An Early Look: Toledo

In a game that many will (rightly) look at as a road game in name-only, Ohio State will take on the University of Toledo one week after taking on the USC Trojans. No matter how that game ends up, Ohio State will be physically tested, and like Troy last year, Toledo serves as the proverbial "trap game". Ohio State and Toledo have met once in the past, a 49-0 barnrape that left no questions as to where Ohio State stood in the national title race that year (ARGH BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD). Now, eleven years later, a Toledo squad under a new head coach looks to be cannon fodder for a rebuilding Buckeye team

Tim Beckman took the job shortly after Tom Amstutz departed, having been the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State for all of two seasons (in which the Cowboys finished 101st and 94th in 2007 and 2008, respectively). Beckman had been the cornerbacks coach at Ohio State, and was likely instrumental in the development of one Malcolm Jenkins, who he coached in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. So Beckman has history at Ohio Stadium, but he's probably thanking some lucky stars he doesn't have to take his team there this fall. Instead, this game will be played in Cleveland Browns stadium. Woo. Toledo is, of course, traditionally known for offense, being a MAC team that can't quite lock down top defensive prospects but will gladly pick up any and all Big Ten leftovers. While it won't be anywhere near as challenging as the first two weeks, stopping the Toledo offense won't be easy. More after the jump.

Rockets you should care about:

Aaron Opelt was the starting quarterback for the Rockets last season, passing for over 2000 yards and tossing twelve touchdowns. He's vaguely mobile; Scout has him timed at a probably-fake 4.6 40, and he rushed for five touchdowns on the year. I expect Toledo to use his mobility in whatever way possible, given Ohio State's past struggles against mobile quarterbacks. Morgan Williams was a true freshman last year who racked up just over 1000 yards on the ground, scoring six times. DaJuane Collins is the flip-side of Toledo's two-tailback system, a senior who notched nearly 800 yards on the ground to go with five touchdowns of his own. When and if Ohio State shuts down the Toledo rushing attack, they'll be looking to Stephen Williams, a 6'5" match-up problem who scored 8 touchdowns in 2008.

On defense, Archie Donald is a marginal pro prospect and tackling machine who had 119 stops for the Rockets last year.

Interesting / Relevant Statistics and facts: ( numbers garnered from College Football Stats and the NCAA Statistics Website)

Toledo's passing attack is actually rather straightforward; last year, two guys had over 70 catches with the next highest pass-catcher had a piddly 29. They lose two of those three guys, but unfortunately, they return Stephen Williams, their leading receiver from last year. The next best returning player, Robin Bailey, caught 15 balls last year in limited time. Look for him to be the number two guy against Ohio State.

Toledo played two BCS-conference opponents during last year's 3-9 campaign; Arizona and Michigan. The Wildcats and the Wolverines held the Rockets to 46 carries for 144 yards; roughly 3.13 yards a pop.

However, Toledo rushed for over 200 yards three times last year; against Fresno State, Eastern Michigan, and Miami of Ohio. They scored 6(!) touchdowns on the ground against the Redhawks.

Defensively, Toledo returns 12 of their top 13 tacklers from the 2008 season. I wouldn't expect this unit to be hemorraghing points to Ohio State, merely looking at that number.

And if you're really worried about Aaron Opelt, 9 of his 12 touchdowns on the year came against the likes of Akron, Fresno State and Eastern Michigan

Early Prediction: The Ohio State offense will get off to one of its customary slow starts, but boneheaded plays by Toledo in the early going put this one out of reach by the latter part of the second quarter. Ohio State will almost assuredly score by fumble return or interception, and Terrelle Pryor will mostly take a backseat to a good effort between the tackles by Boom Herron, who goes for over 100 yards by the late third quarter. The offensive stats won't look pretty, and Toledo will get their yards, but in the end, Ohio State will coast to a ho-hum 34-12 victory over the hapless Rockets, who would have made it more of a game if they held onto the football. It will be a boring outing, thankfully shortened by Tressel's unswerving commitment to the run.

If we win:  I'll probably be asleep when we're up by twenty in the third quarter anyway

If we lose:  March on the WHAC and refuse to leave until we get either the head (figuratively, people) of Heacock or Bollman. Then burn it down anyway.