(ed. note: boy, that title was a stretch)

For all the handwringing about the progress (or lack thereof) of the offense, come the end of Saturday's game, Buckeye fans may be praising Jim Tressel's ability to slow the game down. A recurring meme that may have died its final death last Saturday is that Ohio State, if not actually slow in terms of overall team speed, "plays slow" on both sides of the ball. On defense, this is almost always a bad thing, for all the obvious reasons. In games against Florida and LSU, it seemed like Ohio State frequently did not want to challenge the opponents' athletes with press coverage, for fear of getting beat deep. The result was an opposing offensive gameplan that consisted mostly of quick slants, dump-offs, screens, quick ins and outs, and other variations on the short and intermediate pass. Both teams, led by senior QBs with a knack for folding under pressure, moved the ball with relative ease. Jim Heacock made some of the changes fans were clamoring for in time for the USC game in 2008.

 But, suffice to say, they didn't work. Mark Sanchez was arguably the best quarterback Ohio State had faced in any of these big games, and played like it. The blitzes came, but they were frequently picked up. But Penn State, Texas and USC '09 could not come up with answers for the Buckeye blitz, struggling to score points in bunches like they were accustomed to, and the myth about Ohio State's lack of speed - on the defensive side of the ball, at least - has gone by the wayside.

But on offense, many will argue that nothing has changed. It's not that Ohio State's athletes are slow anymore, it's that the team "plays slow". Clock management and authoritative running are the name of Ohio State's game, and when it gets out of its tempo - as it did against Florida, LSU and USC - it gets into big trouble. In the past year, Jim Tressel has appeared to rediscover how to keep potent offenses off the field. It worked against Illinois, and it worked - until the soul-stomping end - against Penn State and Texas. Penn State had its worst offensive game of the season, while Texas was held to its fewest points in a game since early October 2007. "Playing slow" - working the clock, etc - will eventually work to Ohio State's benefit in one of these big games, in my estimation, but how will things work against Toledo's tempo-based spread-option attack?

I've always agreed with Coach T about one thing - the best way to stop an opposing offense is to never let them touch the field. Tomorrow, the Buckeye offense will go up against what will probably be the worst defensive front seven it will play all year. Early, JT is going to try to get a feel for the tempo of the game. There are two ways I see this game going down:

- Toledo gets into a rhythm early. If so, expect this game to look a lot like last year's Illinois game, and while the Rockets won't have the decided statistical advantage the Illini had, they'll move the ball with consistency and make this game thoroughly uncomfortable for about three quarters.

- The Buckeye offense rolls from the get-go, and this ends up looking a lot like last year's Northwestern game. I say this because Aaron Opelt reminds me of a less athletic Mike Kafka. Toledo will get its yards, and eventually some points, but Ohio State will dominate both lines of scrimmage, force turnovers and put them away by the half, and we'll be seeing a whole lot of that "Dave" play from there on out.

Whatever happens, I have a feeling Tressel is going to find a way to dictate the game's tempo, and because of that, we'll win. Personally, I expect the Ohio State defensive line to decide things by making Opelt's life a living hell and forcing three or more turnovers.

Go Bucks!