Attribution: Josh Winslow
Well friends, it’s August and that must mean the 2008 college football season is right around the corner! What a long and dull offseason it has been (and that’s a good thing, the off field incidents have been kept to a minimum at Ohio State which wasn’t always the case.) Last year was a bit of a rebuilding year (11-2 with another trip to the national championship game) where there were a few big question marks going into the season.
This year, the Buckeyes return 20 of 22 (21 if you count that Lawrence Wilson was a starter and broke his leg in the first game of the year) starters from a team that was #1 in defense in the land and not too bad on offense as the year rolled along. This year the schedule isn’t as favorable as last year (and I don’t think we should count on 6 of the top 10 teams losing in the last week of the season for miracles this year…) with road trips to USC, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan State. Any of these games could easily end up in the loss column without the proper focus and attention to detail.
The pundits have anointed the Bucks as a top 5 team to start the year and many pick them to end up in the BCS championship for a third straight year (with groans being heard from all over the nation from non-Buckeye fans.) I don’t think anyone (myself included) expected OSU to play for all the marbles last year – in fact, before the final week of the season, I was happy to think of a trip to the Rose Bowl and watching West Virginia take on Missouri for the title, anyone remember that? Of course, that was before Pitt shutdown WVU in a very poorly officiated game (biased against Pitt) and Oklahoma dismantled Missouri in the Big 12 Championship.
Well, that’s history. This year is a new ball game as they say. Can’t wait for the season, I watched a few minutes of OSU football practice on the Big 10 Network last night and I’m totally ready for the season again. So, you can expect to see a few characters written on the upcoming season, I’m going to resurrect the Conference Strength Report as a weekly feature, and provide a preview and review of each of the Buckeyes 12 regular season games over the next 3 months. Hope you enjoy it! Meanwhile, GO BUCKS!
For your viewing pleasure, a highlight reel of Beanie Wells posted on YouTube:
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