The Monday Buckeye Report

With the very painful memories of the 1998 MSU game (an agonizing home loss as the #1 team in the nation) still remarkably fresh in our minds our Buckeyes pulled out a 24-17 victory over the Spartans. In a game that wasn’t really as close as the final score shows Ohio State road a career day by Chris “Beanie” Wells (31 touches, 221 yards and 1 touchdown) and another solid outing by Todd Boekman (15-23 for 193 yards and 2 touchdowns) to the win. Wells’ production was especially welcome as he has recently been hobbled by a lingering ankle injury and questions about his toughness on the field.

Many fans and fellow bloggers will point to the two turnovers the opportunistic Spartan defense cashed in for scores late in third quarter as the story of the game. Big, no doubt. However for my money, the story of the game was the Ohio State defense (affectionately known as the Silver Bullets). For the fourth time in five weeks the Buckeye D held a potentially potent offense to well under their normal production levels. In fact, the Sprtan offense only managed to run a handful of plays on their side of the field during the entire game. What more needs to be said about this defense? Try these stats on for size.

· Ohio State is first in the nation in: scoring defense, pass efficiency defense, rushing defense and total defense. They are second in rushing defense. That’s sick!!!

· Michigan State was leading the Big Ten in total offense before Saturday’s game, averaging almost 450 yards per game. They achieved only 185 against the Buckeyes.

· The first team defense has now allowed 23 points in eight games. Hell….the offense has given up 16 points to apposing teams.

In summary:
· The emergence of a power running game is a welcome development as we enter the toughest stretch of our schedule. I can’t think of a better way to silence 110,000 crazy Penn State fans than to run the ball down their throats.

· I still feel like Boekman has gotten too comfortable throwing the long ball thinking that Robiskie will go get it. I’d also like to see him put a little less air under his long throws. They seem to hang in the air forever. He won’t be able to get away with that next weekend in Happy Valley.

· Nobody runs on the Buckeyes!!!!

· I like our chances against Penn State next week. The defenses are about the same but Ohio States offense is much better. I have it 27-17 Buckeyes.

· 27 more days!!!!!

See you next week.
Buckeye John