By Mr. Thursday Night
Once again the king of the Big Ten will be the Ohio State Buckeyes. Although the NFL draft hit them hard again, the Buckeyes continue to re-load every season.
Even though the defense lost Laurinaitis, Freeman and Jenkins, this will still be one of the best defenses in the Big Ten. The front line returns Thaddeus Gibson, Cameron Heyward and Doug Worthington. Gibson is the most dynamic pass rusher of the group and could emerge as a big time playmaker now that he is an upperclassman. The secondary will miss Jenkins, but Chimdi Chekwa is a quality corner and safeties Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell will both be three year starters. As long as the Buckeyes can find a replacement for Jenkins, the pass defense will be among the best in the conference and possibly the nation.
As long as Terrelle Pryor is around, Ohio State will have a dynamic offense. Pryor threw for 1,311 yards as a freshman and ran for another 631. Pryor will do damage with his legs no matter what, but how far has he come as a passer? Without Wells around to hand the ball off to, Pryor is going to have to pass more often. The good news is that Pryor only threw four interceptions last year compared to 12 touchdowns. Even if the passing attack struggles, Pryor has proven that he can usually avoid making the big mistake. And the passing game may very well be ineffective this year without Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline. Those two accounted for 12 of the team’s 17 touchdown receptions. The only other player to catch more than one touchdown pass on the season was the now departed tight end Rory Nicol.
USC makes a trip to C-bus this fall and it very well may be payback time for the Big 10. I've got Ohio St. poised for a 4-0, 7-1 and 11-1 overall season landing them in yet another BCS bowl game.
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