Zherdev signs...and there is much rejoicing....

For all of you CBJ fans out there....3 years/7 million

The Central just got a little more interesting...uh oh...the CBJ have 4 solid lines (as soon as Fedorov and Svitov return to the lineup.) that can score and rough up the opponents.

Let's take a quick look at the top three lines for the CBJ this year...these are assumed line combinations, but you can see the most depth that the CBJ has ever had at the forward position

Nash-Fedorov-Vyborny
Modin-Brule-Carter
Chimera-Malhotra-Zherdev

There is only one question mark on these three lines...and that would be Gilbert Brule.

We'll talk about the defense...someday.

Auburn - South Carolina Observations

Started watching the game in the second half....

1. Kirk called Erin "poopsie"...yeah...he said "poopsie."
2. I still stand by my claim that Auburn is the most overrated team in America. Please note that a team with a pulse on the offensive side of the ball (and a former WR playing QB is giving that mighty defense all it can handle) will give any uber-strong defensive SEC team problems. Dont get me started about Georgia....
3. Longest 3rd Quarter Ever....that drive that Auburn put together felt like I was watching a mid-90s Gary Barnett Northwestern team with the on-side kick and the fourth down conversion.
4. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Jamarcus Russell could have even made that throw on the South Carolina touchdown in the beginning of the 4th quarter. A very sieve-ish Auburn secondary....not surprising...even with all of that SEC speed. I dont even think he was touched...nope he wasn't.
5. Hey Tommy...Irons has been able to turn the corner all night. Why (on 3rd and 2) run him up the middle where the 'Cocks have some strength?
6. Can you hear that puckering? That would be the Auburn defense.
7. Auburn comes up with a big stop on Rice in the endzone.
8. I guess that Auburn will take a dip in the polls (Blogpoll, Harris, AP, Coaches, whatever) OSU took a ribbing for not blowing out PSU in its game. No reason why it shouldnt happen to Auburn.

OSU - PSU Game Review

That's more like it...


A win is a win...and against Penn State that is always the case. Games against this team havent been pretty the last 4 years, but one thing always holds true...Penn State will not score more than 10 points in the Horseshoe..even with 9 new starters on defense.

To sum up this game....

• OSU Offense
• Troy Smith made a "Heisman-ish" play on a field reversal bomb to Robiskie.
• Antonio Pittman continues to carry the load (20 carries for 110 yards).
• Chris Wells is a short down back, until he learns how to see a hole. Imagine a Lydell Ross with about 25 more pounds of muscle.
• Maurice Wells - Someday we will use him consistenly on swing passes or utilize his speed OUTSIDE of the tackles.
• Brain Robiskie is turning into a problem for defensive coordinators and Troy isnt afraid to throw to him.
• Teams will be praying for bad weather when OSU comes to town. It is really their only chance. Teddy and Anthony were not effective in yesterday's terrible elements.
• OSU Defense
• James Laurinitis is a tunrover machine, but in a good way.
• Malcolm Jenkins is the most physical corner that OSU has had since Nate Clements, and he keeps getting better.
• Freeman's tackling is getting better with each game.
• The D-Line is getting pressure without blitzing, and isnt that super-cool?
• Vernon Gholston is unblockable. However, he is very "holdable" as shown on many occasions by the PSU O-Line.
• Pitcock and Patterson are anchoring the #1A D-Line in the country. #1B is up north at Michigan. Branch and Woodley are sweet.
• Curtis Terry looked good...just wish we could have seen him for some more snaps.
• Malcolm please return the ball to referee after scoring. Spiking the ball is so cliche.
• Brandon Mitchell quietly played one of his best games as a Buckeye yesterday. He was rarely out of position and seemed to make all of the tackles that came his way.
• PSU Offense
• Anthony Morelli has a great arm, but cant read a defense to save his life. He will be a great QB some day, and knowing the ability of the PSU staff to bring QB along that should about 2 years after he graduates.
• Tony Hunt is a stud. He ran very hard in the second half when the Nittany Lions needed him the most. Cant wait to see him against UM later this season.
• Derrick Williams was a non-factor. See above reason for Ginn.
• PSU's O-line needs to get its shite together. They were very sieve-like on Saturday.
• PSU Defense
• Dan Connor was the best PSU LB on the field yesterday. Shaw came in second (even if he was playing with his hand down).
• Jim Shaw was great on the pass rush. Not so much on the running defense. He pretty much got road-graded a few times, which is to be expected. Moving from LB to DE isn't an easy task, and he wasnt exactly the size of a Bobby Carpenter.
• PSU Secondary = Inc. Elements had a lot to do with this game and the secondary performance on both sides. Nice INT by King though.

