Preview: NU @ OSU - I’m Not Convinced yet!

Adam Kiefaber

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? -

Yes, but I’m not convinced.