Alright, let's get this out of the way first: Oregon is not going to get "exposed" by a top-10 defense, it has faced athletic, competent defenses before, and it has done well against them. Boise State was not a "fluke" per se, but it's impossible to deny that the Oregon offense has progressed since then. It's not the most balanced of attacks, but it doesn't have to be when it averages 236 yards on the ground. I feel safe in saying that just slowing down Oregon's offense will be the biggest challenge Ohio State's defense has confronted this year.

Is it up to the task? Well, the match-ups are roughly even across the board, but there are a few to worry about. Let's take a look at them.

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The debate surrounding Oregon's defense began immediately following the Ducks' 37-33 win over Oregon State, and has yet to cease. Addicted To Quack, using statistical rankings adjusted to reflect strength of schedule, has put forth the reasoned Oregon argument quite well:

Now, I'm not gonna sit here and say that Oregon's defense is better than OSU's. It's not. But, it's a lot closer than any Buckeye fan is willing to admit. Looking at these statistics, Oregon has the 15th ranked defense in the country, and beyond that has the 10th ranked rushing defense in the country (mostly because they have faced a lot of really good rushing teams). These results really shouldn't be a surprise. Oregon is giving up only 4.6 yards per play on the season, good for 11th nationally. And they are giving up only 3.41 yards per rush, good for 24th nationally (again, let's remember that S&P+ takes into account opponent strengths).

And The Rivalry, Esq. has responded with a comparable amount of stat-wonkery:

Adjusted to reflect the quality of opponents, and number of snaps, Ohio State's defense is allowing 26.9% less points per game than Oregon's defense.  Coming into the Rose Bowl Oregon is scoring 8.4 more points a game than Ohio State on average (29.3 points versus 37.7 points).  Adjusting these figures to reflect Ohio State's defensive advantage (e.g. the 26.9 percent scoring differential), the Buckeyes have a 2 point advantage on paper heading into the game.

I suggest reading both articles so that you can fully understand both sides' respective points. You're probably expecting me to take a side here.

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Florida coach Urban Meyer steps down for health reasons - ESPN (caution: autoplay video)
The WTF story of the week, with Urban Meyer stepping down from the Gators' coaching position due to health reasons. Now, there are some crazy Buckeye fans out there who think Meyer is a lock for our next head coach, the fact that he has (or had) nothing to leave Gainesville for notwithstanding. While assuming a "non-football position"  within the Florida AD at the age of 45 makes Meyer ripe for every coaching rumor from here until he either actually takes one or officially retires from the world of sport, I tend to think no one would retire from UF right now, even post-Tebow, if they aren't suffering from something very, very serious; something that precludes them from ever returning to coaching again. So while Meyer would (and may still be) the sexy pick for Jim Tressel's successor down the road, I personally wouldn't want to thrust the Ohio State job on anyone who isn't fully equipped to deal with the insane amount of pressure that comes with it. I have no doubts that Meyer would deliver on expectations, but if that comes at the expense of his health, I'd want no part of it.

(EDIT: Or.... not? I maintain that, regardless of how this all works out, the man has no reason to leave Gainesville for Columbus, and I hope our AD is smart enough to politely request once, take no for an answer, and immediately move on to its options 1B and 2 when the time comes after the next five or so years)

Every holiday a journey | BuckeyeXtra
Fluff piece about Jon Thoma's far-flung holiday treks to see his international family. As if his Christmas wasn't stressful enough, he also has to worry about bowl prep.

Time to perform: Days of Pryor growing into QB job are running short | BuckeyeXtra
No point in getting outraged with Pryor when the alternatives are Joe Bauserman and a true freshman afterthought. I will concede this: if Pryor's Rose Bowl performance registers a thorough "yikes", as opposed to a "meh" or "holy crap, tangible improvement!", the quarterback competition should be wide open in the spring.

Suspensions put reserves in Rose Bowl game: Ohio State Football Insider | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
Thomas and Washington will have to catch the one or two balls Carter and/or Small would have caught if they were eligible. I'm being slightly sarcastic, but let's be honest: we'll miss Small's work more on special teams than we will anywhere else.

