The past win was a 30-7 beat down on Minnesota. The win was expected and normally wouldn’t call for Ohio State to move down from the No. 8 spot in the AP poll all the way down to No. 4.
However, it helps when No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 West Virginia and No. 7 Texas lose.
The Buckeyes now find themselves ranked in the top five in the country without really doing anything.
Sure, you make an arguement that the road game at Washington was impressive, especially after the No. 1 USC Trojans struggled against the Huskies this past weekend.
Ohio State didn’t put Minnesota away until the second half. In fact, it looked as though the Gophers were going to tie the score at 14 when freshman quarterback Adam Weber threw an interception.
After an intercepted by Malcolm Jenkins, it looked like Minnesota was going to get the ball back with good field position late in second quarter. Ohio State was facing a third-and-six when Minnesota called a timeout with 1:33 left in the first half. Then Chris “Beanie” Wells reeled off a 27-yard run. On the play, the Gophers were penalized 15 yards on a late hit by Jamal Harris. On the next play, quarterback Todd Boeckman threw a perfect pass to Brian Robiskie for a 52-yard touchdown.
In the second half, Ohio State’s defense shut down Minnesota’s offense and held on to win 30-7.
Chris Wells had another impressive game, rushing for over 100 yards for the fourth straight game. He finished with 116 yards on 24 carries for two touchdowns.
Robiskie was Boeckman’s favorite target once again, as he finished with five catches for 99 yards and had a touchdown. Robiskie has 25 catches for 530 yards and six touchdowns in only five games. The 19-year-old junior is hands down the player who has stepped it up the most in replacing the stars from last season.
This week should be interesting as OSU will prepare for its toughest opponent so far this season.
No. 23 Purdue has a high-powered offense that is led by 22-year-old junior quarterback Curtis Painter. On the year, Painter has completed 136 of 203 passes (67%)for 1,542 yards and has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 18-to-3.
Last week, I wrote that I wasn’t convinced that Ohio State answered all of its question marks in the Washington game. After the Buckeyes beat up on the lowly Tyrell Sutton-less Wildcats of Northwestern 58-7, I felt better about Ohio State’s Big Ten title hopes.
However, I still feel the Buckeyes haven’t played anyone yet. Washington is solid, but young and Ohio State got a lot of breaks. And Northwestern - well - they are terrible.
Minnesota could be even worse, as the Gophers (right) have a 1-3 record, which includes loses to Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic.
Prior to the season, I thought Minnesota would be the surprise (in a good way) team in the Big Ten. Instead the Gophers have been worse than expected. That doesn’t mean this team doesn’t have weapons.
Freshman quarterback Adam Weber has looked great at times and at other times he has looked like a freshman. For the season, Weber is averaging 257.8 passing yards per game. Weber also can run the football. He has 257 yards rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns this year. Throwing the football, his touchdown-to-interception ratio is 11-to-8.
Weber has a couple of solid receivers in sophomore Eric Decker and senior Ernie Wheelwright. Decker has 30 catches for 421 yards and four touchdowns. Wheelwright is from Columbus, is 6-foot-5 and has five touchdown receptions this year.
As always the Gophers have a good running back in senior Amir Pinnix, who rushed for 1,272 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2006. Pinnix has 439 yards on 77 carries and has three rushing touchdowns. Pinnix also has 10 catches and a receiving touchdown this season. However, Pinnix has had fumbling issues this season and the Buckeyes could see freshman Duane Bennett get some playing time. Bennett has 112 yards rushing on 13 carries (9.4 yards per carry).
The players weren’t the main reason that I picked the Gophers to do well this year. I bit on the sales pitch that new head coach Tim Brewster (left) sold on Big Ten Media Day. At the time I wrote, “when I was watching the Big Ten Media Day on Tuesday (July 31st). New head coach Tim Brewster seemed as though he was the only Big Ten coach with a pulse.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Gophers pull off an upset later on this season, but they don’t seem ready now.
Ohio State goes into the game with the nation’s #2-ranked defense and the Gophers lead the nation in committing turnovers, which could lead to a slopfest.
Another positive statistic, is that the Buckeyes have never lost to Minnesota in the Metrodome, going 10-0 since 1982.