This was a good game for OSU, no matter how the media will see it. There was adversity and elements that had some effect on the plays. Next week should be huge, it will be interesting to see how far along this defense has matured against a senior QB in Drew Tate. It is going to be a war.

OSU has proven it can win ugly in a year that was predicated by the offense having to shoulder the load for a young defense. The defense is starting to come around...and man...are they making plays.

Fan Behavior..and the Sea of Scarlet?

There are things that happen which will go unnoticed through the course of a college football season…Garret Rivas’ staggering donut consumption, Lydell Ross’ inability to hit a hole that wasn’t attached to a female freshman or sophomore, urine getting tossed on OSU’s TBDBITL last year at Happy Valley.

Oh wait…that’s right. Nobody in the state of Ohio forgot about the urine tossers in State College. Absolutely nobody. The fact is that this game has shown that no matter how high OSU fans will set the bar for poor fan behavior, we can always count on Penn State to pursue stupidity at a level of excellence with no equal.

Now, there is a contingent in the message board community that attempt to make this event from last year’s game out to be a non-issue (Even though this came directly from a band director, ,who just happens to be a PSU alum…not an OSU fan). Actually, there are a few that will tell you that it never happened. I mean, I will not name any names or anything ( FearandLoathinginWoolrich & Shundo), but this type of thinking has caused quite a stir among those OSU fans who may believe that John Q PSU fan gets off easy because of its lovable teddy bear corpse of a coach that hasn’t spoken a word of English since at least 1974. This has lead to a “Sea of Scarlet” promotion that wants to make a statement in the Horseshoe on Saturday, but also wants to make sure to let the PSU fans off easy who make the trip to Columbus.

Well, do you want to know what I think. Whatever happens…happens.

This “Sea of Scarlet” thingy is not who we are as OSU fans. I commend the students that have attempted to put this together. It is very noble but, WE DO NOT NEED GIMMICKS! If crap happens to PSU fans, then so be it. I am sure there will be cases where some of them deserve it and there will be some cases where they don’t. It is no worse than the treatment that any other fan receives at any other stadium in the Big10. Any of us who have been to a visiting stadium in the Big10 know that it is not a welcoming environment, and it never will be. With exception of Indiana, even the lowest of teams in the conference will have fans that will do their best to ensure that the visiting team is miserable and with the proper amount of “liquid courage” hometown fans will do their best to ensure that visiting fans that came to support their team will be miserable as well.

This is the way that it works. College sports is not youth soccer. It is not intended to have everyone play the game, get along, and share Sno-Cones and Swedish Fish after the game.



Notice that this is a red sno cone? Yellow Sno Cones are only found in Happy Valley...on gamedays

There are many examples of poor fan behavior in the Big10. OSU fans are obnoxious and I am not afraid to admit it, UM fans will tell you that they are above that type of behavior, but that could be the biggest crock of shit that you will ever hear. If you want to see a true “Michigan Man” in action, head down to Yost Arena (Click Here for a PG rated version of some of the activities that happen) and see how sportsmanship at Michigan really works. Head over to Wisconsin and listen to the “Asshole” cheer that most certainly stretches the standard 5 word vocabulary that is possessed by most Wisky fans. Michigan State fans are just like OSU fans, but they suck at football. However, basketball season is a different story, and you can throw Illinois into the same boat. Northwestern fans are generally pretty classy, but they are not your typical Big10 school. Indiana has obnoxious basketball fans…even though haven’t won anything in the last ten years (I am not sure how long it has been, but you would think that it had won the last 40 Big Ten championships if you have ever attended a basketball game in Bloomington).

