When Jermil Martin tore into the Minnesota secondary this past weekend, Ohio State fans - whether they realized it or not - were in the middle of witnessing three things they had not seen for most of the season:

1. A gaping hole in an opposing defensive line
2. Broken tackles
3. A running back breaking away from at least one group of defenders on his way to a touchdown

This confluence of events inspired one thought at the outset: "OMG JERMIL MARTIN". In the immediate aftermath of his smashing, brawling, incredibly entertaining scoring scamper, cooler heads began to prevail: Young Jermil is only a part of a puzzle that is still being pieced together by the Ohio State coaching staff. It's been a confusing season on the whole for the Ohio State rushing attack, as it has been the first prolonged period since 2004 in which the running game was not a steady rock on which the team can, as Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes might put it, thoroughly rely.

It wasn't until the game against Toledo that the running game became more than just a minor concern. While it did not break any big plays against Navy, it totaled 159 yards (not counting lost sack yardage) on 38 attempts and was just enough to get by the Midshipmen. Nobody expected rip-roaring success against USC, and given the offensive line's noted recent inability to perform against the best of teams, 30 carries for 88 yards wasn't particularly shocking. Nevertheless, consternation first began to arise after this game as a result of starter Dan Herron's numbers (18 totes for 44 yards). He did not impress, and did not look like the player he had been in 2008. USC was brutal, but it's tough to deny that it wasn't at least somewhat expected.

Against the Rockettes, however, the running game was good enough to deceive the eyes, racking up 247 yards overall. Pryor was the reason nearly half of that yardage; Daniel Herron struggled again, while Brandon Saine totaled 45 yards on 9 carries. Seems just fine, until you realize that 31 of those yards came on one play. The attack actually appeared to be most consistent when true freshman Jordan Hall was taking handoffs; the youngster would eventually carry the ball 6 times for 44 yards, still averaging greater than 4 yards a carry when you subtract his longest run (17 yards) of the day. 247 yards total was a tad misleading, as nearly half of it came on each back's longest run of the day. Outside of that, it was surprisingly tough slogging against a MAC team.

Nevertheless, the game marked the first of three straight games in which Ohio State rushed for 200 or more yards. Brandon Saine in particular began to develop a bit of stranglehold on the position, buoyed by a 100-yard day against Indiana and showing a big play ability that no other back had displayed to that point. Then, as frequently happens for young teams, the pendulum swung back the other way. Wisconsin mostly throttled the entire Ohio State attack, and limited the Buckeyes to 97 yards on the ground. Dan Herron was injured and didn't play much; Saine never broke loose. When the game happened, I was willing to ascribe the lack of impressive numbers to Wisconsin's annoying ability to hold onto the ball for ages at a time, moving the ball just past the first down marker seemingly on every crucial third down play.

A week later, Ohio State completely abandoned the run when the going got tough in West Lafayette, giving only seven carries to its 2nd-best offensive weapon Brandon Saine, and forcing Pryor to shoulder the load. It's tough to look at this game as anything but a statistical outlier; the Ohio State offense could not stay on the field, seemingly made no attempt to establish the run when Purdue showed signs of life, and the offense in general had its worst day of the year against one of the Big Ten's worst defenses. While the offense's struggles are noted, I think the rushing numbers are a tad anomalous; they're skewed by sacks counted as rushes, yards lost to sacks, and Ohio State's "holy shit we're down 2-3 scores" offense. Purdue did a good job of limiting Saine after his early 20-yard rush, but 6 carries simply are too small of a sample size to prove that Saine wouldn't be effective throughout the rest of the game. To me, that's just a shockingly bad coaching decision from a staff I usually trust in this department.

This past week, Ohio State was given the opportunity to make up for the sins of its rushing past, and largely did, totaling 270 rushing yards with each back's longest run combining 1/3rd of the total. It was things it had not been since probably the Indiana and Illinois game:  consistent, physical, and reminiscent of the Ohio State ground games of yesteryear (and I mean that yesteryear bit literally). But we've seen this already this year, and even I was a bit hesitant to declare the ground attack "saved". If it follows the same pattern, get ready for the comedown games; if not this week than the following three. If it doesn't, the Buckeyes will rip through NMSU like tissue paper and head into Happy Valley with a bevy of momentum and half of the offensive Death Star fully operational (and I'm aware that that makes little-to-no sense). 

I have made some excuses in the past for this offense based on its youth; I've done the same for Pryor, and this past week he began to justify my leniency by showing some genuine progression in his game. The ground game is much the same way; it, much like Terrelle himself, looked excellent against Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota, while taking some serious steps back against Wisconsin and Purdue. I know this is not some shocking relevation, but in every game this year but one (Toledo), Pryor's performance has been directly correlated to how much help he gets on the ground. Against NMSU, I expect both to flourish. Against PSU, well... I have long agreed with the general principle that Jim Tressel's teams consistently improve as the year goes on, rarely regressing and typically looking like worldbeaters while closing seasons that began relatively inauspiciously (think 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008). The Purdue debacle made me question the wisdom of the maxim, but it did not entirely refute it. If Ohio State's going to miss Brandon Saine for a week, this is the best week for that to happen. They will need him back for Happy Valley, as two freshmen running backs, even ones as prodigious as Martin and Hall, will not lead Ohio State to victory. Nevertheless, the history of Ohio State football under Jim Tressel tells me that this team will be in far better shape a week from now than it was a week ago, as it almost always is, and by association, the ground game will be a much stronger, more versatile component of the gameplan than it was against Purdue and Wisconsin. Could a similar collapse happen again? Of course, but to believe that will happen is to believe something about  the way Jim Tressel develops a team across a season has changed, and I don't think it has.  If my crystal ball is correct, that little game in State College just got even more interesting.