A Game We Can Actually Be Proud Of!

Ohio St finally looked good for the first time all season on Saturday with a 34-21 win over Minnesota. The game wasn't nearly as close as the score indicates, as OSU led 34-6 in the 4th quarter.

This may come as a shock to you, but it turns out that there actually is an offense in Columbus. I'm sure it is no coincidence that the resurgence of the offense happened to be on the same day that Chris Wells returned to the lineup. Wells is ridiculously good. On his second carry of the game, Beanie busted one to the outside for 28 yards. During this play, myself and several hundred thousand others saw the Heisman candidate that we saw last year. Wells finished with 14 carries for 106 yards, good for 7.6 per carry.

On the play following Wells' 28-yarder, Terrelle Pryor ran 33 yards for the score, making it 7-0 in no time. Pryor and Wells in the backfield together looked unreal. Defenses simply can't game-plan for both of these guys. To go along with Wells' 106 yards, Pryor had 97 on only 8 carries. After a field goal for Minnesota and two from OSU, Brian Robiskie's 8 yard TD catch made it 20-3 Bucks at halftime, essentially ending the game there. No, that wasn't a typo, Robiskie finally returned to his rightful place in the end zone. Robo finished with 8 catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns. That would be great if he could keep up that production. Brian Hartline, however, was still nowhere to be found, catching only one ball.

The Buckeyes picked up right where they left off, starting the second half on another TP touchdown run and a 31 yard Todd Boeckman-to-Robiskie toss. Two meaningless late touchdowns by the Gophers made the score look somewhat close, with Ohio St winning 34-21.

Some random game notes:

-That's 6 straight wins over Minnesota. They're really not any good.

-Marcus Freeman is the best linebacker on the team. Nick has been saying for over a year that he doesn't think Laurinaitis will be that great of a pro because he lacks the sideline-to-sideline speed that guys like AJ Hawk excelled at. I'm really starting to agree with him. It seems every time the Buckeye defense comes up with a big play, it's Freeman that's around the ball, not Laurinaitis.

-We had excellent downfield blocking by the receivers. I noticed it on several occasions that really helped spring big runs for Beanie and Pryor.

-Who are these clowns wearing #7? DB Jermale Hines and WR Lamaar Thomas are both wearing the prestigious #7 and I'm not happy about it. 7 was worn by some of the greatest Bucks of all time (Joey Galloway, Chris Gamble, Ted Ginn) and it should only be worn by special players. #2 (Cris Carter, Mike Doss, Terrelle Pryor/Malcolm Jenkins) is the only other number that compares with 7.

Next up for the men of Scarlet and Grey is a showdown in Camp Randall against the Badgers (8:00, ABC). This game will certainly play a factor in who wins the Big Ten. With a healthy Wells and TP in the backfield, there's no reason why OSU can't run the table and go to Pasadena. This game looks a little easier after Wisconsin lost to that lousy school up north last week. Wisconsin always has a lot of talent and a high ranking to start the year, but always chokes. This one won't be easy, as Camp Randall is one of the toughest places in the nation to play, but I don't see why the Bucks shouldn't move to 2-0 in conference play.

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