With Penn State and Ohio State squaring off for their annual rivalry game, I exchanged questions with Jeff, who writes for the phenomenal Ohio State blog The Buckeye Battle Cry.  To be fair, that’s only in comparison to other Ohio State blogs, who focus mainly on poop jokes and references to their genitalia.

I’m just kidding, obviously, they do a great job over at the BBC, and Jeff has provided us with some really great insight into the minds of the Buckeye faithful.  Of course, I answered some of his questions, so to get my take on Penn State’s offensive line woes, and my thoughts on when JoePa will finally hang ‘em up, be sure to check out my responses over at The Buckeye Battle Cry.

But this week, it’s Ohio State visiting Penn State, and both teams have something to prove.  For the Buckeyes, it’s a chance to prove that their loss to Purdue was merely a hiccup, and it gives them a chance to get right back into the Big Ten championship race.  For Penn State, it would mean that the Iowa game was nothing more than a fluke, and that they Lions deserve to be mentioned alongside the elite teams in the nation.  Let’s get to the questions.

quebecpenspinning: I’ll start with the obvious one: How the hell did Ohio State lose to Purdue? And how was your offense held to 287 total yards, with 5 turnovers, especially against a Purdue defense that’s among the worst in the Big Ten? Did that game provide a blueprint on how to attack the Ohio State offense?

The Buckeye Battle Cry: For starters, Purdue ALWAYS plays us tough. It’s a battle, no matter how good the teams are. For example, in 2008, we beat Purdue 16-3 and didn’t score an offensive TD in the game. But Michigan put 42 points on the board. Yes, Steven Threet put 42 on them. That’s just the way it is when we meet the Boilers.

The biggest reason Purdue beat us that day was because of a massive flaw on the offensive line. Prior to the game, someone on the team made a comment that our snap count was getting predictable and that the center would snap the ball exactly one second after raising his head to face the DL. ALWAYS. Stupidly, we didn’t correct the situation for the game itself and Purdue knew it. They were able to anticipate the snap on every down, and as a result they were in the backfield all day long.

Yes, it’s been fixed since, but if we’re going to discuss it before a game and we don’t fix it in time, that’s just asking for trouble. I dont know if that ends up creating a blueprint to beat us since we’ve adjusted it, but if I were PSU, I’d be studying film from the Minnesota and NMSU games to see if we fixed it enough.

NWO: As spotty as the Ohio State offense has been at times, it seems the Buckeye defense has been absolutely dominant this year, holding 6 of 8 opponents to 15 points or fewer, with three shutouts entering Saturday’s game. What’s been the key to the Ohio State defense this year?

TBBC: If I were facing the Ohio State defense, I’d be scared, because there is no single key to it. It’s multi-layered. On the line, Thaddeus Gibson is a beast. In the LB department, Brian Rolle is a hawk. In the secondary, Kurt Coleman seems to be everywhere. Those are the most often-mentioned names, but they’re hardly alone. There isn’t an open area where a player can feel safe going up against us. Rolle and Coleman are ALWAYS on the scene when the ball is loose, usually one of them forcing the loose ball and the other securing it.

If you want to succeed against our defense, find out which WR is being covered by #21 Anderson Russell. Throw to him all day. You’ll win. Otherwise, you’re going to have trouble finding paydirt.

Also, be very careful this week with Coleman. Barry Church was named as a Thorpe finalist, Coleman was not. We scored 38 points on Church’s Toledo defense. Coleman’s going to be looking to take out frustration on something.

NWO: Last year, Beanie Wells battled injuries, but was still an integral part of the Buckeye offense, with over 1,000 yards on just over 200 carries. This year, no running back has more than 88 carries or 440 yards. Has the Ohio State offense completely lost the ground component?

TBBC: We here at Ohio State are not used to this. We always have a big-number RB carrying the ball and it’s unusual to not have. In 2001, it was Jonathan Wells. 2002, He Who Shall Not Be Named. 2003, Lydell Ross. 2004-2005, Antonio Pittman. 2006-2008, Beanie. We’re not used to this at all.

But what we can look to instead of one solid RB is having several. Boom Herron hasn’t dazzled us like we hoped, but he’s also been dinged up a bit. Brandon Saine has been solid when he gets it, but he hasn’t seen the carries come his way as often. Backups have been getting game time, and they’ve succeeded. Jordan Hall (who is also a traitor to your state) has been outstanding as a freshman with a 5.1 YPC average. Finally, Jermil Martin will be hyped up a lot by Buckeye fans because of his bullish runs, but he hasn’t been tested yet. 4th quarter runs in a blowout against Minnesota were fun to watch, but not a true test of his skills.

And of course, you still have Terrelle Pryor running the ball. He may not be a RB, but neither was Troy Smith.

NWO: Whenever there is a vicious recruiting battle, like the one between Ohio State and Penn State for Terrelle Pryor, there are bound to be some feelings hurt. However, it seems that Terrelle has really been his own worst enemy, with some of his comments to the media and with his inconsistent play on the field. What’s the collective opinion on Pryor from the OSU community?