For some reason, I can see the Buckeyes struggle a bit in this night game on the road. Fortunately, the Buckeyes are playing Minnesota and should roll to an easy win.
For the fourth time in five weeks, Ohio State has failed to crack my top-ten list.
Here is my helpful guide to Week Five in the college football world.
It was recommended that I make picks with spreads - so i did.
While we are talking about spreads, let me tell you my top five spreads for this week:
#22 Alabama (+2.5) at Florida State
#21 Penn State (-3) at Illinois
#23 Arizona State (-14) at Stanford
#5 West Virginia at #18 South Florida (+7.5)
#2 LSU at Tulane (+40.5)
1) #6 California at #11 Oregon (3:30 p.m.- ABC) Easily the biggest game of the day. Both teams have played well (CAL has outscored its opponents 166-98, while ORE has scored 194 and allowed 86). A Heisman candidate could emerge in this game - everyone expects that to be CAL’s junior WR/Playmaker DeSean Jackson - don’t surprised if it’s Oregon’s senior QB Dennis Dixon (right), who has 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Dixon’s career high for TDs is 11.
Pick: 42-38, Oregon wins, but CAL (+6) 2) #5 West Virginia at #18 South Florida (8:00 p.m. Sept. 28 – ESPN2) Friday night lights, why is the second biggest game of the week being played on a Friday? Previously, the Big East had to do this for television exposure, but it shouldn’t have to anymore. I think WVU is overrated and USF is a very solid team.
Pick: 28-26, USF (+7.5) 3) Auburn at #4 Florida (8:00 p.m.- ESPN) In my preseason schedule review, this was the biggest game of Week Five. Last year, Auburn beat Florida, but this isn’t the same Tiger team. The Gators struggled last week, but I expect them to get revenge and win big.
Pick: 42-14, Florida (-18.5) 4) #1 USC at Washington (8:00 p.m.- ABC) USC has won easily every week. However, Washington almost pulled off the upset last season. I like this Huskie team better, but it is younger. I wouldn’t be surprised if Washington plays USC tough early, but eventually USC will pull away.
Pick: 35-17, USC wins, but Washington (+21) 5) Kansas State at #7 Texas (3:30 p.m.- ABC) The Wildcats defeated Texas last season. However, Texas’ QB Colt McCoy was injured early in that 42-45 loss. Experts are calling this a trap game for Texas (Red River Shootout is next week) - I don’t agree.
Pick: 35-14, Texas (-14.5) 6) Michigan State at #9 Wisconsin (3:30 p.m.- ABC) Big Ten country will be watching this game closely. Everyone wants to know how good MSU is. Also, the Badgers haven’t been exactly dominating their opponents the last three weeks. Personally, I’m not a believer in MSU, but if the Spartans win this week than I will be.
Pick: 27-14, Wisconsin (-7.5) 7) #3 Oklahoma at Colorado (1:30 p.m.) The Sooners are about face their toughest road game so far this season. Oklahoma also will play Texas next week - so they could be looking ahead. However, Colorado doesn’t have enough talent to win this game.
Pick: 42-28, Oklahoma wins, but Colorado (+23) 8) #13 Clemson at Georgia Tech (3:30 p.m.- ABC) If you can watch Clemson play this season, I would recommend it. The RB duo of James Davis and C.J. Spiller is special. Junior WR Aaron Kelly looks to be finally having that breakout season. GT has lost two straight to ACC teams, but this team is dangerous. The Yellow Jackets have a great running game and a good defense.
Pick: 21-17, Clemson (-3) 9) 5) #22 Alabama at Florida State (5:00 p.m. CBS) FSU hasn’t looked good this year, junior QB Drew Weatherford has struggled as always. Bama is having a great season, the only loss coming in a thriller against Georgia. I expect the Crimson Tide to roll.
Pick: 28-10, Alabama (+2.5) 10) Maryland at #10 Rutgers (3:30 p.m.- ABC) Before the season started, I thought this would be a good test for Rutgers. However, after Maryland looked terrible in the 31-14 loss to West Virginia, it doesn’t seem to be that tough game for Rutgers anymore. The Scarlet Knights haven’t played anyone good yet and this is still their strongest opponent so far, but I don’t expect them to have any trouble.
