The Big Ten Season Begins

Following its impressive win over Washington, Ohio State takes on Northwestern for its Big Ten opener tomorrow. Northwestern did lose to usually lowly Duke last week. But the Wildcats feature a spread offense, the very brand of offense that gave Michigan fits in its opening losses to Appalachian State and Oregon.

Nonetheless, I believe that Ohio State's defense is sterling and will be prepared for the spread. OSU's offense, under the leadership of QB Todd Boeckman also appeared to take a quantum leap forward in last week's win in Seattle. The Buckeyes, still I will remind you in what can only be described as a rebuilding year, should win.

[Photo credit: OSU Quarterback Todd Boeckman from Yahoo]

Of course, there's a lot of interest in how the Penn State-Michigan game will turn out tomorrow. The match will be a major test for both schools, for different reasons. For Michigan, it'll be a chance to prove that their win over Notre Dame, so far one of the worst teams in the country this 2007 season, wasn't a fluke. But they'll have to beat a Penn State team that many expect to win the Big Ten and to play in one of the BCS bowls at season's end. It's no gimme for Penn State either, because they'll have to play in Ann Arbor. But I expect Penn State to win by about ten points.

In other games...
LSU should handle an improving South Carolina team.
Michigan State should beat Notre Dame.

That's as bold as I'll get. After all, I'm just a preacher, not a football expert.

[See Tim May's always interesting comments here.]

Go Buckeyes!

[UPDATE: As a friend of mine said today, "Ohio State's win over Northwestern yesterday is like the games the two teams played back when we were students at OSU." Todd Boeckman seemed to become a big time college QB during the third quarter of last week's game against Washington. His work yesterday seemed to confirm that.

[I was shocked by Michigan's win over Penn State. But Michigan does have a lot of returning talent and Lloyd Carr is no slacker as a coach. Also, Penn State doesn't really play a spread offense. Nonetheless, yesterday's game seems to indicate that Michigan, along with Penn State and Wisconsin, have legitimate shots at a share of the Big Ten title this year. While my beloved Buckeyes made huge strides forward yesterday, they beat an obviously weak Northwestern team, and there are still big question marks about how really good they are.]

"I think (the game) was a statement that they want to be good."

So says Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel after his rebuilding Buckeyes won at Washington.

"Now I hope none of us thinks it's a statement that we are good, but that's where we want to get, and we did what we had to do today."

Read more here.

Also, Michigan beat Notre Dame on Saturday, in a game that pitted teams that had gone 0-2 in their first contests. The win demonstrates that Michigan, which had lost to Appalachian State and Oregon, two teams that feature the spread offense, isn't as horrible as some were claiming. But it's not clear yet how good the Wolverines are, given that they beat a Notre Dame team that, by all appearances, is awful. What's worse, the Irish face an absolute meat grinder of a schedule. People now are speculating about whether Notre Dame will win a single game this year. Who would have thought it?

This Saturday's Game Between Michigan and Notre Dame

The stakes for this coming Saturday's Michigan-Notre Dame game are much different from what many thought they'd be before the season began. Instead of being a stop on the way to a national championship, the game appears to be one of those "avoid embarrassment" contests. Whichever team loses will be a laughingstock.

That's because both the Wolverines and the Fighting Irish are off to 0-2 starts on their seasons.

Although I'm an Ohio State grad, I almost feel sorry for Michigan. In two weeks, Michigan plays Penn State, clearly the team to beat this year in the Big Ten.

About this week, a little secret: There's only one team I more consistently root against than I do Michigan. That would be Notre Dame. I'm not saying that I'm pulling for the Wolverines this week. I just won't be terribly disappointed if they do win.

A Michigan victory would have the added effect of blunting some of the perennial criticisms leveled against the Big Ten.

But it would be ridiculous to bank on Michigan this week. Their defense has been atrocious so far.

Meanwhile, Ohio State's defense played brilliantly this past Saturday, though the offense was lackluster. The Buckeyes beat the University of Akron 20-2. Clearly, the Buckeye defense is strong. But with the departure of people like Ted Ginn, Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, and Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, the offense is in a rebuilding year.

If you have to choose between rebuilding on offense or defense, I'd choose offense. The wisdom in baseball is that homeruns fill the bleachers, but pitching wins the World Series. Similarly, in football, running up points creates excitement (and takes some pressure off the defense), but defense wins championships. In 2002, the Buckeyes won a national championship with a very good offense and an absolutely first class defense.

Will Ohio State win in the Big Ten this year? I doubt it. There's simply too much rebuilding to be done this year.

But I would never bet against Jim Tressel, Buckeye head coach, a guy who has four Division II national championships and one in Division I to his credit. He seems to have a way of grafting his quiet, unassuming confidence and constant commitment to improvement onto his players.

[See here, here, here, here, and here.]