The First Post: Ohio State Football

It seems appropriate that as an Ohio State student I should write something about the upcoming football season. (42 days to kick off, by the way) As a disclaimer, I would like to think this is coming from a relatively objective point of view. I like to think of myself as somewhat of a reasonable Buckeye fan, as opposed to some of the wackos in Columbus who abandon all logic and reason when talking about football.

With that said, here's my season preview:

At the very least, Ohio State will win the crappy Big Ten for the fourth year in a row. Please don't try to stick up for the conference, the next best team last year, Illinois, got wiped up and down the field by USC in the Rose Bowl. Oh yeah, the argument that Michigan beat Florida in their bowl game doesn't help either. One good game doesn't make up for years of underachievement by Lloyd Carr (sad to see him go, but Rodriguez doesn't seem to help their case much either).

The Buckeyes may struggle at Wisconsin and at Illinois (I didn't say lose, the games will just be close). Ohio State has been known to struggle on the road at night and the fact that the Buckeyes play Minnesota the week before doesn't help either. While Ohio State will probably win those games, the game at USC will ultimately determine whether or not OSU will be playing for the national title in Miami. I have full confidence in all three units of the team to make a legitimate run at the title but it will absolutely hinge on the play of Todd Boeckman. It seemed Todd improved through each game last year up until Illinois. His gambles of heaving the ball down field eventually caught up with him, throwing 6 interceptions in the last 3 games. All reports out of camp show that Boeckman is developing much needed consistency to lead the Buckeyes to a third straight national title game appearance. His play will be the difference in Ohio State finally getting over the hump or taking one more step in becoming the Buffalo Bills of college football.

On a side note, could Ohio State please start putting tougher teams on their schedule? I know there's nothing they can do about their conference games but come on. Two Division 1-AA teams (Youngstown St. and Troy) have no business being on the schedule, especially one (YSU) that OSU is playing for the second year in a row.