Ohio State football team seeks balance of work and play | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
All play didn't work against Florida, all work didn't fly against LSU, and whatever worked against Texas caused Anderson Russell to lose his GD mind.

Ohio State on Forbes’ most-valuable teams list
Behind Penn State, even, but well ahead of Michigan, who dropped from #4 on the list to #11. For the record, this is determined by how much money is left over to pay for non-revenue sports after football. Ohio State has 30+ non-revenue sports to pay for, while Penn State, uh, doesn't. But hey, that's good for them - they don't have to put off stadium renovations and facility upgrades so the Women's Rifling team can attend their postseason tournament.

Germaine rallies Buckeyes | mansfieldnewsjournal.com | Mansfield News Journal
Revisiting Ohio State's last trip to Pasadena.

Urban Meyer’s Sudden Retirement Could Affect Ohio State’s Recruiting | WaitingForNextYear
May get us in contention for Matt Elam - brother of Browns safety Abe Elam - but I wouldn't count on it.

Ohio State and Oregon could be rusty after layoff -- latimes.com
So the layoff excuse can be utilized as such by... both teams? That's depressing.

Playoffs losing support, Gee says | BuckeyeXtra
I like Gordon Gee, and I've seen him strolling around campus on numerous occasions, but his opposition to college football playoffs sets this program farther back than Jim Tressel's brand of offensive football. Him being in favor of conference expansion signals a willingness to strengthen the appeal of the Big Ten, but he apparently thinks those who want to do the same for the sport at large can basically suck it.

Titus, an Ohio State Basketball Scrub, Stars as a Blogger - NYTimes.com

Mark Titus, founder of Club Trillion, gets profiled in the New York Times.

Merry Christmas to you Christians / disinterested non-believers, Happy Hanukkah to you Jews, and a Krazy (?) Kwanzaa to those of you who celebrate it. Whatever you celebrate in the vague period of time between Thanksgiving and New Year's, I hope it goes/went well for you and yours, even if you root for Michigan and kill puppies for a living. I'll be back Monday with more basketball talk and some Oregon previewin' here and there. Until then, have a nice holiday season.

First half:

(I missed the first five or so minutes)

- Gray uniforms. *yawn*

- David Lighty started strong from beyond the perimeter, which surprised me. I still envision him as a drive-first, perimeter-second guy

- The team is taking smart shots on the whole, which is an encouraging development, but the shots just aren't falling. CSU is leaving some guys open, and they're just clanking off the rim.

- Kyle Madsen might become a member of Club Multi-Trill; he's been on the field for minutes and has yet to make an impact on the stat sheet.

- We're on a patented, Butler-tested (and approved!) 5-minute scoring drought once again.

- Hey, Madsen had an assist!

- It looks like CSU switched from man to (3-2?) zone defense and that had the Buckeyes completely flustered for an extended period of time.

- Good finishing effort after a slow start from Buford. Five points to close the half and it's 31-23. Not sure if I'm happy about the offensive performance, which was balanced but annoyingly cold at times. Defensively, we're alright with almost whatever we deploy, but CSU is getting a few plays inside on drives that could portend bad things for the future.

Second half notes and closing thoughts after the break...

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For those of you who don't spend your days obsessing over the inner thought processes of 17 and 18-year-old kids, I figured I'd do a quick holiday rakrootin' update. In truth, I don't follow recruiting much, though that never stopped me from typing up wordy updates in the past. I figured that, given the relative doldrums between relevant basketball and the Rose Bowl, now would be a good time to get a bead on exactly how this recruiting class is shaping up.

There hasn't been much in the way of news since the season started; after August, the Buckeyes received commitments from Verlon Reed, a QB/S tweener who may act as an emergency quarterback if injuries become an issue, and WR Corey Brown (not that Corey Brown).