This brings us back to Penn State. PSU fans have been treated to extreme forms of mediocrity in the Big10 since 1993. PSU had one season where it absolutely kicked the shit out of everyone (1994) and was moderately competitive throughout the the 90s. Then PSU had to suffer the consequences of not dictating its own schedule (It will be a great day when ND has to got through this scenario) and once the conference teams became accustomed to playing them each year…there was a big “UH OH” coming from Happy Valley. This lead to significant downgrade in team performance and it showed with a terrible 5-year stretch where it was just dreadful. I can understand the frustration. Hell, I would be uber-pissed if I had to endure what PSU fans did in the 2000’s. This frustration came to a head in 2005 when they had undefeated team that was taking on OSU, and the game was moved to the evening (1st Mistake…see above statement regarding “Liquid Courage,” as there were many “heroes” in Happy Valley that night.) The hype surrounding this game was ridiculous and I was never able to see it, as I was out in the Utah desert for a week without any access to TV or Radio. However, when I returned to Columbus I found out quicky what had transpired in State College and was not only disappointed with the loss, but was also disappointed when I watched a copy og the broadcast, as our resident Anti-homer Kirk Herbstreit was making statements on the crowd and how the atmosphere was simply electric. Well Kirk, with this type of environment comes consequences. We saw this happen on our own campus, as Texas fans were treated poorly. We had a university president that was willing to take a stand and apologize for the behavior of the fans…whether it was warranted or not. OSU ADMITTED it had a problem with fan behavior. Fast Forward to PSU game…same atmosphere…same behavior if not worse than at the Horseshoe. Were there big articles in the newspaper about it? No. Did the poor treatment of the OSU fans make it into the media’eye? Yes. Was it addressed by PSU? Absolutely not..and this is the problem that PSU is going to put itself into by not acknowledging the behavior that was documented. The university administration is basically stating that it is ok to act like a fucking moron and thow urine on a visiting team’s band, as it is simply part of the game.

By the way:

"With nearly 110,000 people attending the game, Penn State officials say it is possible there were "a couple jerks" among the fans."

This is not an apology.

Well, poor fan behavior is one thing; bodily fluids being thrown on fans or representatives of a fellow conference school is pathetic.

In other words, PSU is pathetic, as a university…as an institution that is attempting to groom another generation of leaders. Where does this start? University President for PSU. The same university president that allows this behavior also allows its head football coach to make derogatory statements about the inhabitants of a rival state/school and its education level on national television without any consequence. I know that there are a section of people that will say that is JoePa being JoePa…well….I think that JoePa has used all of his free passes by now, and what point will he make a Fisher DeBerry-type statement? Let’s face it, JoePa’s speaking ability rivals that of the “Ding! Fries are Done!” guy at this point, and to have him as the figurehead of a major university is probably the most pathetic part of the PSU aura today.


I have no idea where I am at right now. Where is my ice cream?... Is this coming out in english?


Does OSU have its problems? Absolutely. Do we have leaders that are willing to admit it? Yes. Am I proud of the university actions to attempt to fix the problems? Yes. Is there much more work to go into this effort? See Texas game this year.


Dude...like West Virginia is so jealous.

Are we Penn State? No….and thank goodness. So, to all of the fans at the game this weekend, enjoy yourself in the way that you are accustomed to enjoying OSU games. Don’t let the Sea of Scarlet make you go out of your way to make everyone feel comfortable. You take that away from the OSU psyche and the aura of Ohio Stadium will take a downturn with it. Just don’t throw any urine or large cups of “dip” spit or anything else I may be missing…that’s simply not cool.

Go Bucks!!!

A weekend in Greensboro...and Atlanta...oh yeah...OSU wins 37-7.

This guy is pretty fast....give this man a TF Sticker and let's "call it a day."

It seems like the UC guy is pretty close...well...he was pretty close at least.

OSU 37 - 7 UC... homerism displayed in the South, and new terminologies are born.

As many of you have noted, I have not put anything on the blog for the last few weeks. Again, this work thing has been necessary and my projects are starting to kick into full gear. This would include the one where I am delivering multiple pizzas on a single delivery run, and manning the fries and the front counter at the same time. It's killer.

