My Ohio State Buckeyes take the week off, so to speak, by playing Kent State, and through no fault of their own end up ranked #1 in the AP, Coaches, AND the BCS. Outrageous. This is just the kind of year it's been for college football. Especially when you look at who is ranked behind them South Florida? Boston College? Clearly there is something wrong with the picture.
Most of the football world (the jealous and the haters from the SEC, the Big East, and the Pac 10), hate the fact that OSU has risen to these lofty heights a) During a rebuilding year b) After losing the title game last year 41-14 and c) Without playing an SEC schedule and d) While the Big 10 is "down."
In terms of objection a, I am as surprised as anyone, but at OSU it's all about defense, and this team is playing bend but don't break a lot like that 2002 team.
With objection b, all I can say is that last year's title game was a black swan. A freak statistically. You've just got to throw it out. It revealed a lack of preparation and game readiness that is nowhere in evidence today, was nowhere in evidence last year during their undefeated regular season. Even if you look at 2005, their last two regular season losses were against eventual national champions Texas, and the infamous white out game at Penn State (a notoriously tough place for the Buckeyes to play.
In terms of objection c, I'm just going to throw out all of my good will here and say that I hate the SEC, its Nascar-ification of College football, and its self-important status as best conference ever. It's all nonsense. And now they're whining because the conference is too tough and no one can get through undefeated. When other conferences, like the Big 10, are competitive we are told that the conference is "down." Maybe LSU and Florida should try winning their games instead of complaining.
Which leads me to objection d. When people say the Big 10 is down, what they mean is that Michigan is down. That's it. And frankly the Wolverines seem to be recovering. What you're seeing week to week is Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, Northwestern, Michigan State and Iowa all knocking the crap out of each other. It's not that the league is down, if anything all of the teams are much more competitive than they were last year, and there are no "easy" games.
What's revealing about Ohio State is that they've completely shutdown the Big 10 competition each time they've faced them. Purdue is averaging 36.4 points per game, Minnesota 31, and Northwestern 28.1. Against the Buckeye defense: 7 points each. Barely. In garbage time.
This is a trend, and the mark of a potential champion.
