News of the Ohio State offense's continued struggles in the preseason intrasquad jersey scrimmage has created both a little bit of excitement at the defense's prospects and apprehension over the offense's. As has been the case since for a few years running, the defense showed up and played marvelously. In 2007, this heralded the arrival of a dominant, number-one ranked overall squad that held conference opponents to an average of slightly less than 13 points per game. In 2008, the offense couldn't reclaim the Scarlet jerseys, and as we saw throughout the season, it was at least partially of its own doing, rather than the defense's dominance. In 2009, the defense managed to retain its jersey, despite a surge from the offense later in the game. What does this scrimmage mean for this year?

Well, luckily, a few key players didn't see any action: Austin Spitler and Justin Boren both sat out the game with injuries, and so did Lamaar Thomas, Lawrence Wilson, and Jake Stoneburner. To say the squad was at full health would be lying. But you already knew that. Bullet time!

• Much is being made of the struggles with the running attack outside of Herron, but reports from the scrimmage seem to agree that the line has improved its run-blocking over what we saw in the Fiesta Bowl. This is actually a pretty big development: in the first half of the Fiesta Bowl, the line did quite well for itself against a very talented Texas front seven that would end up third-best against the run nationally. In the second half though, Texas adjusted, and largely limited the Buckeye rushing attack outside of Herron's late TD run that put the Buckeyes ahead. (*sniff*) It's important to note that this all went down without the best blocker on the line. A healthy Justin Boren could make this one of the more devastating rushing attacks in the country.
  
• While the blocking improved, the stats may not necessarily show it: While Herron was running free with 10 carries for 53 yards, Saine and Berry combined for 9 carries and 25 yards. Berry had all sorts of problems, conjuring up premature worries of another four years of Maurice Wells' dance-and-drop routine. Remember what I've said about him in the past: he will struggle mightily if forced to play a Beanie Wells/Maurice Clarett-type of game. If the staff uses him in ways similar to the way it handled the undersized Antonio Pittman, he will flourish. If not, expect to see more stat lines like that this year.
• Ken Gordon noted that three different guys got beaten on the six sacks, ("without the benefit of replay", however) and two of them were back-ups. One, unfortunately, was senior OT Jim Cordle.
• Jordan Hall, another smaller back, impressed, and he's a bit more in the Pittman mold than Berry as a runner. I'm not sure he'll contribute much this year, but it's definitely a good sign for the running game post Herron/Saine.
  
• Pryor and Posey have developed a bit of chemistry, which is very good news, as Pryor seemed to lack it to at least some extent with his receivers last year. That it's Posey is even better, because he's got the most potential out of this entire crop of WRs
• That Ohio State gave up one of its touchdown to Rocco Pentello running the Navy offense would be worrisome if it didn't seem like so much of a fluke. Not to make excuses, but Pentello is a pretty stellar athlete: he received an offer from Cincinnati and heavy interest from Michigan State and West Virginia before getting the Buckeye offer. He's a legit FBS defensive back running a pretty tricksy offense, and he has experience at QB. It's not a good thing he scored on a 33-yard run, but it's also not all that surprising.
  
• Pryor's no-contact jersey was sort of a big deal; he was essentially forced to remain in the pocket, and that just isn't his game right now, no matter how much he may think otherwise. Without it, we probably wouldn't have seen quite so many sacks.
• The underwhelming passing totals are a good sign that the downfield passing game simply isn't there yet. Passes into the flats were a surprisingly common sight, but they weren't netting much in the way of yardage. Good news: Pryor has begun hitting the slant consistently, even in the face of pressure. He isn't hitting anyone 30 yards downfield, but right now, it's the small things, and I'll take it.
• Something that few people are talking about in the wake of the apparent offensive anemia is the very real possibility that the defense may just end up being an even better unit than it was last year. They were without Austin Spitler and Lawrence Wilson - one starter and one probable major contributor - and they clearly dominated most of the game. Brian Rolle looked great, flowing to the ball and attacking like a veteran. Ross Homan looked solid, albeit in limited action. Cameron Heyward notched two sacks before rolling his ankle. This front seven may actually end up competing with Penn State's as the conference's best when all is said and done, and that is a huge helping hand for this young offense as they continue to grow and progress.