Our Honor Defend

The wait for Ohio State’s rabid fanbase is now over.  The Men of the Scarlet and Gray take the field for the 121st season, starting this campaign as the #2 ranked team in the country and hosting the Marshall Thundering Herd.

It is the first trip for the Thundering Herd back to Columbus since a nailbiter in 2004, where Mike Nugent was given the task of booming a long field goal to win the game at the buzzer.  It is also the first trip, and first game, for new head coach Doc Holliday.  Holliday has been all over the college football map, but prominently taking an assistant job with new hire Urban Meyer at the University of Florida.  There, he did irresponsible things in 2006 that will not be belabored any further.  After leaving Gainesville for an assistant job at WVU, his alma mater, he moves down state to take the head coaching job from Mark Snyder, a former Ohio State assistant coach under Tressel.

It is hard for me to scout a team that has no previous games and, unlike Navy, no offensive system for which I have good familiarity.  Along the Olentangy tracked the new hires at the coordinator positions to infer what the Thundering Herd would like to do on offense and defense.  It appears Marshall’s offensive coordinator would like to establish a ground presence during this game, operating out of the shotgun.  His offense is more potent when it is toting the rock.  This has the added advantage of keeping Pryor and the Buckeyes off the field, should it work.  However, in doing so, Marshall’s offensive line will have to deal with a front that will include Cameron Heyward, John Simon and a crew of badass linebackers.  Expect very vanilla things on defense.  Their defensive coordinator, previously at Syracuse, utilizes a basic 4-3 with some minor adjustments for suspected point of attack for the offense.  In this aspect, we hope the Buckeye offense is as good as hyped.  It should just be a matter of execution and overpowering people at the point of attack.

The Buckeyes are favored by four touchdowns.  A victory is most important.  There is some speculation that the Buckeyes will try to win with a fairly vanilla display themselves to leave the Hurricanes guessing about what may be coming on offense and defense next Saturday.  Here are some things I will be watching for in this game:

• Jake Stoneburner and Zach Boren.  I believe these two are capable of some great things in 2010 at positions maligned by Ohio State fans as extra linemen.  If the Buckeyes will want to play things close to the vest (umm..) with Miami in mind, we hope that we will at least get a little stocking stuffer tonight.
• Watch the secondary.  They may not get tested too much in this game, and we hope they will be up to the task, but every Buckeye fan knows that this is the design flaw in the Big Ten’s Death Star.  Anderson Russell and Kurt Coleman have moved on.  Chimdi Chekwa, who can hold his own but is not the lockdown corner and leader that Jenkins was, is a little dinged up.  CJ Barnett is in for Orhian Johnson because of an injury.  Christian Bryant and Tyler Moeller are worth watching at the “star” position.
• Solomon Thomas is playing for the injured Nathan Williams.  The reports on Thomas suggest he has flashes of brilliance followed by stretches of being lost in the shuffle.  Williams gets much better, and more consistent pressure.  How much of a dropoff do the Bucks have with him in the fold?  Will he be targeted?
• Taurian Washington entered the opener against Navy last year as the #3 wide receiver.  He had two drops and was never heard from again.  He is back now by necessity; Duron Carter is playing community college ball.  How will he fare this game?  When we can see Corey “Philly” Brown flash his wares.
• Special teams was, at best, meek on last year’s Big Ten championship squad.  Buckeye fans hope that the offense will result in numerous kickoff scenarios tonight.  How will the coverage team fare after nearly making Kenjon Barner the MVP of the 2010 Rose Bowl?

I am proudly watching from my apartment and the Big Ten Network.  Yes, it finally came to Alabama.  For those of you enjoying the game in Columbus, pour one out for your homie in SEC country and then make a toast to life.  Drink up.  Buckeye football is back.