It's been a good year for football in Ohio. After disappointing performances from our flagship teams in 2004, all three posted significant improvements this year.

Part Two: The 2005 Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2; won Fiesta Bowl)

The 2004 incarnation of the Ohio State Buckeyes was a tremendous disappointment. Finishing the season 8-4 was unacceptable considering the amount of talent on that team.

I won't say that Tressel was at fault handing the reigns to Sophomore QB Justin Zwick in ‘04. Considering the amount of things Zwick achieved in high school, (All-American, AP Co-Offensive Player of the Year) he was the obvious choice out of the gate.

Zwick looked good leading the Bucks to victory in his first 3 games. However, after a heartbreaking OT loss at Northwestern in week 4, followed by pummelings by Wisconsin and Iowa, it seemed fairly obvious that Division I-A college ball was maybe a bit too fast for the kid.

It was the total rout against Iowa where Zwick injured his shoulder and opened the door for fellow Sophomore Troy Smith to take the reigns.

Smith was the Donovan McNabb to Zwick's Tim Couch. Zwick was easily rattled when protection broke down or the play didn’t go exactly as planned. Smith seemed to thrive on it. Zwick would get laid out by opposing blitzes, Smith made the attackers miss and took advantage of their aggressive tendencies by breaking open big rushes to the outside. Also, his scrambling ability usually gave speedsters Teddy Ginn and Santonio Holmes additional time to get open for a big play.

Don’t get me wrong, Zwick is the more skilled passer of the two. Smith still throws wobbly balls downfield, but his composure and athletic ability outweigh the tightest spiral. Zwick was 3-3 his first 6 games, Smith finished out the season 4-1.

At the end of the regular season, Smith had all but cemented his job as the starting QB, until it was learned that he had accepted money from a booster and he was suspended for two games, the Alamo Bowl, and the 2005 season opener. No one was too concerned, most fans thought: “Zwick should be able to go in and beat Oklahoma State and Miami (OH), and we’ll have the real QB back for the big game vs. Texas”.

They were right, but Jim Tressel thought it best to attack the #2 team in the nation using a “quarterback by committee” strategy. It didn’t work out. Smith split time with Zwick and OSU lost to Texas 25-22. They lost for a number of reasons. Ryan Hamby’s dropped touchdown, Josh Huston’s missed FG, Zwick’s first down fumble with 2:19 left in the game. The biggest flub was the coach ignoring the fact that a quarterback needs to develop a rhythm. Tressel flip-flopped the men under center 5 different times throughout the game.

Ohio State’s QB controversy aside, they had one of the better offenses in the nation this year. The young cornerback turned wide receiver, Ted Ginn Jr., along with a seasoned Santonio Holmes made OSU one of the most dangerous deep threats in the country. These twin terrors combined for over 3000 all purpose yards and 18 scores.

Holmes and Ginn spread defenses thin, allowing sophomore tailback Antonio Pittman over 1300 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns. Troy Smith also liked to run the ball every now and again, chalking up 600+ yards and 11 rushing TDs to compliment his 16 through the air.

Ohio State’s defense was the best that it’s been since it’s 2002 incarnation. The man that stands out above the rest is linebacker A.J. Hawk, with his 69 solo tackles (including 15 for loss of yardage). Hawk is expected to be a first round, if not a top 10 pick in this year’s draft. Hawk’s supporting cast is impressive, and includes seniors Bobby Carpenter, Anthony Schlegel, and OSU’s personal Sandow, “Iron” Mike Kudla out of Medina, Ohio.

Kudla’s story has been well documented, but for those not in the know: in January of 2003, just days after playing in the 2002 National Title game, he was diagnosed with Johnson-Stevens Syndrome, an immune system condition which causes the body to attack it’s own mucous membranes.

Within days, Kudla’s condition was spiraling down. His epidermis was deteriorating, and he was profusely bleeding from the eyes, nose and mouth. At one point, a priest was called in to administer the last rites.

After 10 days of experimenting with different drug cocktails, Kudla’s condition started to take a turn for the better. However, when he was finally sent home, he had lost over 50 pounds.

After his brush with death, Kudla rededicated himself in the offseason training program. He went on to set a team bench press record of 535 pounds, and then broke his own record by 20 pounds. He is expected to crush the NFL combine record of 46 reps of 225 pounds, it’s been reported that he can perform 50+ reps without a problem.

After the Buckeyes' only other loss of the season, a 17-10 bleedout to the Penn State Nittany Lions, the kids from Columbus closed out the season on a positive note, winning the final 6 games, then beating Charlie Weis’ Notre Dame squad 34-20 in what became known as the “Laura Quinn Bowl”. (Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn’s sister is currently dating A.J. Hawk) The most overplayed story in the BCS aside, Ohio State’s offense was the top story of the day. The Bucks put up 600+ yards of total offense including 400 by QB Troy Smith alone.

After the game, Smith said that all he cared about was “sending the seniors out with a win”. He did indeed. Let’s just hope the underclassmen paid attention, OSU will lose more than half of their defensive starters and almost all of their o-line to the NFL draft.

Tressel will certainly have his hands full for the next 9 months figuring out a way to exorcise 2005’s demons. He faces a number one ranked Texas and probable number two Penn State in the first four games of the season.

next up...

Part Three: The 2005 Cincinnati Bengals