Ohio State "Car-gate" Situation Real News or Overblown Sensationalism, Plus, and More Importantly, The 2011 QB Situation

Is there really a story here and real reason for concern, or is the media just overplaying every little blip and milking Ohio State for all they can get, plus are we really going to have to watch Joe "the career backup" Bauserman lead our Buckeyes this fall?

These are the articles that are coming very soon from BlockONation over on CollegeFootballNews.com.

Links will be forthcoming -- Just wanted to give a heads-up to BlockONation readers and all Buckeye fans.

HD


Tweet



Click For The Block Nation Front Page

Ohio State-Indiana Week Five Preview: Free History Lesson Included

Final Score of the game was Ohio State 33, Indiana 14.

OSU missed two FG's, and IU scored a touchdown on the last play of the game after calling a timeout with seconds left, so it realistically should have been 39-7.

---

By HD Handshoe
Founder—BlockONation


In the words of Eminem's song Slim Shady, "Will the real Indiana (and Michigan for that matter) please stand up?

The untested Michigan Wolverines are now 4-0 while the surprising Indiana Hoosiers are 3-1, their only loss coming to the Wolverines, but more on that in a bit.

The Ohio State Buckeyes are 3-1, and probably should be 4-0, but we won't dwell on the past mistakes that led to the loss against USC, but rather, we will look ahead.

Ohio State won easily vs. Illinois as I predicted. I specifically said I was not expecting another shutout, but definitely a win. My prediction was 38-13. The actual final score was 30-0.

Meh, close enough.

This Buckeye "D" is much better than I imagined, and I already thought they were very good.

This week, Ohio State will play their first true road game of the season (the Toledo Rockets were the home team in Cleveland two weeks ago) as they will travel to Bloomington, Indiana, to take on the Hoosiers.

Last week, Indiana nearly pulled out a win vs. Michigan in the Big House.

Unfortunately for them, the officials gave the game away on a terrible call when there clearly appeared to be a simultaneous catch and possession by an IU receiver and a UM defensive back, but the officials ruled it an interception.

After a home cooked booth review, the call was upheld (how convenient) and UM escaped with a shady 36-33 "win".

IU coach Bill Lynch was livid, and rightfully so.



While I don't mean to totally disrespect Indiana, they really aren't a good football program (their three wins were all pretty close over FCS or small FBS foes Eastern Kentucky, Western Michigan, and Akron), the closeness of this game shows me the Wolverines are vastly overrated, and that Ohio State "should" win over IU by a minimum of three to four scores this week.

---

10/03/2009—Game Five—7PM
TV: Big Ten Network

@

Here is the recent and all-time history between OSU and IU.

• Ohio State leads the all-time head-to-head series (65-12-5)

• Ohio State is 17-2-1 vs. IU last 20 meetings (dating back to 1985).

• Last Ohio State loss at IU was in 1988 by a score of 41-7 (That year, IU was 8-3-1 and OSU was 4-6-1).

• Since 1991, Ohio State is 16-0 vs. IU.

• Tressel is 6-0 vs. IU, outscoring them 222-57, or an average game score of 37-10.

---

A third straight shutout win could become a reality, but either way, I fully expect the Buckeyes to win, and win big.

Maybe Indiana will prove me wrong.

Maybe they are far better than I believe they are, and they actually keep it close against the Bucks—Or even pull off the huge upset win...?

NAH...I'm not a crackhead.

Final score prediction:

Ohio State 44
Indiana 16


CLICK HERE for more from
BlockONation ::: Buckeye Football Lives Here


Photo Copyright / owned by the AP

With Four Games In The Books, Just How Good Is This Ohio State Defense?

Written by Michael Periatt
B/R Ohio State Featured Columnist—BlockONation Contributor


Ever since Matt Barkley's heartbreaking drive, the Ohio State defense hasn't allowed a single point.

Not one.

I don't know if they're carrying a chip on their shoulder or just hitting their stride, but the two game shut-out streak is the first in thirteen years.

I can't attest for a long Buckeye history (I'm 17 years old), but when I think of classic Buckeye defenses, I think of the 2002 championship team and the 2005 defense.

Amazingly, neither of these legendary defenses ever recorded a shut-out.

Now, both of those defenses were stacked with talent. The 2002 team had Chris Gamble, Mike Doss, Matt Wilhelm, and Will Smith just off the top of my head and the 2005 team had one of the best line backing cores in Ohio State history (Hawk, Carpenter, Schlegel.)

But the current defense really has no identifiable player. Brian Rolle seems to have emerged as a clutch play maker, Coleman seems to have established himself as the leader, and Cameron Heyward seems to be a super-stud. But there are no preseason All-Americans and no upperclassmen predicted to go in the first round of the draft (possibly Heyward).

It's really unbelievable they have been this solid.

So how have they done it?

I think it all goes back to the defensive line. The unit is clearly the strong point of the team and is arguably the best in the nation.

USC might have a stable of running backs, but Ohio State has a stable of defensive lineman. And unlike running backs, you can play more than one at a time.

Thaddeus Gibson, Cameron Heyward, Dexter Larimore, and Doug Worthington are the starters, but to have quality replacements like Nathan Williams, Soloman Thomas, Lawrence Wilson, Todd Denlinger, John Simon, and Garret Goebel is something that you just don't normally see.

Chances are, many of these guys would be starting on any other team in the nation. These guys are not just big "space fillers," but athletes ready to make plays.

By getting pressure on the quarterback without having to constantly blitz (a luxury OSU hasn't had in forever), it automatically takes a load of pressure off the rest of the defense.

Even against USC, the Buck's defense was only really responsible for one touchdown (the other was on TP for throwing an INT that USC returned inside the five yard line).

The lone sub-par performance was against Navy which is really baffling. It could have been the first game jitters, the corky triple-option offense, or a case of the look-aheads, but the fact remains they gave up 27 points to a service academy.

Following the USC game, the Bucks shut out a Toledo team that has put up at least 31 against every other team they played (including Colorado and Purdue).

They then replicated the feat against a supposed high powered Illinois offense that could very well turn out to be a joke.

So three excellent performances and one semi-flop.

The verdict?

I think this defense is really, really good, but I'm not ready to anoint them as a legendary defense just yet. A legendary defense finds a way to make that stop against USC and they sure as hell shouldn't give up 27 point to a service academy.

One thing that seems very promising is that, with the exception of the USC game, the defense made big plays when they had to. They were bent, but didn't break.

In the Navy game, Rolle got the pick-two to save the game.

Against Toledo, they stripped the ball inside the ten yard line to secure the shutout.

And against Illinois they got a clutch interception when the Illini were driving and a sack at the end of the game to push them out of field goal range.

I need to apologize to Jim Heacock. For a while there, I, like many others, was calling for his head, but he seems to have gotten it all together.

Then again, maybe the defense is more stable now that Luke Fickell is in charge of it more than we know...

As a fan, you can really see the development of the young guys and their readiness to replace their NFL predecessors.

CLICK HERE for more from
BlockONation ::: Buckeye Football Lives Here


Photo Copyright Owned by the AP