Rough Start

There are two things that can happen in a season opener against a cupcake that I would consider to be catastrophic. The worst thing would obviously be to lose the game and basically end your season before it starts. (Remember when michigan lost to Appalachian St last year?!? HAHAHAHA). The next thing would be watching your star player go down with an injury. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the Buckeyes watched happen this past Saturday in their opener against FCS Youngstown St.
As all of you reading this already know, Heisman hopeful Beanie Wells injured his foot in the third quarter of a 43-0 slaughtering of the Penguins. The first question that comes to mind is, of course: why was Wells still in the game? The score was 26-0, and obviously already in hand. While I want to say there's no way he should have been in there, most coaches would disagree. Mark Sanchez and Colt McCoy both played in the fourth quarter of their teams' blowout victories. ESPN.com's Pat Forde calls this "Cupcake Roulette." Many teams have their star players in when the game has pretty much been decided, some guys get hurt, some don't. People can debate whether he should have been in or not till they are blue in the face, but it doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is he was in, he got hurt, and now we must all collectively hold our breath and hope that he's ready for So Cal in two weeks. There is some good news: the x-rays came up negative and when Tressel saw Beanie in the weight room this morning Wells said he "feels great." Of course he's going to say that - hopefully it's true.

There's not much to report on the game other than the injury to Wells, which I will continue to update as I know more. Prior to the injury, Wells had 12 carries for 113 yards, a ridiculous 9.4 per carry. Speaking of Pryor, Freshman phenom Terrelle Pryor got into the game earlier then most people expected, playing a series at the end of the first quarter. Simply put, he looked like a man playing with boys. If you didn't see his 18 yard TD run yet, you're missing out. Of course he basically was playing with boys, so we'll have to wait and see how he looks against stiffer competition, but what I saw was definitely positive.

Boeckman looked sharp, going 14/19 for 187 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 picks. Wells' replacements looked decent in limited action, each getting 5 carries. Maurice Wells, Brandon Saine, and Dan Herron ran for 32, 20, and 17 yards respectively. Pryor had 9 carries for 52 yards and that touchdown. He will certainly see much more playing time against USC if Wells can't go. The ball was spread around nicely, with 11 different guys catching a pass. The defense looked pretty flawless, but again, they were playing a FCS team. Marcus Freeman looked the best with 3 TFL and looked like a real leader out there.

Next up is the Bobcats of Ohio (Saturday, Noon, ESPN). Even if he feels 100%, there's no way Beanie should be in uniform. The goal is to obviously win without him, which shouldn't be a problem, and get Wells ready for our showdown with SC.