC with ease. $Notre Dame has that offense but they also have a defense worthy of the Big 12. Jimmy Clausen is being touted for the Hiesman to hype the game and I suppose if $Notre Dame wins and Colt McCoy is kidnapped before the Texas game with Oklahoma, well, Jimmy could be back in his limousine and on his way to New York City. While I am waiting for the four year NCAA investigation of USC to come to a conclusion I think I will root for $Notre Dame but you can feel free to vote your conscience.
Missouri at Oklahoma State. Two more 5-1 teams fighting it out in the amber waves of grain. Can Missouri bounce back or will the Cowboys rope, hogtie and brand them as losers? Go with your heart.
Pitt at Rutgers. I guess this game is considered important in the Big East. Is there some kind of negative redundancy in that statement? Root for Pitt because they are closer and they have to suffer with their coach, they deserve more.
Texas and Oklahoma square off at a "neutral" site to determine supremacy of the Big 12. Texas has yet to play one single team of note. Their schedule to date makes $Notre Dame's look pretty good. Oklahoma has at least played BYU and Miami but they lost to both. I think Colt McCoy has a big night and steps to the forefront for the Hiesman that he should have won last year. If Texas loses, somehow, it will all be George Bush's fault. Texas is above us and Oklahoma is out of it so root for the Sooners.
Ohio State at Purdue. We are the best team in the Big 10 and they are the worst team in the Big Ten. Nuff said.
Mount Union travels to Heidelberg. Mount is the defending national champion. They are undefeated and they won on the road against the sixteenth ranked team and dropped in the polls. Oh, I wouldn't want to be a Heidelberg quarterback this week. Always root for the Purple Raiders.
ONE LAST NOTE:
Before the season started I said we were still a year away from winning on the national stage and I believe it now more then ever. Half way through the season we are starting five seniors and six juniors on defense. There are four more seniors in the two deep. We start no sophomores or freshmen on defense. On offense we only started one senior against Wisconsin. We started four juniors, five sophomores and one freshman. When we go to a three receiver set we also start another freshman. We are very, very experienced on defense and very, very inexperienced on offense. Next year we will be loaded on both sides of the ball with very experienced players at every position and the three hardest games, Miami of Florida, Penn State and meeeshitagin will all be at home. Of course every year I say the offense can't get any worse.
The Coach