Believe The Hype

Believe the hype: The Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked #1 in both the AP and USA Today preseason polls.

The Bucks return most of their offense with Troy Smith at quarterback, Antonio Pittman and tailback, and Ted Ginn at receiver/returner. Does it seem to you that Ginn is running at full speed while everyone else is in slow motion? Its not just your eyes tricking you - Ginn is a bona fide speedster. He ran the 8th fastest 110 hurdles time ever run by a high schooler in the USA. This dude is fast.

I really like Smith too. He's the unquestionable leader of this team.

What's more is that the offense is even loaded on the bench. Backup QB Zwick has started nearly 10 games as a Buckeye. Incoming freshman running back Chris Wells was the #1 recruit in the nation. Anthony Gonzalez would be a #1 receiver on most other teams.

It's amazing that the Bucks are getting respect for their defense even though they lost 9 starters (two linemen, all three linebackers, and all four from the secondary). The linebackers look to be easy to replace. Seriously. While Hawk, Carpenter, and Schlegel are now playing Sundays, the Bucks are set with Laurinitis (he started the Mich and ND games), Kerr (he led Indiana in tackles as a freshman before transferring) and two other guys who had significant experience last year. They'll be fine.

The secondary looks to be the most suspect, but again a couple of guys have started a few games last year, as well as an experienced nickel back. The safeties are pretty fresh, though, and I'm sure they'll be tested early.

So...looking ahead at the schedule...September looks brutal. Trips to Texas and Iowa are sandwiched around a home game against Penn St. Thankfully Iowa is the only team from this bunch who returns a quarterback. October and November will be relatively smooth, with "tough" games against Mich. St. and Northwestern before the finale in Columbus against the Team Up North.

How do I think the season is going to shake out?

Like I said, I'm glad the Bucks don't play a decent team with a returning QB until the game at Iowa. Let's hope the defense has settled in and can start taking the load off of the offense's shoulders. The night road game at Texas is obviously huge - a similar replay of last year when Texas came into Columbus with a versatile QB while the Bucks were shuffling between Zwick and Smith. This year the Bucks have Smith leading the rush and pass while Texas has a question mark at QB. I like Ohio State's chances here.

(A quick aside - you've got to love OSU and UT scheduling these games. I like it when big time programs don't hide behind a weak schedule. The Bucks have scheduled future home-and-home games with Oklahoma, USC, and Washington in upcoming seasons).

So, if the Bucks can make it through September, I think their chances of landing in Arizona in January are very good. Ohio State has never started an ended a season #1 before. Here's to this year making history.