By: MATT MARKEY (ToledoBlade.com) —
COLUMBUS – After humbling losses in high-profile bowl games the past three years, it seemed like the only consensus reached about Ohio State was that its national reputation had been sullied, its armor chinked and its complexion pock-marked and blemished.

Buckeye football had been deflated, the media saturation bombing contended, over and over, ad nauseam.

But as the 2009 preseason predictions, rankings and polls continue to be rolled out, it looks like not everyone guzzled that Kool-Aid. Ohio State is in the top 10 on every significant national list, and the Buckeyes are close to a unanimous choice to win a fifth straight Big Ten championship.

“It is always a head-scratcher, how the Buckeyes get so much early respect in the preseason polls, only to be trashed by every national talking head three weeks into the season,” said Kevin Noon, who tracks OSU football for Rivals.com.

While defending national champion Florida is everyone’s darling at No. 1, the other usual suspects populate the rest of the top five in most polls – Texas, Oklahoma, Southern California and Alabama. Ohio State is rated as high as No. 5 (Athlon), and is around eighth in the country in most rankings.
The Buckeyes lost powerful tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells, wide receiver Brian Robiskie, linebackers James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman and defensive back Malcolm Jenkins – all to the NFL – but Ohio State returns one of the most dynamic players in the college game in sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

Steve Helwagen, managing editor of the Bucknuts.com fan site, said the mere presence of Pryor has a lot to do with where Ohio State gets placed in the national hierarchy.

“I think people are looking at Terrelle Pryor and the potential he showed last year,” Helwagen said. “If he improves even a little bit, he will create match-up problems for most, if not all of OSU’s opponents.”

Mark Rea of the Buckeye Sports Bulletin agreed that Pryor has the right stuff to move the Buckeyes back up the mountain.

“Pryor has as much to do with Ohio State’s forecast as anything,” Rea said. “Quarterback is the marquee position on the field and Pryor certainly seems to have the potential to carry a team on his back. He got a huge amount of experience last year, and he seems to have improved in the areas he needed to improve. Everyone thinks he could have a tremendous season.”

Pryor rushed for 631 yards last season as a freshman and passed for 1,311, taking over the starting role in the fourth game as the Buckeyes went 7-1 and finished atop the Big Ten with Penn State.
Rea thinks if the ultra-athletic Pryor is unleashed for 2009, he could take Ohio State to another conference crown and beyond.

“He’s got all of that, plus the last two Heisman winners have been sophomore quarterbacks,” Rea said. “The big question: Will the coaching staff allow Pryor to do the things he was recruited to do? If so, I think the sky’s the limit on what the kid can do and where he can take this team.”

According to Helwagen, an additional factor in where the Buckeyes have landed in the preseason rankings is Ohio State’s defense, which was the stingiest in the Big Ten last year when it allowed just over 12 points per conference game. That kind of defense still garners some respect, he said.

“Ohio State has been a national top-10 defense throughout the last four or five years,” Helwagen said. “They have seven starters back. Yes – they lost James Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman and Malcolm Jenkins – but they have a lot of guys back who have made a lot of plays.”

Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel will take the podium and address the specifics about the Buckeyes tomorrow in downtown Chicago as the Big Ten begins its two-day preseason football media session. He has said the expectations will again be significant.

“We’ve got to make sure that we do a great job . . . have a tremendous summer and preseason. It’s got to be extraordinary,” Tressel said about what the Buckeyes need to do in order to prove themselves once again. “As you know, we’ve got to be ready in September – big time.”

When Tressel led the Buckeyes to a fourth straight Big Ten championship last season, he made them the first team to win four in a row since Michigan claimed at least a share of five consecutive Big Ten titles from 1988-92. Ohio State set the conference record by winning six straight from 1972-77.

Rea said it was no surprise that Ohio State emerges as the preseason favorite in the Big Ten for 2009, because no one in the conference has knocked the Buckeyes off the throne since 2004, when Iowa and Michigan won the league crown.

“Ohio State is the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten again, primarily out of habit. As the old saying goes, ‘To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man,’” Rea said. “It will be a two-team race again, between OSU and Penn State. The rest of the teams are scrambling, so it’s kind of Ohio State and Penn State, by default.”

PRESEASON POLLS
BIG TEN
ATHLON SPORTS
1. Ohio State
2. Penn State
3. Michigan State
4. Iowa
5. Illinois
6. Northwestern
7. Wisconsin
8. Michigan
9. Minnesota
10. Purdue
11. Indiana

LINDY’S
1. Ohio State
2. Penn State
3. Michigan State
4. Illinois
5. Wisconsin
6. Iowa
7. Michigan
8. Northwestern
9. Minnesota
10. Purdue
11. Indiana

SPORTING NEWS
1. Ohio State
2. Penn State
3. Michigan State
4. Iowa
5. Illinois
6. Michigan
7. Wisconsin
8. Minnesota
9. Northwestern
10. Purdue
11. buy amoxicillin online Minnesota

NATIONAL
ATHLON SPORTS
1. Florida
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. USC
5. Ohio State
6. Alabama
7. Penn State
8. Virginia Tech
9. Oklahoma State
10. Mississippi
11. California
12. Boise State
13. Oregon
14. Georgia
15. Florida State
16. Nebraska
17. LSU
18. Cincinnati
19. North Carolina
20. Michigan State
21. Utah
22. Georgia Tech
23. Iowa
24. Notre Dame
25. Oregon State
—
55. Michigan

LINDY’S
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Virginia Tech
6. LSU
7. Alabama
8. Ohio State
9. Mississippi
10. Oklahoma State
11. Penn State
12. California
13. Boise State
14. TCU
15. Oregon
16. Georgia Tech
17. Georgia
18. Florida State
19. North Carolina
20. West Virginia
21. Kansas
22. Nebraska
23. Utah
24. Michigan State
25. BYU
—
47. Michigan

SPORTING NEWS
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Mississippi
6. Virginia Tech
7. Oregon
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. Oklahoma State
11. Georgia Tech
12. Penn State
13. Alabama
14. Boise State
15. Georgia
16. Oregon State
17. Florida State
18. Notre Dame
19. Utah
20. Texas Tech
21. California
22. BYU
23. North Carolina
24. TCU
25. Kansas

PHIL STEELE’S
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. Penn State
6. Mississippi
7. Notre Dame
8. Alabama
9. California
10. Ohio State
11. Virginia Tech
12. Boise State
13. Georgia
14. Oklahoma State
15. BYU
16. Rutgers
17. LSU
18. TCU
19. Illinois
20. Iowa
21. Miami (Fla.)
22. Nebraska
23. Pittsburgh
24. UCLA
25. Clemson
—
48. Michigan

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