Pick: 35-21, Rutgers wins, but Maryland (+17)
BIG TEN PICKS
BUCKEYE LANE’S 2007 RECORD: 30-10 (straight up picks - no spreads)
#21 Penn State at Illinois (noon - BTN) This game will interesting - how good is Illinois and how bad is PSU? I expect PSU to rebound from its loss to Michigan.
Pick: 35-17, PSU (-3) Michigan at Northwestern (noon - BTN) Northwestern looked terrible last week and Michigan beat PSU. Michigan should win big.
Pick: 38-7, Michigan (-17) Notre Dame at Purdue (noon - ESPN) Purdue looks like the sleeper in the Big Ten while ND looks to have its worst team ever.
Pick: 48-17, Purdue (-22) Indiana at Iowa (12:05 - BTN) How good is Iowa? No one knows. Indiana isn’t that easy to figure out either.
Pick: 28-14, Iowa (-11) Michigan State at #9 Wisconsin (3:30 - ABC) (see top ten) #8 Ohio State at Minnesota (8:00 - ESPN2) The Buckeyes just had two great weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have an off-week, but luckily for them - they are playing the Gophers.
Pick: 35-24, Ohio State wins, but Minnesota (+24)
Every week this season a fellow Big Ten blogging site will host the Big Ten Bloggers roundtable of questions.
This week Lake The Posts, which is Northwestern blog, will be the host of the five regular season Big Ten roundtable of the season. Buckeye Lane will play host the week of the Wisconsin at Ohio State game (September 29th through the November 3rd).
Buckeye Lane didn’t take part in last week’s roundtable. The questions came out late in the week and Buckeye Lane struck a deal with Lake the Posts to take over my site and BL would take over LTP.
1. Michigan turned to Russell Crowe (successfully). ND went with Regis (unsuccessfully). Imagine your team is in desperate need of a pregame pep talk (no imagination needed at NU). You can bring in anyone in the world. Who do you turn to and why?
For Ohio State, there are the usual suspects.
Jack Nicklaus, Archie Griffin, Eddie George or any Ohio State alum that went on to have success in the NFL.
That is all fine and good, but I would like to bring in Joe Laurinaitis.
I would tell him, that I don’t want my kids getting soft and too cocky about their win over Northwestern.
The former professional wrestler has seen many athletes fall in love with themselves and die at any early age.
Maybe he could scare the Buckeyes enough that they won’t take anything for granted.
2. What perception about your program is perpetuated to the point where it is your pet peeve? Why does it bother you so much (no, the answer does not have to be an alliteration)?
I think many of the Buckeye blogs will talk about how everyone thinks that the Buckeyes are a bunch of ‘cheaters’.
There were rumors that Jim Tressel wasn’t perfect at Youngstown State. And there was that Maurice Clarett guy, Troy Smith wasn’t a model citizen and there was a claim that players got paychecks for jobs that they didn’t have.
The final score was great, but the part that bothers me is the pass interference call.
Every college football with the exception of Ohio State fans believe that it was a bad call.
This video is great - it tries to prove my point and does a great job
I know that I’m not quite the most objective source, however you have to admit that the play was close.
Also, you would have to admit that there was contact.
I just want everyone to watch that play again, instead of using their cloudy memory and then tell me that is was a ‘no doubt about it’ bad call.
3. It is only week 5 of the season, but you’ve been asked to create your team’s highlight reel for the season. You get to choose one song. What is it and why?
This is going to sound terribly wrong, maybe even weird, but I choose the song from the beginning of the show The Wonder Years.
Honestly, I feel as though I’m watching this team grow up before my very own eyes just like how we saw Kevin Arnold.
Take the lyrics - “What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?”
No way, Mr. Joe Cocker.
OSU translation - “What would you do if I (Boeckman) got off to a slow start? Would you stand up and give up on me?”
I almost did, Todd.
However, after his four touchdown passes this week in the Northwestern game, I will continue to watch Boeckman grow. He will also continue to get a little help from his friends. Wide receiver Brian Robiskie caught three TDs last week and Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells is a force at running back.
One of the backup quarterbacks on this year’s Ohio State football team was arrested and charged on a misdemeanor charge of soliciting.
Antonio Henton (below) agreed to pay $20 for intercourse, according to the police.