So I had to travel for work this past week, which included a stayover in Greensboro, NC for the weekend. I will be the first on to admit that I am not a big Greensboro fan, so getting out here for the weekend was top priority. Got a hold of some buddies in the ATL and headed down to watch the OSU game, the slice of heaven (Separation Satruday Games), and partake in the consumption of many alcoholic beverages at fine establishments...American-Pie and Taco Mac in Decatur. Of course, I woke up late on Saturday morning, so I started my drive to Atlanta and made it to American Pie at about 12:30. A rowdy bunch at the American-Pie, which is an OSU Alumni spot on gamedays, and after sharing a few beers with some fellow ATL buckeyes here were some observations:

1. Mark Dantonio is still a top notch coach with a great defensive mind. I almost wish that another top level school would give him a chance. Not that UC isnt a school with potential, but put this man at the helm at a Washington or any other school looking an identity and its program would take-off in a major way.
2. OSU fans havent seen an offense like this since 1998. I know it was a down day, but Dantonio's scheme had a lot to do with that and there is some rivalry undertones with Cincy that seemed to come out at the beginning of the game. Dont take this offense for granted, fellow OSU fans, because we might not see one like it for another 7-8 years. The maturity of Troy Smith cannot be understated and there is depth at tailback that we havent really seen since the days of Raymont Harris, Butler By'Note, and Pepe Pearson. The scary part is that OSU is not really trying to run the ball all that much....yet.
3. James Laurinitis. OMG...freakin awesome. This guy is all over the place. It is amazing how the fans could be all over this guy with his performance in the N. Illinois game and then be "all over his jock" after the Texas and UC games. I didnt really have an opinion after the N. Illinois game, but I knew that he would get better...along with the rest of the LBs. Homan and Freeman are starting to solidify their holds on the positions and Curtis Terry has also shown promise in the early season.
   
   Spikes on Shoulder Pads...so many levels of awesome attained here.
4. Depth. It seems like Tress has made a real statement for the program on a national level this year. It cannot be understated that 57 players participated in the Texas game this year and this will be mentioned to every recruit that thinks that they cant play early at OSU. Tress stated over and over again that the best players will play...and he is stating the truth. The dividends of this move will pay off this year and for many years to come in recruiting and lessening the effects of player injuries, during the season.
5. The Secondary. It makes me a bit giddy to think that the back seven of the defense primarily consists of RS Freshman and Sophomores. They are performing and getting better every week. Think about how tough this OSU defense is going to be next season. There will be some holes to fill on the D-Line with the departure of Richardson and Pitcock, but the back seven will be "HARD."
6. Pittman. Let's start giving this guy the ball a little bit more. He was solid and helped swing the momentum when things just weren't clicking for the OSU offense on Saturday. I have a feeling that OSU will need contributions from all of its backs over the course of the next two Saturdays, as they open Big Ten play against Penn State and then have that fun game against Iowa...at night...in Kinnick.
7. Gonzo. This guy is Chad Cacchio with wheels...and two good shoulders...and can run routes...and did you know that he sleeps in an altitude tent? He also invented the Oreo cookie and helped term the crafty phrase "Trunk Fu*cking." More on the TF'ing later. Well...not much more...the imagination will have to take over on this one.

Anyways, the OSU game pretty much went, as planned. Slow start in the first; takeover in the second half with the unbelievable depth against a wore down opponent.

ND- UM. The advent of the term Trunk-F*ck rightfully takes its place in history, during this asswhipping. So after leaving the American Pie, I met with my ATL connections (JL, JL, and TL) and headed over to Taco Mac in Decatur. For those of you not familiar with the chain, it is similar to our beloved BW3. Watched the dismantling of ND, which I really belived that it was over when Burgess intercepted the Quinn pass and "housed" it. Believe it or not..this game sort of reminded me of the 2004 UM-OSU game, where it seemed like OSU could do no wrong. The only things that were different was that the road team was playing the role of OSU and home team got their shit handed to them on national television. Congrats to the UM fathful. I understand that last year was a bit of a downer, but things seem to be looking up. However, there was one constant....ND is still slow at both CB positions...and Steve Breaston has the hands of an offensive lineman. If he holds to a few more balls in this game UM breaks 50...possibly 60.

Auburn-LSU. Since I was in the heart of SEC country, I couldnt possibly miss this game. I wasnt dissapointed in the game. It was low scoring, but "low scoring" in a good way. I am still not sure what to make of that last flag that the refs picked up when LSU was driving at the end of the 4th quarter, but it was really close. They probably should have never even thrown the flag, because nobody in the bar had any doubt that thing was getting picked up. There was no way that the SEC officials were going to try and make that call at Auburn. Auburn and LSU have good defenses, but I am not totally sold that these defenses arent the product of the standard "bad-to-terrible" offensive production that is turning into an SEC mainstay.

