Now that I have your attention (unless you're gay, female, vegetarian, or not particularly entranced by mythical horned beasts), let's talk about New Mexico State. Sorry, I have to do this. It's in my contract.

Did we learn anything new today, watching Ohio State beat a hopelessly overmatched tin can with a bloody tire iron for three quarters? I happen to think we did.  While we didn't get the four quarters of offensive brilliance I was hoping for, partly thanks to Pryor playing exactly one half, there was marked progress. Chiefly in the second quarter for the offense, just enough on a couple different TD drives to outweigh the potential regression exemplified by two NMSU turnovers resulting in no points. Two things in particular improved in tandem: Pryor, and the play of the line. Neither were as dominant as they probably should have been, but they showed enough to keep hope alive for a victory in Happy Valley.

The Good

- I think after the first few drives, the offensive line finally settled down and really dominated in the trenches. They actually asserted themselves, and did what they had to against a bad NMSU front seven. They looked far better today than they did against a comparable front in Toledo, for instance. So that's measurable progress, albeit against bad teams (although they handled a not-that-bad Minnesota front well last week, too).

- Pryor was hit and miss (11/23 for 135, 1 TD, 9 carries for 83 yards), but I think the lack of stats belie some improvement in his game. I think he's doing a much better job of two things than he was just two weeks ago: he's actually setting to make his throws, and he's making his reads quicker. That said, he still has some work to do: he seems to have inverted the arm punt, way overshooting guys and hoping they'll catch up to the ball downfield. Technically, this is an improvement; while arm punts are guaran-damn-teed picks, this is just wildly incomplete. One thing's for certain: dude's got a cannon.

- Jordan Hall, aka Baby 'Tonio, might just be our best running back. He needs to get significant carries next week, as does Jermil Martin in any and all red zone situations from here on out. The only reason Brandon Saine and Daniel Herron are still getting the bulk of the carries is seniority. Yes, I'm aware that each scored a touchdown, but Saine's came on an option pitch, while Herron was the beneficiary of a incredibly ill-timed NMSU blitz, which took half of the Aggie defense to the wrong side of the field. I still think both would be great behind a better offensive line, but Jordan Hall is the one making it happen right now. Insert "hot hand" cliché here, but it's true.

- The defense really didn't have to do much to make NMSU's offense look awful. At the time of this writing, NMSU had 54 yards on 42 plays. At least one half of this team did exactly What it was supposed to do. I know the Aggies are bad, but I wasn't quite expecting this level of dominance. I'm just a little bit closer to chalking up Purdue's offensive success as a fluke/"the one bad game"/Purdue simply executing well. There literally isn't a bad thing that can be said about this defense's performance today.

The Bad

It wasn't all roses.

- Going scoreless in the first quarter was simply pathetic. In the wake of 45-0 win, this seems like nitpicking. But a slow start won't fly like that at Penn State. Penn State isn't going to out-incompetent us for an entire quarter to keep the game scoreless. Last week was a slow half-long start; this week was a slow quarter-long. If you're willing to call that progress, be my guest. Right now, I'm incredibly frustrated with the way this team comes out.

-Aaron Pettrey going down was tragic, considering he's a senior, but I'm not sure how much he'll be missed. Devin Barclay wasn't totally solid, but he showed the hallmarks of at least a strong leg. Doesn't appear to be particularly accurate. Is our factory below the 'Shoe, the one that breeds excellent kickers, out of commission due to the recession?

The Downright Confusing

- Not a whole lot here today, as I think I'm getting used to this team's issues and realizing they aren't necessarily outliers. Pryor in street clothes to start the second half was a little odd, and sparked some talk around the Buckeye internets about him tweaking a hammy on a run late in the second quarter. I don't know accurate that actually is, and I think the announcers would have made more of a note of it (rather than just casually wondering if there was an injury at point in the third quarter). My best guess is that he had some soreness, told Tressel about it, and Tressel said "fuck it, we aren't wasting you on NMSU". Nothing serious.

- The trick play. My best guess is that Tressel wanted to see if it would work against the worst team Ohio State will play all year. Just toying with NMSU, like a kid using a magnifying glass to fry ants. We'll never see it again.

I think the offense is approaching something resembling consistency. This is far too late in the season for this to be considered "AWESOME!", but at least the ground game is good, when Ohio State puts in mind to it (which it didn't in the Purdue game). However, the passing game just isn't good enough, barring massively blown coverages, to actually beat a team like Penn State. The defense should keep Ohio State in every game from here on out, and the running game should do enough (but only after the first quarter, apparently) to shorten games and keep the other offense off the field. That could be a recipe for a win against Iowa and almost certainly will be against Michigan, but against Penn State.... nah. Not until this passing attack grows a set.