He was arrested at N. High Street and 6th Avenue by an undercover policewoman at 8:27 p.m. on Monday night.
Head coach Jim Tressel released a statement:
“It’s a great disappointment for our Buckeye football family, and we are very concerned for Antonio. We want to help him utilize any available resources, including counseling, to deal with any problems and seek solutions. Antonio is keenly aware of the standard we have for ourselves, and that makes this even more disappointing.”
“Antonio will not lose any academic privileges as an Ohio State student, but he will certainly be suspended indefinitely in terms of his athletic privileges. Specifically in the short term, he will not be traveling with us to Minnesota this weekend.”
Henton plead not guilty and the bail is set at $2,500.
Message boards are full of comments that express their displeasure with Henton - many of them are saying that his status as a Buckeye player merits free sex and that he shouldn’t have to pay - others commented that $20 is an extremely cheap price for that service and that the law enforcement was unfair to offer such a low price.
I will not comment on either one of those claims - I mean my parents read this.
However, I can imagine this story won’t be going away soon and I will follow it as it continues to develop
Leading up to this game, I wrote in my preview that I wasn’t convinced that Ohio State was ready to start the Big Ten season.
Now, I’m convinced that Northwestern is terrible.
However, I have to admit that OSU looked impressive in its 58-7 win over Northwestern.
Up until halftime of the Washington game, Todd Boeckman didn’t look like a quarterback that would be able to blowout opponents.
This past Saturday, Boeckman looked as though he has mastered the deep ball. On the third offensive play for Ohio State, Boeckman threw a 42-yard floater to wide receiver Brian Robiskie. Robiskie caught three passes (all for touchdowns) for 89 yards.
Leading 45-0 at halftime, Northwestern’s Stephen Simmons returned his first kickoff ever and it went for 99 yards for the touchdown.
OSU answered that with a Boeckman 48-yard touchdown bomb to WR Ray Small.
Early in the third quarter, running back Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells limped off the field. The moment was scary, but Wells says the injury is nothing to worry about. He finished the game with 100 yards on 12 carries. He also scored on a 36-yard run.
Not only would an injury to Beanie, who is OSU’s best offensive player, be devastating, but it leave the Buckeyes extremely thin at the running back position.
On Friday, true freshman Brandon Saine had arthroscopic knee surgery. If everything goes well in his recovery, Saine will only miss next week’s Minnesota game.
Beanie’s backup is Maurice Wells, who rushed for 44 yards on 15 carries and had two rushing touchdowns. Behind him is freshman walk-on Marcus Williams, who did see some action in the Northwestern game.
If Saine’s recovery hits a bump in the road, expect the Buckeyes to play true freshman Daniel ‘Boom’ Herron. If Herron plays, he will lose his redshirt.
The Buckeyes should have an easy go at it this upcoming weekend when they face off against Minnesota. The Gophers could be even worse than Northwestern, if that is possible.
Fellow Buckeye fans have to be worried about night road games. However, it looks like OSU won’t get its first real test until the weekend after when it plays a night game at Purdue on ABC.
Badgers running back P.J. Hill continues to have a great year. He finished with 113 yards on 29 carries and scored a touchdown. He also had two catches for 18 yards.
Fighting Illini running back Rashard Mendenhall (left) rushed for a career high 214 yards on 27 carries and rushed for a touchdown. He also had three catches for 18 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
We are still looking for an Illinois blog to join our group, but we do have an Indiana blog:
The Boilermakers continue to win and no one seems to notice.
Quarterback Curtis Painter completed 33 of 48 passes for 338 yards and had three touchdowns. Painter also threw his first interception of the year. Through four games, Painter has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 16-to-1.
Check out the Purdue blog, which is our newest member:
When the media and the blogging community describe the Ohio State’s 33-14 win over Washington - they use the word “convincing”.
Sure, I think Washington is an underrated program and the scoreboard would make one think the win was never doubt, but am I convinced that the Buckeyes are ready to enter Big Ten play?
Hardly.
The Buckeyes got a lot of help from the officiating and from a young quarterback, who is going to be great, but isn’t there yet.
The Huskies had 346 total yards (balanced 204 passing and 142 rushing) and one fewer first down than Ohio State had (21 to 20).
