By Eric Geier
The plot
thickened early this off season as high school football superstar Terrelle
Pryor left the media hanging on his decision about which school he would be
attending. Ohio State
and Michigan
were immersed in the talks surrounding which school he would pick. As we know,
Pryor chose right, leaving new coach Rich Rodriguez without a quarterback to
run the high powered, spread offense he wants to introduce. But will Pryor
produce or will he crumble under the hype? It is well known that Pryor is a
fierce competitor and can sometimes lose his composure when he is under
criticism. The more interesting question is how will Tressel use the athletic
Pryor? Tressels conservative nature certainly clashes with the run and gun,
improvisational type of play that Pryor is used to. There is no way to tell
what Tressel has planned for his new superstar, but he must utilize and create
new plays around his talent. Some have questioned Tressels play calling in the
past, dump passes on third and long, not sticking with the run, i.e. the latest
National Championship loss and over-estimating the arm of Todd Boeckman on some
key plays. Yes, last year was a great season, some say unexpected, just don’t
think Terrelle Pryor is the answer. Just hope Pryor can be the final missing
piece for the Buckeyes. If Pryor fits he may be able to help them seal the deal
this year with a BCS bowl win or National
Championship.
Pryor’s
decision to come to Ohio State certainly left Michigan and Rich Rodriguez out in the cold.
Even as Rodriguez exits the WVU campus and becomes public enemy number one in Morgantown, the fact that he
turned around the WVU program in one year just can’t be over-looked. So how
will Rodriguez fair in Ann Arbor?
In his rookie season at West Virginia
he had a record of 3-8, but the very next year he lead the Mountaineers to a 9-4
record and never looked back. His combined record at WVU was 60-26, 34-14 in
conference games. Rodriguez revitalized the flat-lining West
Virginia program, but Michigan is
different, the fans, the press and the boosters are far more attentive than
those at West Virginia.
Rodriguez must make believers out of the Michigan
players and fan base right away, especially after coming off a big bowl win
against Florida
at the end of last season.
As usual,
the Buckeyes must survive their Big Ten and out of conference schedule (as weak
as it may be minus USC) in order
to prove the critics wrong who have bashed Big Ten ball and to have the resume
to play in a BCS game. Can the
Buckeyes survive? Yes, but the Buckeye faithful shouldn’t expect it to be a
cakewalk. Last year, Illinois,
behind Isaiah (Juice) Williams went all Penn and Teller and appeared out of no
where to shock the Buckeyes. Illinois
can’t be over-looked as they were last year. You can bet 11/15/2008 is circled for
the Buckeyes, a revenge game against Juice Williams and the rest of the team
that demoralized the Buckeyes and exposed their weaknesses. The Illinois game is also a big one because it falls just one
week before the Buckeyes face Michigan
in the Shoe. The fans at Memorial Stadium would love nothing more than to see
the Illini slaughter the Bucks on their home turf. At the same time, there is
no doubt that there is still a bad taste in the mouths of the Buckeyes after
last year’s embarrassment at home. We know Tressel hasn’t forgotten the
disappointment so the troops should be ready.
The
Buckeyes will be running the Big Ten gauntlet with other big games like Wisconsin, played in
Madison and Purdue, played in the Shoe. Each of these games will be tests for
the Buckeyes. Most said they didn’t expect to see the Buckeyes in the National
Championship this past year that this coming year was supposed to be the year.
But don’t book any plane tickets to Florida just yet, not only do the Buckeyes
have to win their big games, but they have to win over the BCS commission, because the commission is going to
think twice about putting the Buckeyes in a third straight National
Championship game. There’s really only one option for the Buckeyes, play hard,
win out and prove the critics wrong.