Florida-Tennessee. How sad is that you have to bring in a Freshman quarterback to run specific plays (ie Designed QB runs)? I really wonder how Chris Leak would have turned out at another school that runs the West Coast or another Pro-Style scheme. He is not made for Urban warfare, and that is a simple fact. This was also a good game. It seemed that it would come down to whoever had the ball last would probably win, and that seemed to be the case. UT is back though and UF still has a lot of tough games ahead of it.

Nebraska - USC. The Neb got itself royally trunk-fu*ked. I cant believe that I am going to say this, but JD Booty actually looks like a better QB than Leinart did last year. IMO.

Oklahoma - Oregon. Ugly uniforms. Referees performing some TF'ing on Stoops and the boys. I guess that on-side kicks can travel 7.5 yards now before being touched by the kicking team.

Whewww...that was Saturday. Review of terms that were used in discussion or utilized in describing a myriad of including Florida fans, the LSU or Auburn offense in no particular order: douche bag, knob, trunk-fu*ked, trunk-fu*ker, sac (Solid Ass Crazy), Buccaneer Fans Like Their Steaks Sizzlin'...

Other observations.

• Potential Man Law: Guys dont send back food at a BW3-ish establishments. Especially, if you were outside smoking, while the food got cold. Dickheads.
• When you are out of your region, dont ask for your game to be put on the Big Screen at BW3-ish establishment. Same two guys above wanted to watch the Clemson-FSU game....ummm....yeah right. We were in FREAKIN' ATLANTA. You may as well have asked for the Mountain West game of the week to be put on the big screen, as it would have had the same effect. That's right...it was the same two douche bags that were smoking while their food got cold...and they were Buccaneer fans, which I guess is bad thing in Atlanta. I am not sure of the origin of the animosity, but there were many references to Jort-wearing and El Caminos.

Sunday morning...wake up around 10:30AM. Start driving back to Greensboro at 11:00AM. Listened to Atlanta's 680AM Pigskin Tailgate Show, while driving out of the ATL...semi-hungover, but still representing of course. And then it happened, I had made it almost the entire weekend without any SEC smack, but the two guys on the radio were talking college football and talking about the effects on the polls from Saturday's games. There was a consensus that OSU was #1 and that Auburn should be #2. Then a discussion occurred on who would win between War Eagle and the Buckeyes on a neutral field. This is where the massive twitching started to occur while driving.

Here was the tale of the tape...

1. Defense - Auburn. I can live with this, but OSU's defense will be among the best by the end of the year. When has OSU ever had a bad defense...it was probably around the same time that Auburn had a bad defense.
2. Wide Receivers - OSU. Effing...Duh.
3. Running Backs - Auburn. Irons is good and I understand this, but OSU has better depth, and Pittman isnt a slouch.
4. Here is where it gets really good....QB = PUSH. Apparently, this Cox guy is supposedly the next Staubach or something. A fit of violent twitching started occurring while driving. Surprisingly, not enough rage was conjured to set fire to anything, but I really just chalked it up to blind-homerism. Look here "Johnny Auburn" fan, I am not saying that Cox isnt a good QB, but he is not Troy Smith. He is not completing 70% of his passes like Troy Smith, and probably wont do that unless he plays against Buffalo 8 more times this year. This isnt a PUSH and it isnt even close. Auburn fans can feel free to bash me here, but this isnt blind-homerism. If Cox was on the OSU depth chart, he would most likely be the first guy off of the bench...you cant argue science here. Troy Smith isnt a Heisman Candidate for nothing.
5. Overall Netral Field - Homer-tastic SEC-guy gives Auburn the edge...and the reasonable guy gave OSU the slightest of edges. Personally, I still think that SEC is the college hockey equivalent to the CCHA. Teams swear that they beat the crap out of one another in the regular season and dont have anything left in the bowl season. Shenanigans...I say.

So, overall it was great weekend...friends, college football, alcohol, football, alcohol, John Gruden impersonations, UT fans that painted their faces to watch a gmae at a bar, football, the advent of the TF Stickers, which I will now be tallying each week after the games are played, and my first taste of the Jefferson-Pilot (Lincoln Financial) Three Daves Broadcast.

Go Bucks!

FU Nikolai Zherdev....sign already....

OSU 35 - NIU 12 - Missed Tackles, Kickers, and Fumbles...Oh My!

Well....

..it seems to have gone as planned.