As of right now, the class has just 15 commits, and is rated the 21st best in the country by Scout and a middling 27th by Rivals. No, it's not PANIC MODE! time, even though the yokels at Scout are predictably wailing. This is a small class, and both recruiting services tend to reward larger recruiting classes with higher rankings; the top 8 classes on Rivals all have 20 or more commitments while the top 18 on Scout have 19 or more. Since the staff can only sign roughly 20 players given scholarship limits, we can consider ourselves roughly on schedule.  If you're still worried about the rankings, sort by average star/player on either site, and the Buckeyes wind up in the top 10 or 12. Insert "quality over quantity" cliché here.

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How about Big 14? -- chicagotribune.com
Seriously? What three schools could we possibly add that would make the conference "better" in either revenue sport?

Big Ten juniors facing NFL decisions - Big Ten Blog - ESPN
Chekwa leaving early would be another Ashton Youboty/Brian Hartline decision that gets blasted for four months until he gets taken in like the 3rd round. Personally, I think he should come back and develop into a 2nd-round, perhaps even a late first-round talent, but then again, I'm probably just being a homer.

The Big Ten's division dilemma - Big Ten Blog - ESPN
I'm not sure those division names will stick, but the big problem with this alignment is that Ohio State/Michigan will basically determine the outcome of one division four out of every five years. Keeping Penn State in the Eastern division nullifies this, as the Nits are perfectly capable of beating Ohio State and Michigan most years, and frees up Iowa, Wisconsin and That Phantom 12th Member Who Still Might Be Notre Dame to duke it out for the Western crown.  You just can't expect MSU, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois to hold their own against the supposed "Big Two" very often, if at all; you just have to give the division a little more punch than that.

Jim Cordle has done it all for Buckeye offensive line
I hope all this position shuffling has little-to-no effect on his draft status and someone sees fit to take him in a later round. Aside from his first few games at tackle, he's been a pretty consistent (and consistently underrated) part of this line. Like Browning, I think he flourished at the new position once he adjusted to it.

Cleveland State's comeback falls just short of upset as West Virginia survives, 80-78 | Cleveland State Vikings: cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
A look at our next opponent, who nearly pulled one out against a top-ten Mountaineer squad. A lackadaisical effort from Ohio State tomorrow night in the Schott could very easily result in a loss, so let's hope the boys focus their full attention on the Vikings.

Ohio State guard Evan Turner thinks he can heal by early January | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
Wants to be back in the line-up for games against Purdue and Minnesota on the road. I think Ohio State stands an alright chance of beating the Gophers even without Turner, but things are probably hopeless in West Lafayette even with Turner in the line-up. I just hope they're not rushing him back.

Is Ohio State's defense really worthy of its high standings vs. the pass? Buckeyes Insider | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com 
To sum up the article: yeah, sorta, minus a few lapses against Iowa and Purdue. Even if it's not, it's not like Oregon will come out dead set on throwing for 300 yards. This game is going to be won or lost in the trenches.

OSU notebook: Defense working on quickness to slow no-huddle | BuckeyeXtra
Note: this is not an "athleticism / speed" thing so much as preparation for Oregon's fast-paced offense, which is comparable to Michigan's offense, only with experience and talent. So shoo, Oregon fans who think this is our hometown paper owning up to our "lack of speed". It's a simple truth that Oregon runs a faster-paced offense than Wisconsin and Penn State, and any team - from any conference - will have to adjust to it if it wants to win.

Ohio State football: Expect a run for the roses | BuckeyeXtra
Basically stating the obvious here; Ohio State will have to run - and run well - on Oregon to have a chance at winning this game. The fact that our backfield is so deep and our line made so many strides over the latter third of the season should give us the advantage here, but it being Ohio State in a BCS bowl game, I'm not counting on anything.

Blog changeover update time!

They have already made the announcement, so I figured I might as well too.