TBBC: Oh, boy here we go. I recently wrote that it’s hard to be a Buckeye fan because you have to share a fanbase with some of the most asinine people ever to walk the earth. There are a lot of fans who are down on Pryor for various reasons, and their immediate reaction is to scream “bench him”. The Purdue game was downright ugly for him, and yes there was a lot of anger surrounding a loss to a 1-win patsy. But the cat calls from the “fans” who discovered college football sometime around November of 2002 are being over-played by the media.

As a true Ohio State fan who understands the sport and knows the history of this team, I am of course not happy with the progression Pryor has made, and he’s not yet living up to expectations. But watch him play without knowing all the hype, and you’ll see a magnificent athlete with the ability to change a game on one play.

He’s got some growing to do, and he’s getting there. Not as fast as we would like, but he’s getting better.

True Buckeye fans will tell you he needs to get better, and he does. But we’re not mad at him or pounding our heads on the pavement in frustration. We’re cheering for his improvement and we’re seeing it happen.

The ones screaming for his blood are idiots and we do not recognize their fandom at The Buckeye Battle Cry.

And it’s worth mentioning that Pryor had October numbers that looked almost EXACTLY like Tebow’s numbers. Not saying the kid is a Heisman candidate, but why the hell did he get the scrutiny and not Jesus 2.0 down there in Florida?

NWO: The Ohio State-Penn State rivalry has been about as heated as any, with the teams having split the last 4 games, and with the series overall tied at 12 wins apiece. With the two teams playing each year, and with Penn State rising up as a constant competitor for the Big Ten title, has this game replaced “The Game” as the one most Ohio State fans are circling on their calendars each year?

TBBC: Your readers won’t like this, but it’s true.

Four years of a damn good rivalry cannot replace 100 years of teeth-gnashing hatred.

Penn State has become a fun rivalry for both teams, there is no denying that. But The Game, no matter how much we have owned it this century, can never be replaced. In the next few weeks, you’ll see The BBC writing stories about the diminishing joy of The Game, but know that when we do it, it’s only to irritate our enemies to the north. That game is still everything to us.

Beating Penn State is important to us. But my mood for an entire year is determined on the third Saturday in November. No, I’m not kidding.

NWO: It’s been Ohio State’s failures in the big game that’s led to a lot of the negative perception about the Big Ten that ESPN and the rest of the media perpetuates. With 2 title game beatdowns and a Fiesta Bowl failure in the past three years, what’s going wrong for Ohio State’s when it comes to bowl games?

TBBC: Let’s go through these one at a time. There is no single answer so this is the best way to explain.

2006 – Florida. We got our asses kicked. No excuses, no explanations. We weren’t ready to play, and a better team showed us the pain.
2007 – LSU. For starters, we were never supposed to be in that game, and LSU was. They were predicted to make the title game in pre-season, and they got there. As for us, when we beat Michigan for our final game of the year, the BCS standings had us at #7 after the game. Then the top 6 teams all decided they didn’t want to play for the title, and they fell from grace, one-by-one. Without playing a single game, we went from #7 to #1 in the BCS polls and made the title game.
It was a game we shouldn’t have been in, and it showed by the end of the game.
2008 – Texas. We may have lost that game, but I have never viewed it in a negative light. Texas, by all rightful accounts, should have been in the National Championship game.. And if not for a missed tackle with 21 seconds left, we would have knocked them off. Texas came into that game thinking they would win by 3 touchdowns, and they were lucky to escape.

Unfortunately for the rest of the Big Ten, us getting into a BCS bowl as an at-large cost the rest of the conference. Our boost into the BCS meant that third-place MSU was moved into the 2nd-best Big Ten bowl and lost to Georgia. The 2nd-place Buckeyes would have beaten Georgia that day. Every other Big Ten Bowl team was forced to move up into a game against better opposition, and most of them paid the price.

We’re sorry, league.

NWO: Okay, make your prediction for Saturday’s game: How does Terrelle Pryor fare in his Pennsylvania homecoming, and do the Buckeyes escape Happy Valley with a win, or is it the first 3-loss regular season for Ohio State since 2004?

TBBC: I think right now, both teams may be overrated but only because nobody knows what either team is truly made of. Neither has a win over a quality opponent yet. It just can’t be that our best wins came against Minnesota (20-0) and Minnesota (38-0). But it’s true.

I believe Ohio State will come away with a win on Saturday afternoon for three reasons.

One – Pryor will be the sole focus for the defense, and somebody’s going to rise up and sting you where you didn’t expect it.
Two – The game is not at 8pm. I just think that a 330pm kickoff is less intimidating than a white-out at night.
Three – You’re not in the Top 5 and therefore we won’t fold so easily. Sad, isn’t it?

Yes, quite sad.  Here I was hoping we’d be getting off easy.  Thanks again to Jeff, and to read my answers to his questions, visit his site over at The Buckeye Battle Cry.