Our Honor Defend

OHD has been nothing but a pariah on the Big Ten Bloggers since we joined way back in the way back machine.  We barely sign on to our account to check stuff and we never contribute to the discussions there.  In fact, it’s safe to say that we are basically leeches to the Big Ten Bloggers, scraping together the crumbs of their leftover charisma in a vain hope that it might send us traffic.

Well, that ends now since we’ll actually contribute to the Roundtable for Week 2.  Hopefully we can become true bloggers of the Roundtable, and dance when ere we’re able.  We’ll do routines and chorus scenes with footwork impeccable… if there’s time.

Week 1′s in the books. What surprised you about your team? Are you optimistic? Disappointed? (NOTE: Purdue does not apply here, so these fans must talk about Wake Forest instead)

V: I was most impressed with how comfortable most of the freshman looked coming in for the third series.  Adams and Shugarts looked like they had been there before.  Posey looks like he could start here or anywhere.  Brewster was putting the pieces together as he was going along, leading me to be more than confident that his transition from tackle to center will be complete by time conference play is in full gear.  Oh, and that Pryor kid I keep hearing so much about… I think he’ll be alright.  The freshmen really caught my eye, moreso than everything else.  They’re going to be special, now and down the road.

GJ: There wasn’t a lot to read in the performance against Youngstown State.  They’re a 1-AA (I’m sticking to that nomenclature, dammit) team and probably not a very good one.  It would be wrong to say that any Buckeye fan is anything but optimistic about where this season should take us.  I guess the special teams stood out for me.  Pretorius was more than comfortable, a positive outcome of some red zone impotence.  I really liked how it seemed our coverage team improved.  Grant Schwartz looks like he could be a special teams hero if this holds up.  Naturally, I’ll have to see Week 2… and of course: Week 3.

MP: Meh. I was certainly more impressed this time against YSU. The defense looked great and only adds to the antcipation of the USC game. I was a little worried about our ability to punch it in, but to be fair Tressel didn’t have to show much. The best story of the game has to be Ryan Pretorius. The kid is legit. Too legit to quit.  I know he’s older than me… a lot older than me… but he’s still a kid.

Beanie Wells’ foot is definitely the top story in the conference. What’s #2?

V: Michigan falling soo so flat on their home debut.  I fully expected Michigan to win their game against Utah in a similar manner that UCLA managed to get past Tennessee in their new coach debut.  I knew Utah was the better team, but I still thought Michigan had the athletes to get by.  They looked lost at every position.  Sheridan was awful.  Threet was I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-as-awful.  They couldn’t block squat in the first half and their defense looked outmatched.  I expected most of that (probably not Threet looking so bad), but wasn’t prepared for the fact that only the defense looked to get it together after intermission.  Michigan had the better athletes, right? So then why was ESPN’s crew chiding Barwis for having them look tired and unconditioned?  I know they’ll get something working together and finish the season well above .500.  However, that was brutal to watch, and why I think it’s the #2 conference story of the week in spite of Illinois, MSU joining them in their nonconference boners.  The ACC and Big East is taking the heat off of the Big Ten for the moment

GJ: Illinois’ defense. looked. down. right. hideous.  The team rallied, but I saw a lot in that game that could spell doom for them down the road.  If the Illini defense doesn’t rebound in the post-Leman era, it’s not going to take much for an enterprising team with an active, smart middle linebacker (like that Weatherspoon guy for Mizzou… or perhaps like a JL for Ohio State? Pretty please?) to ruin the Illini on both sides of the ball.

MP: The Big 10 lost their three marquee games. Illinois, Michigan, and Sparty losing doesn’t do much for the Big 10 haters out there. I believe all three were underdogs, but it still doesn’t do much for the Big 10 rep.

Admit it: you loathe DickFraudROFL (né Rich Rodriguez), but when Michigan scored that last touchdown, you were rooting for them to make the 2-pt. conversion.

V: Actually, I wasn’t.  I know. I know… … I know.  Conference pride. BIG TAYN SPEEEEEED and whatever else would be the equivalent of the idiotic SEC chestbumping.  But no… no no no no no no.  I assumed they would win, but didn’t particularly care if they did.  As Ramzy just recently wrote, this whole SEC chestbumping is an obnoxious public display of inner anxieties.  It is the outward aggression that follows from the most private inner demons of the slack-jawed mouthbreathers that live down here as they struggle with an external reality that does not conform to their delusions.  Simply put: it is the college football equivalent of “O’Doyle Rules!” (per Ramzy) and I’m trying desperately not to play along… especially with Michigan.

I hate Michigan.

If anything, I was more amused that Michigan was in a position to tie the game.  It looked like my prediction that they would win would come true after all… a proposition my dad thought was kind of ludicrous.  He was more than happy to remind me of that.

GJ: [Dude]I’m sorry… I wasn’t listening.[/Dude] .  Seriously, though, ask Vico.  I think he was watching that game while some woman sitting next to us at the bar we were watching it at was feeding me liquor in shot form.  Very nice of her.  Some woman buys me shots and he’s too busy watching that catfight between the Utes and the Wolverines to get in on the action.  Dumbass.

MP: Yes, as an Ohio State fan I have an obligation to root for the other Big 10 teams in non-conference play. I wasn’t surprised Rich Rod dropped the ball though.

Is this weekend’s slate of games actually less interesting than last week’s?

V: Navy is on TV, so I’ll probably watch that.  Oklahoma is playing Cincinnati and the Mormons are going on the road to Washington.  I’m interested in Northwestern-Duke.  Slim pickings indeed.  I think I might watch Miami-Florida if Miami is in a position to win… and if one of those Miami players is going to bust a cap in Tim Tebow.  That just sounds like something “the U” is capable of doing.  I think my inclination to look around the college football landscape is an indication that most of the Big Ten-related games aren’t interesting.

GJ: I’ll probably watch Ohio-Ohio State and then go out looking for that woman that kept buying me shots on Saturday.  I think she was real… was she? Yeah, she even told me her name and where she lived.

MP: Not that exciting of a week. I will keep my eye on Stanford/ASU (Go Cardinal), Miami/Florida, Oregon State/ Penn State, and ECU/WVU…This would have been a far more interesting week about 8 years ago.

Don’t you hate pants?

Yes! Finally, a question that concerns us all.

I hate pants