Quarterback Conundrum

Yeah..

Well that wasn’t what we were looking for in the second game of the campaign! Toledo gave the Buckeyes everything they could handle in a 27-22 showdown at the show this past Saturday. Missed opportunities, untimely fumbles and a shaky defense were the culprits that almost finished the OSU season before it could even get to the Big Ten portion of the schedule. Joe Bauserman was the only quarterback that saw action which left many in buckeye nation a little perturbed. Why did Fickell choose to stay with the wily.. err... veteran.. err... old quarterback when he had the Ferrari parked on the sideline? Was it the right move? Could Braxton have done a better job at guiding the offense to a more desirable outcome?

I think it is painfully obvious that our new coach knows that his job is on the line after this season and he will do anything in his power to win games. Unfortunately, his job status may be getting the way of giving our new star quarterback valuable game reps.

Recap: Ohio State 27, Toledo 22

Fields returned a 69 yard punt for a TD

It all came down to the last half minute for the Toledo Rockets. They trailed 27-22 with about 45 seconds left in the game when quarterback Terrance Owens started to roll out and look for his go-to receiver, Eric Page. Page, of course, the unsung hero of the day for the Toledo Rockets had been making plays all over the field against the Silver Bullet's, and OSU's defense had yet to really contain him.

As John Simon gave chase and put some real pressure on Owens, the ball fell to the turf on 4th down, and #13 Ohio State lived to see another game in the world of the undefeated. How long that will last, will be up to on how much we can improve from now until the Miami game on the 24th. The fact that OSU had to rely on the Rocket's mistakes to win the game says enough in itself. 14 penalties, a missed field goal, and a punt return for a touchdown all killed Toledo's momentum when they would start to build it up.

Despite all these struggles, Toledo still led for most of this game, including late in the third quarter. They had led 15-7 after the first quarter and were leading 22-21 very late in the third. Ohio State still managed to take the lead, and started to look like they could finally put the nail in the coffin and head into Week 3 with a little momentum, when the unthinkable happened: Rod Smith fumbled with less than 2 minutes in the game. Luckily John Simon was there, and more plays from OSU's defense and special teams saved the day as the offense had trouble scoring and even driving down the field.

Chris Fields had a really nice day returning the ball and got his first punt return for a touchdown, that went for 69 yards. Carlos Hyde had 2 scores for the Buckeyes, who are still recovering and trying to figure out how long Travis Howard, Jordan Hall and Corey Brown will be out due to suspensions. Joe Bauserman was the starter and went 16/30 (53% completion percentage) for 189 yards and 1 touchdown. Braxton Miller did not see any playing time at all yesterday, and that left Buckeye Nation a little deceived by the coaching staff.

Live Blog: #13 Ohio State vs. Toledo

Preview: #13 Ohio State vs. Toledo Rockets

Eric Page is the fuel to the Rockets O

The Ohio State Buckeyes enter this game with the streak of 32,845 days since an Ohio-based team has beaten the kings of the Buckeye state. Tomorrow, the Toledo Rockets have one of the best chances to do so on paper then any other team since 2003. Before that, after their first loss to Oberlin (7-6 loss) OSU is 42-0-1 against teams in Ohio. While this Rockets team is capable of doing some good things against Ohio State, they haven't put up any points on OSU at all in the 2 times that they've played them.

This time around, it might be tougher on OSU's defense. Toledo runs a spread-based attack, and behind this is a prediction from many experts for the Rockets to win the MAC. While that in itself isn't overally impressive compared to a winner of the SEC, against a lower tier opponent, Ohio State chose one of the best. Don't forget that Ohio State is missing players such as DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor (left for NFL), starting O-lineman Mike Adams, and Boom Herron. Toledo has a right to come in guns blazing, for if their offense can score against our stout defense, then Luke Fickell must rely on the offense that features Joe Bauserman at QB, and that's 1 game of experience against Akron.

National CFB Games This Weekend

After a pretty exciting and surprising Week 1, Week 2 is more of a settling in type of week. Not as many headline games, but certainly some more opportunities to get things down before some of the bigger games start. These games will determine who is serious about making it all the way, and who's trying to build up to that point. So, with that let's get onto the predictions. 

Last Week: 2-1

Season Record: 2-1

#17 Mississippi State Bulldogs at Auburn Tigers, SEC Network, 12:21 PM EST

The Bulldogs started the season off with a bang, and can really impress some people if they give last year's national champions their first loss of the season. Auburn, of course, avoided what would have been an embarrassing loss to Utah State. After seeing that performance, I can say with confidence that Miss. St can win this game. 

Prediction: Miss St wins 27-16

#3 Alabama Crimson Tide at #24 Penn State Nittany Lions, ABC, 3:30 PM EST

Last year's Bama-PSU game was a nightmare for Joe Pa and his crew, but this year might tell a different story as Penn State has a team that might show some resiliency against a pretty tough Alabama team. Whoever wins will certainly be rewarded with BCS bowl aspirations, and maybe even get themselves into the national championship competition. 