The point is, Washington drove it down the field. Its quarterback, Jake Locker, ran around the over-hyped defense of Ohio State (don’t get me wrong, the Buckeyes defense is great, but is isn’t the greatest thing since slice bread, which is what many of us Buckeye fans believe). Then Locker made a couple key mistakes, turning the ball over twice deep in Buckeyes’ territory.
The Buckeyes should have received multiple personal foul calls - One play, Locker had his head pulled around right in front of a referee. Another play that occurred almost right after was when a Buckeye defender ripped off the helmet of a Washington ball carrier. That is just to name a few, some late hits could have also been called.
Also, in the first half a nervous Todd Boeckman had the ball slip out of his hands deep inside his own territory. A Huskie defender picked up the ball and ran it into the endzone for a touchdown. But as soon as Boeckman said “Doh!” and the ball popped loose, the whistle blew, ruling the play dead. It resulted as an incompletion and would’ve met a 14-3 lead for Washington going to halftime.
Now, you talking about a different ball game - The Huskies drove down the field on its first drive of the second half. The Buckeyes blocked the kick, two plays later Boeckman threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie, OSU got a fumble on the kickoff and then received a 14-yard TD run by Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells (left).
All of sudden in less than a minute, the score flip-floped from 3-7 to 17-7.
Just like every year, us Buckeye fans get pumped up too quickly.
I remember in 2004, ESPN convinced Buckeye Nation that Ohio State was great and that kicker Mike Nugent was a legitimate Heisman candidate.
I have to admit I was convinced too - I mean after 2002, I thought that the Buckeyes will just squeak by everyone on their way to another National Championship.
We should have realized there was no chance when Ohio State needed a 55-yard field goal by Nugent with no time left to beat Marshall. Maybe we should have figured that a title run wasn’t in the works when quarterback Justin Zwick threw for only 73 yards against N.C. State. I mean those Jimmy Clausen numbers!
But in 2002, Ohio State almost lost to Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan and finally Miami (FL).
So there we were in ‘04, with a 3-0 record, holding ‘Nugent for Heisman’ posters and about to start Big Ten play against Northwestern.
Sound familiar? If you need to be reminded that is our current situation, except for the Nugent extravaganza.
But you can easily replace that Nugent nonsense with the lil’ idea that Ohio State had a “convincing” win over Washington.
The biggest difference is, it was a night game at Northwestern instead of an afternoon home game at Ohio Stadium.
However, another similiarity is at the running back position.
In 2004, RB Noah Herron had a huge game and scored three total touchdowns in NU’s 33-27 overtime victory.
This year, the Wildcats have another great back in Tyrell Sutton, who didn’t play last week in the loss to Duke.
- Do I think the Buckeyes will easily beat up on Northwestern? -
BL: What do you think NU’s chances of winning are this weekend?
LTP: Slim to none. Coming into the season I thought it may have been the first time I can remember ever thinking we had a legit shot at winning in The Shoe. OSU had a hundred question marks and NU was under the radar with all of our skill players returning, a solid line and a defense that was allegedly going to be our best in a decade. Well, Tyrell Sutton went down in quarter one of week 2, our defense has been horrific and the Buckeyes answered every question last week at Washington. I do think our offenses are similar and C.J. Bacher is quietly becoming a reliable asset, but I expect our D to get steamrolled this week.
BL: Does NU go into every OSU game expecting a win or hoping just for a good game?
LTP: Rarely do we expect a win against the Buckeyes. I’m as positive as they come, but I don’t remember ever penciling in a “w” in August when looking at the schedule and seeing the Buckeyes. However, I will tell you this is one of the few upsides of being the scrappy underdog. The mere thought of a win is a season-maker, regardless of our overall record (see 2004). That adds so much juice to the game. Most of us live in fear of getting embarrassed, which has happened –most recently last year when you whooped us 54-10. The reason I started the blog was the fact that I was sick of being chuckled at for rooting for the purple. Here in Illinois, the Illini, who have had one good season in the last 17 years, somehow are regarded as a respectable program. The Cats have gone 16-16 in conference play during the last four seasons (remember, most people still think of us as only being good in our Big Ten (co)Champion years – 1995, 1996, 2000) yet still are carrying the “Dark Age” burden of being bad for so long.
