Don't Sleep On September

I've seen a few people confidently predicting that Ohio State, outside of the USC game, will roll through September. Dudes: no.

While I don't think Ohio State will finish the month with a 1-3 mark, this young team won't be given time to breathe outside of the Toledo game. A team breaking in a mostly new set of linebackers would not want to face Navy in its first game. Expect that game to look quite a bit like the Ohio game; Navy will stick around for a half, Ohio State will get one or two breaks, the Middies will melt down, and we'll find ourselves with a closer-than-you-think two-touchdown win. This can happen to Ohio State even if Ohio State is the killer our biggest homers think it will be. Navy is a solid, solid outfit, one that Buckeye fans should at least be wary of..

I can't say anything about SC that I haven't already said a billion times over, except for this: consider the mental impact the game will have on the team. A game this big will affect the entire team's mentality no matter what the outcome. If Ohio State's never competitive in an ugly loss (probably the least likely scenario), expect this year to look a lot like last year. If Ohio State barely loses, hope for the season doesn't quite renew, but hey - it's better than a blowout. The team will have that much more motivation to finally close the deal come bowl season after two straight near-misses. If the Buckeyes shock the college football world - and that's exactly what it would be, because no one outside of Columbus likes the Buckeyes in this one, injuries, suspensions and all - then the staff still has to guard against arrogance and complacency from the team - something they couldn't do when the Buckeyes triumped over 2nd-ranked Michigan in 2006. Fortunately, the staff will have games following the USC game to keep the Buckeyes focused this time around.

Toledo will be the only chance Ohio State will have to relax just a bit. Even so, the staff probably won't hesitate to remind them that the Rockets did beat a BXI team just last year. Of all the potential MACrifices Ohio State could face following the USC game, the Rockets are one of the more dangerous squads. Stop laughing, I mean it.

I still keep having to remind people: don't sleep on Illinois. They could be anywhere from 5-7 to 10-2 with Zook in charge, and it's no doubt that the Buckeye defense has been rather kind to Juice Williams in the past: he has racked up 450 yards total offense by himself in the last two outings against Ohio State combined. Illinois returns 16 starters from last year, and actually improves at wide receiver with the newly-eligible Jerred Fayson, a Florida transfer who gives them a second deep threat to go with Arrelious Benn. Illinois' fortunes this year depend on which Juice Williams shows up: Awesome, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin-beatin' Juice or terrible, 9-picks-in-the-last-5-games Juice. If it's the former, Illinois just might be the third national noise-maker on Ohio State's schedule.

And all of this is happening in just the first month, which will be rife with storylines for both the team and the conference at large. Unless Michigan surges towards the end of the year, this is undoubtedly the most interesting string of regular season games Ohio State has played since 2006. In the words of Terrell Owens, getcha popcorn ready.