Bucknotes isn't willing to settle so easily

What's best for Ohio State and the Big Ten - College Football Nation - ESPN
Making the Capital One Bowl so we don't get blown out in the BCS. Yikes. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rittenberg.

 OSU notebook: Schwartz kicks himself for not blocking punt
That's just brutal for the walk-on. Really, I feel for him.

 Inside the Beat: Pulse is weak, but there's still life
Oller (bearable for once) and May go over the USC game, and come away with most of the same things I did. One interesting bit:

[Tressel] calls the plays, but sees himself as more the arbiter/decider of the constant observations/suggestions from his five other offensive coaches.

Could it be that the lackluster offensive playcalling (which I feel has played a reduced in this year's team's struggles) isn't just a failure of Tressel and Bollman's imagination, but of the entire offensive staff's collective lack of innovation? Sorry if you now need a change of underwear.

Torrence named defensive player of the week
No offensive players win an award, but Torrence earns POTW honors for his eight tackles, a sack, and a critical pass break-up. Jon Thoma gets rewarded for putting USC consistently in bad field position, while the "Attack Force" award goes to  Cam Heyward, who impressed from the end position. I really didn't think he'd have a great game, but I was dead wrong.

Blowouts apparently are no-nos (Blogging the Buckeyes)
Ohio State hasn't beaten a top-10 team by 3 TDs or more in a loooooooooooooong time; No. 4 Penn State in '96 was a 31 point shellacking, but really, that's about it. We don't historically take the greats to the woodshed.

…And Now For Something Completely Different | Our Honor Defend
OHD gets your warmed up for the Toledo game in Cleveland. I am a trifle concerned with their offense, but their defense might be the 2nd-worst unit Ohio State plays all year, outside of New Mexico. If the offense doesn't have a field day, please resume your normal handwringing.

Ohio State better shut the doors; the Toledo Rockets make house calls - cleveland.com
This story reads like it was written by a 5th-grader on crack, but I agree with the gist - Toledo's offense is fast-paced, can score quickly, and is productive, and will represents a very serious danger for a Buckeye team that consistently plays down to overmatched opponents. But let's get real here: Toledo just has not played a defense a fraction as athletic as Ohio State's, and they're going to be running that offense in a road environment, even if they technically are the "home team" for this game in Cleveland Browns Stadium. I worry that this game will be close for a half, and I worry about the team's mentality coming off another hearbreaker, but again, if Ohio State can't go ape on Toledo's defense, we need to start seriously revising down our expectations for this team. They should be fine. If the defense plays like it did against SC for three-and-a-half quarters, Toledo won't score a point.

NUMBERED OBSERVATIONS ON A GAMEDAY IN COLUMBUS
Orson gets it pretty much spot on. Is it weird that in the first three pics, I know almost exactly where he's standing?