BL: I’m guessing OSU is like an evil empire for NU - Do u hate Michigan more? Give me a list of the most hated teams in order for NU-
LTP: Amazingly, no. Unless, of course, you are an NU alum who is a) from Ohio b) living in Ohio or c) married to someone from Ohio. We tend to dislike Michigan more and that is likely because we are competitive with them since 1995 (3-7 with a couple of close games) and their alums always seem to be lobbying for the value of a Michigan education which is about the only thing NUers cling to when it comes to trying to claim the #1 slot in the Big Ten. Here is LTP’s take on the Big Ten:
Most Disliked:
Illinois (what is that?) –
(Illinois is the most hated opponent Northwestern plays)
Illinois is our only true rival who despite having an imcomparably worse program over the last decade plus still somehow doesn’t get the cellar dweller treatment.
Michigan – we love knowing they fear us since we have beaten them a few times since 1995. The academic debate drives them/us crazy.
Wisconsin – this plays into a larger cultural phenomenon that no joke stems from the fact that Wisconsin-ites hate the fact that Chicagoans vacation up there and create traffic issues. We also laugh since they take themselves so seriously not knowing they were our only chance for a win during a 25-year stretch until Barry came to town.
Iowa – Their alums are everywhere in Chicago and their fans tend to be obnoxious. Barnett and Hayden didn’t particularly like each other and we continue to beat them, but they show us no respect. We are 6-4 against the Hawks since 1995.
Ohio State – the one untouchable team for NU fans. We take solace in the fact that we continue to steal under the radar players who turn into our poster children ( Tyrell Sutton, Adam Kadela, etc…).
Like:
Penn State – How can you root against JoePa? His comments about NU during 95 and 96 made us feel special.
Indifferent:
Indiana – Since 95 we’ve owned the series so if anything we like seeing them.
Purdue – Nice fans, hard to dislike.
Michigan State – Despite the 2006 debacle we have had success against them in recent years. We used to really dislike them in the 80s and early 90s.
Minnesota – Now that our former OC is there, we expect to see the spread coming back at us. Again, we’ve had success and therefore little disdain.
The past win was a 30-7 beat down on Minnesota. The win was expected and normally wouldn’t call for Ohio State to move down from the No. 8 spot in the AP poll all the way down to No. 4.
However, I still feel the Buckeyes haven’t played anyone yet. Washington is solid, but young and Ohio State got a lot of breaks. And Northwestern - well - they are terrible.
The players weren’t the main reason that I picked the Gophers to do well this year. I bit on the sales pitch that new head coach Tim Brewster (left) sold on Big Ten Media Day. At the time I wrote, “when I was watching the Big Ten Media Day on Tuesday (July 31st). New head coach Tim Brewster seemed as though he was the only Big Ten coach with a pulse.”
Here is my helpful guide to Week Five in the college football world.
Easily the biggest game of the day. Both teams have played well (CAL has outscored its opponents 166-98, while ORE has scored 194 and allowed 86). A Heisman candidate could emerge in this game - everyone expects that to be CAL’s junior WR/Playmaker DeSean Jackson - don’t surprised if it’s Oregon’s senior QB Dennis Dixon (right), who has 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Dixon’s career high for TDs is 11.
BIG TEN PICKS
He was arrested at N. High Street and 6th Avenue by an undercover policewoman at 8:27 p.m. on Monday night.
Now, I’m convinced that Northwestern is terrible. 
Fighting Illini running back Rashard Mendenhall (left) rushed for a career high 214 yards on 27 carries and rushed for a touchdown. He also had three catches for 18 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
Hardly.
Now, you talking about a different ball game - The Huskies drove down the field on its first drive of the second half. The Buckeyes blocked the kick, two plays later Boeckman threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie, OSU got a fumble on the kickoff and then received a 14-yard TD run by Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells (left).
Sound familiar? If you need to be reminded that is our current situation, except for the Nugent extravaganza.
LTP: Slim to none. Coming into the season I thought it may have been the first time I can remember ever thinking we had a legit shot at winning in The Shoe. OSU had a hundred question marks and NU was under the radar with all of our skill players returning, a solid line and a defense that was allegedly going to be our best in a decade. Well, 