It's coming. Brace yourselves.
The 2008 Ohio State Buckeye football season is fast approaching with less than two months left until the season opener versus Youngstown State on Aug. 30.
Although OSU has played many of the schools on its schedule in the past year, there are many unknowns about each and every team down the line.
The Lantern will be bringing weekly team previews breaking down each and every aspect of OSU's opponents. This week's preview includes Youngstown State.
Youngstown State
Date: Saturday, Aug. 30 Time: 12 p.m. Noon Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus TV: Big Ten Network
2007 record: 7-4 Conference: Gateway (1-AA)
The Buckeyes had no trouble with this division 1-AA Youngstown State squad on Sept. 1, 2007, easily defeating the Penguins 38-6 on junior quarterback Todd Boeckman's first start. Boeckman only got better from here.
"I thought Todd did a lot of good things today," coach Jim Tressel said, according to ohiostatebuckeyes.com. "I don't know if you'd call it a winning performance because that's pretty hard to get as an Ohio State quarterback. He did have excellent command. He had a good completion percentage. There are some things we'll need to work on, but his performance was solid."
This year's YSU squad returns 22 senior, similar to OSU's 26.
The Penguins did graduate senior quarterback Tom Zetts opening up the starting spot. Junior Todd Rowan and a Toledo transfer, junior Brandon Summers, seem to be the favorites to take the snaps from center.
Junior running back Jabari Scott and sophomore Jordan Edwards return in the backfield each rushing for nearly 30 yards against the 2007 Buckeye defense.
The Penguins return go-to receivers, seniors Ferlando Williams Jr. and Da'Michael Horne, to the YSU offense along with primary tight-end target, senior Derrick Bush. Horne compiled 37 receiving yards on the receptions and Bush had two receptions for 12 yards. Williams had no receptions but rushed for 24 yards.
YSU will be without ex-Buckeye Louis Irizarry who transferred from OSU after trouble with the coaches. Irizarry was Zetts key receiver and tight-end but graduated after last year.
Senior cornerbacks De'Angelo Wilson and Jarvis Richards will have to cover the OSU wide receivers. Both corners are extremely mismatched in height as each stands at 5 feet 10 inches tall. Buckeye senior wide receiver Brian Robiskie is 6 feet 3 inches.
The linebacker position will be highlighted by junior Roshon Simons who had 12 tackles against OSU last season. Senior defensive tackle Mychal Savage will have to contain Buckeye junior tailback Chris Wells, but will most likely draw the tough match up with senior offensive tackle senior Alex Boone.
Last season, the YSU offense averaged 27.4 points a game making its offense one of the most potent in division 1-AA. However, this offense only put up six points against the stingy OSU defensive, which was cumulatively the best in the country.
"This was a huge game for us," YSU coach Jon Heacock said, according to t an article on bucknuts.com. "We made them battle and we hung around in the first half, but some plays just didn't go our way. You have to give credit to Ohio State for that."
Many match-up problems for YSU stand out drastically. Last season, YSU gave up about 200 more yards through the air to its opponents. If Boeckman can be consistent, OSU will dominate the game through the air as the Buckeye wide receivers pose major problems for shorter YSU defensive backs.
Conversely, OSU can just as easily dominate the game on the ground with Chris Wells, senior Maurice Wells and sophomore Brandon Saine, who saw valuable minutes against YSU and played a phenomenal game in his first appearance as a Buckeye.
Look for the OSU defense to once again hold YSU to fewer than 10 points as the Buckeyes return nine starters to their defense.
This game should be entertaining for those at Ohio Stadium and watching on the Big Ten Network for the first quarter or so before it gets out of hand after.
"There were a lot of 'Ahhhs' and 'Wows' at first," Heacock said. "We just had to bring the team down and told them they are men just like you. Just go out, hit them and play hard."
Next week's preview: Ohio University Bobcats
David Sokol can be reached at sokol.26@osu.edu.
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