What was…was.
All week long, we sports media types brought up the 1998 OSU/MSU debacle. Rory Nicol even said that the seniors were “really stressing it”. But this is not 1998 and a Cooper-coached team.
All week long, the media talked about the Michigan State game from last year. And last year, the Spartans had 27 first downs and 456 yards. The Buckeyes had six fumbles, as well. This, friends, is not that team.
All summer long, the stalking heads of the various anti-OSU media horde shook their wizened heads and shuddered when they said: “OSU and road games? Hey – they have Texas, Iowa and Michigan State, all on the road with a young defense. Ain’t no way”. Now, it’s mid-October and OSU spanked Texas by 17, beat up Iowa by 21 and thrashed MSU by 31. Any other questions, boys?
In the early days of the Tressel regime, we used to just hope for a TD. A touchdown. Now we look for a different “TD” – Total Domination. And we got it again Saturday. I tried to find faults so that I could maintain my cynical reputation. All I could come up with was:
* This was the first game in which the Bucks struggled with kickoff coverage. Perhaps it was the switch to Pretorious. Perhaps it was the wind (but from both directions?)
* The punting was so-so, except for the one coffin-corner kick.
* The coaching staff is still torturing Maurice Wells by forcing him to run between the tackles. Did he show up late to practice or what?
* The Buckeyes are never going to get to practice their “close game” strategies because, well… they don’t have any close games.
It was a fun watch and a lot of players played. Some stuff has become so “every week” that you almost hate to bring it up again. Like Quinn Pitcock being one of the greatest college D-tackles ever. And how about those “G-Men” – Ginn and Gonzalez? No, they aren’t feds. It’s just every time they touch the ball, you wanna say, “Gee!” You think the coaches aren’t having fun when they run – first – a reverse to Gonzo. Then – on the next play – run a reverse to Ginn? Or having Ginn throw on a reverse just to put that play into the Michigan scouting tapes.
Finally, Troy had more Heisman moments and was as cool as the other side of the pillow, once again. To widen the voting gap for Troy, Adrian Peterson had a great game and then broke his collar bone, so he is out for the year. Drew Stanton had a miserable game and almost broke his “cooler bone” in a Murphy’s Law moment over on the sidelines.
And the beat goes on for Coach Tressel and his super staff, as well. This was JT’s 70th game as the head coach of the Buckeyes. The only coach’s with more? (Honest…): Woody Hayes with276, John Cooper with 158, John Wilce with 120 and Earle Bruce with 108. After the Michigan State win Saturday, Tressel’s record is now 57-13. And, fans, that is the best record among that aforementioned group of coaches getting to their 70th games: leading Bruce was 55-15, Wilce was 52-15-3, Woody was 47-19-4 and John Cooper was but44-22-4.
It is not only a great time to be a Buckeye, but the trend is certainly our friend, as well…
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* If the third string Buckeye defense hadn’t given up a meaningless MSU touchdown with a minute to go, they would lead the nation in scoring defense. As it is, the team is third behind Rutgers and LSU.
* OSU is now 29th in total offense, a huge leap forward from previous teams in the Tressel era. (And 15th in the nation in scoring offense…)
* If Chris Wells hadn’t coughed up the football on the first series against the Spartans, the Bucks would lead the nation in “turnover margin” As it is, they are second.
* Following that up, Ohio State has had only five turnovers all year – two Chris Wells fumbles, two Troy Smith INT’s in bad weather against Penn State, and just one other fumble lost (Zwick?).
I wanted to see the beating in its entirety. 
