Goal Line Stand: Are the Buckeyes for real?

There’s a scene in The Longest Yard (the original, not the execrable remake), in which Paul Crewe tells Warden Hazen that what his team needs before its semi-pro season commences is “a tune-up game.” That way, Crewe explains, the team can get an easy win and prepare itself for the coming season.

Well, after last week’s surprisingly shaky 24-17 win over Michigan State, the tune-up portion of Ohio State’s schedule has concluded. Unlike the guards’ squad from The Longest Yard, the Buckeyes had the luxury of playing eight tune-up games, instead of just one. Also unlike the guards, OSU was undefeated in its exhibition schedule.

This is not to demean the Bucks. All right, there is some intent in that direction. Face it, when your non-conference schedule consists of Youngstown State, Akron, Kent State and a rebuilding Washington outfit, it’s hard to be taken seriously as a national championship contender. Add in league games with the likes of Northwestern, Purdue, Sparty and horrible Minnesota, and you have an eight-game season-opening stretch guaranteed to produce at least seven wins. Ohio State went a perfect eight-of-eight, and it now sits atop the polls and the BCS outrage.

Trouble is, we still don’t know how good the Buckeyes are. Sure, Ohio State leads the nation in scoring defense, total defense and pass efficiency defense and is second against the run. So what? Even the teams they have played with winning records have largely beaten up light non-con fare and soft league opposition. Some of the teams the Buckeyes have played have been so weak, it’s a wonder they didn’t have the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man as a mascot. Who put this schedule together, Bill Snyder?

Okay, enough of the joking around. This was the perfect way for the Buckeyes to start the season, since their offense lost many key members, and the newcomers needed to be eased into action. Of course, there’s easing, and then there’s easing. When Ohio State takes on Penn State Saturday night, let’s hope the Buckeye players are aware that the other team is allowed to hit back. (Perhaps I wasn’t finished joking around, after all.)

The next four weeks will tell us whether the Buckeyes are really worthy of a shot at the BCS title, or whether their eight-game JV schedule disguised the team’s warts. After 6-2 Penn State, the Bucks face 6-2 Wisconsin, 5-3 Illinois and 6-2 Michigan, none of whom is competing for the Mid-American Conference title. Although the quartet doesn’t quite measure up to the best of the SEC or even the Pac-10, it will certainly provide a legitimate test for Ohio State, if only because there are no breathers in there.

Now, one would imagine the light first eight games have allowed the Buckeyes to climb the polls without any significant stress and with the opportunity to give dozens of players needed experience. QB Todd Boeckman has developed confidence and emerged as an efficient leader, much in the mold of Craig Krenzel, who quarterbacked Ohio State to the 2002 national title. Sophomore Chris Wells is a dangerous ground threat, and the aforementioned defense is nasty and penurious. That’s exactly how it was supposed to go, at least when the Bucks saw how the schedule played out.

But the easy stuff is over. Ohio State is ranked first largely due to attrition, because an undefeated USC or LSU team would most definitely sit ahead of the Buckeyes. But they have lost games, so OSU is it, for now. In Columbus, that is cause for giddy celebration, even if last week’s win came only after the Bucks recovered after nearly coughing up a 24-point advantage to MSU.

This Saturday night’s game at Penn State is a good first test, even if it does come just four days before Halloween. The Nittany Lion fans promise the same cauldron-like environment as they produced in ’05, when a white-clad contingent of 107,000 loco-juice-crazed leatherthroats practically willed their heroes to victory. Of course, the Nittany Lions aren’t as good as they were back in ’05, when they won the Big Ten, but they’re still formidable and especially dangerous at home. Wisconsin has had some problems on defense but is scoring more points than usual and should pose problems, particularly just seven days following the PSU contest. Illinois has enough playmakers to bother anybody and though young, the Illini can sure make trouble – just ask Penn State.

And then there’s Michigan. The same team which lost to Appalachian State back on Sept. 1 and then looked dreadful against Oregon might just be on a nine-game winning streak when it hosts the Buckeyes in what could be Lloyd Carr’s Ann Arbor swan song. Holy emotion, Wolverine fans! What better way for the coach to go out than to beat the hated Buckeyes in his regular season finale? Or, he could stay true to form by losing to OSU and then blowing the bowl game. Who knows? The fact remains Michigan will be imposing, especially at the end of a tough, four-game stretch.

There it is, the real part of the OSU season. After eight tune-ups, Warden Tressel’s team is ready for action. It’s time to find out what the Buckeyes have.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Southern California at Oregon
USC quarterback Matt Sanchez looked good last week against Notre Dame, but everybody looks good against the Irish – except UCLA. But he and the Trojans will be taking a big step up in class Saturday against the Ducks. And Sanchez may not even play, since John David Booty says he’s ready. Whoever’s under center won’t have much to do with the main challenge for USC: Stopping the vaunted Oregon spread offense, which has topped 50 points four times already this year and is over 35 in two of the other three contests. USC may have more talent across the board, but the Ducks are playing great team ball, and that will be the difference in what should be a highly entertaining game in front of a frenzied crowd in Eugene.
Oregon 33, USC 28

BUMPS AND RUNS:
Don’t count on LSU assistant Bo Pellini’s name being close to the top of Tom Osborne’s short list of replacements for coach Bill Callahan. Pellini’s volcanic temper won’t sit well with Osborne, who favors more refined coaches. Buffalo head man Turner Gill, however, will get serious consideration, although Osborne may not deem him ready.

Boston College’s dream season could come to an end Thursday night at Virginia Tech. Even though the Hokies have had trouble scoring, BC hasn’t really been tested this year and is ripe for the taking.

LSU may have lost to Kentucky, but don’t be surprised to see the Tigers in the national title game. Not only are they climbing the BCS polls, but they may be the best team in the nation anyway.

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