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Going into this game, everybody knew who was going to win, and everybody knew it wouldn't be close. That being said, I don't think anybody was expecting the kind of epic smackdown that Ohio State laid on the Wildcats. One minute into the second quarter, OSU took a 35-0 lead. If not for a special teams breakdown to start the third quarter, the Buckeyes would have had their first shutout since a 44-0 throttling of Minnesota last Oct. 28.

The most impressive thing I saw Saturday out of OSU was the intensity. After getting ahead 21-0 in the first quarter, it would have been easy to coast to a win, but they didn't do that. They kept playing as if it were a close game, and kept piling on until finally pulling up late in the third quarter.

Offense

Where did that come from Todd Boeckman? After slow starts against Washington and Akron, the Bucks' quarterback got going right away, throwing touchdown passes on three of OSU's first four drives. The only blemish on his 11 of 14, 4 touchdown performance was the one interception on a deep pass down the left sideline. By then the Buckeyes were leading 28-0, so it's difficult to come down too hard on the guy. If Boeckman can consistently find the open man the way he did on Saturday, expect a lot more wins to pile up.

Overall, it started up front for the Buckeyes. Boeckman was sacked once, but didn't face much pressure beyond that. Chris Wells ran through gaping holes en route to 100 yards on only 12 attempts. The line got a good push on most every play, and simply mauled the overmatched NU defenders.

Chris Wells had a great day as stated above, but Maurice Wells did not. OSU had better hope Beanie's ankle sprain isn't serious, because Mo Wells cannot carry the load. He's just too small to move the pile and just too slow to evade a lot of tackles, and it showed on Saturday. If something were to happen to Chris Wells, it would be on Maurice Wells and true freshman Brandon Saine to carry the offense. Despite Saine's success this season, that shouldn't be a comforting thought for Buckeyes fans.

Defense

What more can you say about this group? To complain about anything would be simply nitpicking at this point. NU gained 120 yards on the day, none of them on the ground. The Buckeyes D forced three turnovers, including a fumble returned 25 yards for a touchdown.

The only blemish on the day was NU converting six of 17 third downs, but three of those occured during the Wildcats' final garbage time drive. Prior to the fourth quarter, NU had converted only three of 13 third down situations.

This unit is more than good enough to carry this team to a Big Ten Championship this season. If they can get 20 points out of the offense every week, that's all they'll need.

Special Teams

As cliche as it may be, special teams have not been special to the Buckeyes this season. The return game continues to struggle, and the coverage team allowed a 99 yard kickoff return to start the second half. Freshman Brian Rolle has emerged as a dependable gunner, but the rest of the unit needs to step up. Poor special teams play is not a typcal characteristic of Jim Tressel teams.

The silver lining here is the pressure they're able to get on opposing kickers. OSU blocked a punt in the third quarter and were close to others during the game. But once that kick gets off, it's been trouble this year for the Buckeyes.

Summary

I have tickets to the A-deck, and despite that, this was the first time I ever left a sporting event before the final buzzer. Never before have I seen such complete domination to where a game wasn't interesting to the fans of a team. By the halfway point in the first quarter, with the Buckeyes up 21-0, even Willie the Wildcat was slumping his shoulders. When you can take the other team's mascot out of the game before the first stanza is done, that's when you've crushed the other team.

Combined with Wisconsin's struggles against Iowa and Penn State's loss to Michigan, OSU clearly established themselves as the front runner in the Big Ten this Saturday. While the conference may be weak as a whole, the Buckeye defense is good enough to shut down any team in the country, including the Oklahomas and USC's of the world.

With every passing week, OSU establishes itself as one of the elite teams in the nation. Feel free to start comparing them to the 2002 team because, believe me, these guys have the potential to be that good.

Tags: ohio state football