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Originally Posted by Niger Angelus
I agree. I feel OSU could beat USC. OSU should be #2 in the polls next year with Texas #1 and USC #3, Penn St. #4 and Notre Dame #5.
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Although Herbstreit, and various other espn cfb pundits have said OSU is #1 if VY doesnt return, im going to disagree. It drives me crazy how much of an emphasis is put on a team with a decent offense as opposed to a great defense. Defense came up big for Texas this year, USC's D was the mainstay of their run last year, LSU in 2003 was a defensive team, and OSU in 2002 was all about defense.
Ive said it once and ill say it again, this was OSU's year to win another national title under Tressel. All the pieces were in place except for a TE that forgot how to play football over the summer, and a QB that was suspended giving up all his offseason reps costing him the experience and poise needed to perform like he did in the 2nd half of the season from the start.
Next year Ohio State loses the following notable players...
Offense
*Ryan Hamby TE (thank god)
*Rob Sims OL (this one hurts)
*Nick Mangold OL (one of the best centers in the nation)
*Santonio Holmes WR (should be the first WR taken in the draft)
Defense
*Mike Kudla DE (most underrated lineman in OSU history, will likely break the NFL bench press record, simply a beast)
*AJ Hawk LB(nations best linebacker)
*Bobby Carpenter LB (great lb, talented enough to drop down to DE)
*Anthony Schlegel LB (hard hitting inside linebacker)
*Nate Salley S (terrible in coverage, but can lay the wood)
*Tyler Everett S (was the best in the secondary)
*Donte Whitner CB (a junior who just declared, a huge loss)
*Marcus Green DE (decent player nothing hard to replace)
The be brief the OSU offense can go be amazing or terribly mediocre. Hinging on the following
1. Teddy Ginn or Anthony Gonzalez stepping up to be the go to guy for Troy Smith. In short both need to be amazing to not allow for any D's to double team them.
2. OSU has a running back that gets 100 yards nearly every game. Granted Troy will get his yards, but Pitmann needs to be more consistent in his performances. The one huge factor could be incoming freshmen Chris Wells, the nations #1 running back. He could very easily be the next great OSU running back.
3. The OL gels early. Despite two huge loses OSU has the talent already on the bench to replace them, how quickly they put it together will determine the outcome in Austin.
Defense
While OSU, i feel, has players that can fill the vacancies left behind nicely. It wont come close to comparing to the Defense OSU fielded this past year. There is talent, but no experience which will cost them, and derail any hopes of making a fiesta bowl next year.
My Top 10 (based on potential):
1. Texas (only if VY returns)
2. LSU (loads of talent)
3. USC (still walks away with the Pac-10)
4. Miami (Kyle Wright has breakout year)
5. Oklahoma (much like OSU reloaded in 2004, OU did so this year, they have enormous amounts of talent, and if not for VY would win the Big 12)
6. WVU (good offense, shitty conference)
7. ND (17 returning starters, but their Defense will still suck, until they can play on both sides of the ball dont expect a return trip to the desert)
8. OSU (with whitner now leaving, i dont see OSU ever recovering on D. Troy smith will make mistakes and wont have anyone to bail him out.)
9. UM (assuming Hart stays healthy)
10. VTech (although i hope Vick snaps his neck)