The next Buckeye blog at SBN will be run by some of the more grizzled veterans of the Buckeye blogosphere: the guys from the Buckeye Battle Cry. Do not fear, Buckeye partisans: you will be in good hands. The BBC is already one of the best places to go for Ohio State analysis on the internets, and over here on SBN, I'm sure they'll keep up the good work. Some of you may already know Jeff as the man behind the Texas and Iowa "Had A Bad Day" 'low-light' videos.  It's really too bad he to change (or remove altogether) the original backing track due to copyright crap; they were originally edited to include that "Had A Bad Day" song that was so ubiquitous that year. Still, the man - and everyone else at that site - does good work.

I will contribute - in the form of fanposts, mostly - at the new site, so if you've got a sexual fetishism hankering for my thoughts, I'll provide them when and if I can. Regardless, we're now reaching the endgame here at WWAHT; expect plenty more basketball coverage up until the very last day before the Rose Bowl, during which I will unload my Oregon preview and final prediction. It's been fun, folks, but, as the Beatles sung in one of their most innocuous songs, life goes on.

Don't forget to participate in the blog research survey sometime before midnight tonight, when it wraps up: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WSQGPZ2

I missed the first ten or so minutes of today's game returning from a trip out of town, but here are my thoughts on what I heard/saw (after I finally found a TV with the game on):

• While the game was still "in question", the Buckeyes were playing excellent man-to-man defense. There were a few lapses towards the end of the first half, but even with those lapses, the Blue Ho's Hose had only scored 21 points at the break. It was nice seeing Ohio State fly to the ball with some defensive intensity, which is often missing when we move to a man-to-man approach on defense.
  
• 53 points in the first half ,even against Presbyterian, is a nice thing to see with Evan Turner out of the lineup. What I found encouraging was how balanced the scoring distribution was; IIRC, at halftime, 5 players had 8 or more points, with Lauderdale chipping in with another 6. This team had to move into a nice, sharin'-and-carin' mindset with ET gone, and it seems to have done a pretty good job of it. Yes, I know, Presbyterian, but it's an encouraging start.
• The Presbyterian coach (I don't know his name, so let's just call him Some Poor Soul) described Lighty as the best "driver" of anyone they have played so far.  That's an impressive roster of teams which feature some pretty good guard play, incuding UNC and Clemson. I'm not sure if that's overzealous coachspeak or earnest praise, but Lighty showed some of that skill tonight, including one impressive drive from the right side that resulted in a quick bunny that made up 2 of his 20 total points on the night.
• Matta wanted Jeremie Simmons to step up his game this week and he kinda did, for like a half. I'm guessing he got some rest after putting up 8 points to go with 3 boards and 3 assists.
• Of course, less Simmons meant more PJ Hill, and PJ's eternal highwire bouncing-around-to-make-up-for-a-general-lack-of-talent act worked fairly well, as you'd expect it to against a team with nine losses in eleven games. He only totaled 9 points, 3 boards and 2 assists but he kept some plays alive that other players wouldn't have and did a good job drawing fouls.
• Diebler had an okay night playing exclusively behind the arc again, hitting 3 of 8 shots and totaling 12 points.
• I'm a little worried by the lack of William Buford in today's game. Yes, Ohio State had 53 points at the half, but only scored 25 afterward (when admittedly, the game was well out of reach), and I am greedy and Buford took the exact same amount of shots as Lightly and hit three fewer and that makes me sad. Buford looked great in stretches at Butler, but was kinda non-existent tonight. For now, these performances fight to a relative draw in the Thunderdome of my mind. Let's see how he does against DSU and CSU before we start getting concerned.

Don't forget to help Toby with his blog survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WSQGPZ2

This past summer, I discussed, at great length, the possibility of Big Ten expansion. I then examined the following candidates and the likelihood that they would actually pack things up and move to a new conference (or to a conference in the first place)

- Cincinnati

- Iowa State

- Syracuse

- Missouri

- Pittsburgh

- Louisville

- Notre Dame

- and MilCardFan chipped in with an out-of-the-box suggestion, Nebraska

Surprise surprise, on the eve of what will likely be yet another disappointing bowl season, the issue has come up again:

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