Troy and the Wide Receivers...

We finally got to see the offense that we had envisioned from the end of the Fiesta Bowl through Spring and Fall Camp. It was efficient and effective. Troy Smith looked like he could do no wrong, and ...Uh-oh....Ted Ginn learned how to run crisp routes (Sorry Brian). Another bright surprise was the emergence of Brian Robiskie. Robo is first the tall receiver that OSU has had in its stable, since Michael Jenkins was still here in 2003. He replaced Sr. Roy Hall at the 3rd WR spot, due to an ankle injury.

Running Backs...

Antonio Pittman looked solid as usual. It needs to be stated over and over again that we will not see too many 195lb RBs that have the ability pound a defense. This is a strength of Tony and he did not disappoint yesterday. He got his 100 yards and left the field. It was also the debut of uber-frosh Chris Wells. He ran strong and had a very good showing (sans fumble at the goalline). Chris and Antonio pretty much displayed what was expected of them during this game. Now the running back I would really like to talk about is Maurice Wells. This is the guy that Chizik and Mack Brown will be having nightmares about this week. He was finally put into a situation where had some space to work with and not running between the tackles. He took a dump pass and we finally got to see what all of the hype over Maurice was about with a twenty yard scamper. Now only if JT and Co decide to use him a little more. This could possibly happen and might be part of he master plan for next weekend. The offense in general was magnificent, but went very "vanilla" after getting out to the 28-point lead in the first half.

The real test...and kudos...


The defense looked new and inconsistent. There were times that the D-line was in there and causing all sorts of confusion for Horvath and the NIU offense, while there were other times that the intensity was just lacking. From my standpoint, Gholston and Richardson had the best performances on the D-line yesterday. I know that there are a lot of people worrying about the play of the defense, but the fact remains that the O-line that NIU brought into Columbus on Saturday was one of the best it will see all year. It uses a good zone blocking scheme and has NFL-level talent at the tackle and tight end positions. I will admit that it was a bit disconcerting that Wolfe was able to get to the corner a lot on screens and sweeps, but let's give credit where it is due. Wolfe will probably be the best overall running back that this defense will face all year. There may stronger or bigger backs on the schedule, but there isnt a back with better vision and field awareness than Wolfe. When you combine that type of talent with his sheer speed, it becomes awfully hard to stop him. He will have a great year and should be invited to NY for the Heisman ceremony, but it most likely wont be in the cards for the MAC school talent.


Jay Richardson....dreaming of Colt McCoy and bringing the whammy...

I am not even going to talk about the linebacker play in this game. There were too many people rotating into the positions for this game. Larry Grant had a nice interception, but geesh man...wait for your freakin' blockers next time. It was good to see some agressiveness from Homan and Freeman, but there were too many missed tackles. Give credit to Wolfe on this again. He is a very slippery target to bring down. For the Texas game, I just dont see S. Young of Jamaal Charles making the kind of moves that were put on display by Wolfe. No offense to the Texas running backs, but if G. Wolfe was in Austin...Jamaal and Selvin wouldnt be playing very much...IMO.

The secondary...yuck...

Nick Patterson needs to take off the D-Line shoulder pads . Maybe that will make him a look a little faster than Mike D'Andrea. Antonio Smith and Mitchell played pretty well, but, again, missed tackles were the message of the day.

Kicking game....

Trapasso = 1 punt for 43 yards. Could turn into this year's version of Tom Malone.
Pettrey and Pretorious...OMG...We know the conditions were poor, but come on that was too Garrett Rivas-ish for Buckeye tastes...


Donuts are the key....my buckeye friends.

Overall, this was the best way the season opener before the Texas game could turn out. OSU played a team with an experienced O-Line and Backfield and the D played a "bend but dont break" style that we have all come to know and love. We should see a great deal of improvement between week 1 and week 2, as NIU provided a lot of learning material for the coaches this week. The "O" was lights out, but the competition was suspect on the NIU defensive-side of the ball. Regardless, the offense looked solid and will give Chizik and Brown a lot to think about this week in the film room. The offensive explosion in the first half was refreshing and really reminded me of watching a game from the mid-90's where OSU would be up by 35-42 points before the 1st half expired. The best part of the offensive display was that a LOT of players got to play in this game in the second half, which gave the coaches a better chance to the see some of the non-starters show their stuff in a game-situation.