Gopher Football
Ohio State Update
Ohio State is ranked #1 in the nation; a ranking they have held since the first preseason polls came out in August. The single most impressive thing in my mind about the Buckeyes (of many) is the consistent ease in which they’ve won all their games. Their closest game of the year was a 24-7 win on the road at current #5 (and #2 at the time) Texas. The Buckeyes are 3-0 against ranked teams with the average score of those games being 30-10, and the average score of all their games is 35-8. Simply put, Ohio State is playing better football than anyone else in the nation right now by a wide margin.
-OFFENSE
For the Buckeye offense it all starts with senior quarterback Troy Smith. At this point in the season Smith has to be considered the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, as he is posting some sick offensive numbers. He is only averaging about 220 yards passing per game, but it’s efficiency that’s off the charts. Smith is throwing for a 68% completion rate with 21 TD’s and just 2 INT’s; all of them Big Ten leading. Smith is not doing as much damage with his feet this year, mainly because he doesn’t have to. When you’re passing as well as him and you’re leading the offense to 35 PPG you’re doing a great job.
At running back the Buckeye’s are also in fine shape with junior Antonio Pittman and super freshman Chris Wells carrying the bulk of the load. Pittman (97 yards/game & 8 TD’s) is the main guy, but in recent weeks Wells (51 yards & 2 TD’s in last four) has seen his carries increase. Unfortunately for the rest of the Big Ten (and the nation), the talent doesn’t end there. The OSU wide receiver duo of junior Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez is as dangerous as any in the nation. Even though Ginn is the guy who gets all the headlines, Gonzalez has matched him in terms of production. Gonzalez is averaging 74 yards/game with 6 TD’s, while Ginn is getting 74 yards per with 7 TD’s.
-DEFENSE
Another impressive thing about Ohio State has been the performance of their defense. The Buckeyes came into this year losing 9 of their 11 starters from what was a very good defense, including 6 guys who were taken in the NFL draft. The only full time starters that returned were defensive tackles Quinn Pitcock and Vern Gholston. So needless to say the Buckeyes had a LOT to replace, but remarkably their defense (up to this point) has performed even better this year than it than last season. Not surprisingly the strength of the OSU defense starts with the lone two returning starters, Pitcock and Gholston. I can’t recall a pair of DT’s in the Big Ten recently that have been as dominant as these two have been. When you look at the Big Ten leaders in sacks, the list usually consists of defensive ends, with a tackle showing up maybe once or twice. But as of right now both Gholston (5.5) and Pitcock (7) are in the top 5 in the conference in this category.
The rest of the Buckeye defense is equally as solid. In the group of six guys taken in the draft on the defensive side of the ball were all three linebackers, so coming into this year priority number was to replace this group, specifically AJ Hawk. So far this season sophomore James Laurinaitis has a done a great job on helping to fill the void. He leads the team in tackles by a large margin with 64, has 3 sacks, 4 INT’s and 7 tackles for loss. His performance over the first eight games has earned him a spot as a finalist for the Butkus Award for the top linebacker in the nation. As for the defense as a whole, there’s not really one thing that Buckeyes do that jumps out at you. Instead they are a very talented, balanced unit that does not appear to have a major weakness. They ranked in top 3 in the Big Ten in most team categories, and lead the conference with just 8 points allowed per game. It’s going to be difficult for the Gophers to do much of anything against them on Saturday.
Minnesota Update
The biggest problem with the Gophers right now is that since the Penn State game three weeks ago they’ve taken a step back and can not seem to get out of that mental rut. After getting blown out at Wisconsin, the Gophers were lucky to escape with a 10-9 victory last weekend against North Dakota State. In both games the Gophers played with visibly little passion or precision. In particular, the running game is not getting it done at all. For a team that wants (and still tries) to establish the running game, their totals over the last month have been shockingly low. The best effort of this run was 109 yards against Michigan. Considering the Gophers usually could rush for over 200 and sometimes 300 in years past, this is a major problem that the offense has not been able to overcome. Specifically, I think the offensive line come out with a little more fire. Last week against NDSU Cupito got pressured WAY more than he should have, and the running game was getting stomped on all day. I don’t see this changing too much against the Buckeye’s, but you never know. Maybe the #1 label is what the coaches and team need to get that fire and passion back into what they do.
On defense there continues to be the same old problems. Minnesota showed once again last week that they are vulnerable to a good passing team/quarterback as NDSU was able to hit on several wide open passing plays. Out of all the concerns heading into this game, the pass defense is probably the biggest. The Gopher defense against the 4th highest rated passer in the nation is an ugly scenario to ponder. It should be noted that in addition to Trumaine Banks being out the rest of the year, the Gophers have also played the last couple games without John Shevlin at linebacker because of injury so they have been and will continue to be less than 100%.
Bottom Line
On paper this a game that could get really, really ugly. Ohio State has proven they’re the best team in the nation to this point and over the last couple weeks the Gophers have been one of the worst. In particular, the Gophers do not seem equipped to handle Troy Smith at all. Throw in OSU’s dominating defense against the Gophers struggling offense, and there doesn’t appear to by much (if any) hope for the Gophers in this one. The one thing to remember is that these are only college kids and anything can happen. The large contingent of Ohio players on Minnesota’s roster could come out and have a great day, or Ohio State could be sleepwalking through the next few weeks of cupcakes in anticipation of their big showdown with Michigan. Those are “œcould’s” and “œif’s” though, and I admit I am stretching. Let’s just hope Minnesota can get through this game without any major injures and they can at least keep the game within a couple TD’s.
Prediction: Ohio State 41 – Minnesota 9
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