Prediction: #3 Alabama Wins 17-14

Enemy Blogger Interview: Toledo

Matt Sussman from Hustle Belt has joined us once again as the Buckeyes prepare to face on a much tougher opponent than Akron was. That team, the Toledo Rockets, have a solid veteran class, and have high hopes of making this a competitive game. Let's get on to the interview!

1. What kind of offense should we expect from the Rockets?

It's basically a spread offense, but there are several personnel that get involved. They were the only team in the MAC with four people having 100+ plays from scrimmage. To boot, they return those four players and are mixing in others. It's a very balanced spread that can put up points quickly.

2. Who's Toledo's best playmaker on both sides of the ball?

Obviously Eric Page on the offense (and special teams, for that matter). He's a dynamic receiver who can also spearhead the Wildcat formation and has been known to toss a couple of TD passes. For the defense, there's not one player that truly stands out from the rest, but I'll pick defensive end T.J. Fatinikun who led the Rockets last year in TFL (13.0), five of them for sacks.

3. As the Toledo defense, who scares you the most at QB? Bauserman or Miller?

Neither, but both. I haven't seen (a lot) of Miller play, but understand he's a dual-threat QB, while Bauserman seems to be more of a passer. I'd say that Toledo is able to game plan for one or the other, but to plan for both will be more work for the Rocket's defense, which has already had to overcome depth issues in their back seven.

If The 'Shoe Fits: Podcast #4

We're back in action for our podcast, "If The 'Shoe Fits". This is only our 4th podcast, but we promise to have one every week from here on out! It's now a weekly feature, along with some of new ones, and we hope it can be as successful as the rest of the blog-o-sphere's.

This week, Brady and I discuss our thoughts and feelings regarding the Akron game, as well as give you guys a preview of what's to come on Saturday when OSU takes on the Rockets of Toledo. We also talk Heisman contenders (or pretenders), some BCS teams that fell hard, or played better than we thought they would, and much more! Tune in after the jump. Be sure to give us your thoughts and feelings on how we can make it better and more enjoyable for our readers/listeners.

ITS's BlogPoll Ballot: Week 2

Week 1 of college football is over, and after a couple of upsets and big time matches, the dust has finally settled for the second week of the glorious race to New Orleans.

As always, this is as much as our poll as it is yours, and we take all comments and thoughts into consideration about our next week's poll. Nothing gets overlooked in the Blogpoll, and we can adjust rankings as it goes. Once again our writer's have sent in their Top 25, and they were averaged out for you to view and discuss. So, with that, join us after the jump for our Top 25 heading into Week 2.

Luke Fickell Gets First Win As Head Coach

After much speculation and waiting, the 2011 season finally started. Start it did, as the Buckeyes rolled to a 42-0 win over the Akron Zips. Luke Fickell was coaching in his first game as the main man, and Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller were impressive in their season debuts. More in the recap, which will go up tomorrow. Go Bucks!

Akron and Toledo Will Be Noon Kickoffs

Brutus is already ready for next season

A short break from all the downer news for Buckeye fans, a little look into the future of this fall. When the Buckeyes take the field for the first game, there will surely be many unanswered questions, but now we know the time for those questions.

Ohio State's season opener against Akron on Sept. 3 and the Sept. 10 game against Toledo both will kick off at noon, the Big Ten announced today. ESPN or ESPN2 will carry the Akron game, and the Big Ten Network will broadcast the game with Toledo.

Five of Ohio State’s 2011 games now have start times. Start times previously announced were:

Sept. 17 at Miami (Fla.) – 7:30 or 8 p.m. on ABC or ESPN;

Oct. 8 at Nebraska – 8 p.m. on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2; and

Oct. 29 against. Wisconsin – 8 p.m. on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

As of right now, there seems to be no other indication that the other times for games will be released. Usually for the rest of the games, 12 days before kickoff those game times will be announced.

Final Sugar Bowl thoughts

Thomas came up big for the Buckeyes

The Sugar Bowl ended in typical Ohio St. fashion on Tuesday night with another white knuckle affair. It really didn’t have to be that exciting though. The Buckeyes stormed out of the gate to a 28-7 lead in the first half and held a 31-13 advantage late into the 3rd quarter before Mallet and the hogs mounted a furious comeback. Only Soloman Thomas dropping in to coverage to pick off an errant Mallet throw with under a minute to play saved the Buckeyes from another season of “SEC this and SEC that”. I think the big guy was just as surprised as the rest of us when the throw found its’ way into Thomas’s bread basket but he held on and the rest is history.

This performance does not cure all of the ill will that the Big Ten has endured over the past decade but it was a step in the right direction. Michigan St., Michigan and Penn St. did the conference no favors by dropping all of their respective games to SEC foes on New Year’s Day and Wisconsins’ loss to TCU was shocking considering the Badgers were one of the hottest teams heading into the bowl season. Thankfully, Iowa and Illinois handled their business in mid December and the Buckeyes finally got that 8000lb SEC monkey off their back with a Sugar Bowl for the ages. It pushed the conference record to 3-5 on the bowl season. The mark for this year isn’t great but the end result would have been much worse had the Buckeyes blown it in New Orleans.

After digesting this recent bowl game, I wanted to touch on a few points and wrap up the successful 2010 season.