By: Jim Naveau (LimaOhio.com) —
COLUMBUS – Ernie Banks, ever the optimist.

The Baseball Hall of Famer toiled his entire career with mostly lousy Chicago Cubs teams in the 1950s and 1960s.

But he remained one of the sunniest personalities in sports – if not in the world – throughout all the strikeouts, all the botched grounders, all the bad pitchers and all the losses around him.

“Let’s play two today,” was his motto as the Cubs lost 272 games more than they won during his 19 seasons on their roster.

Even though he retired 37 years ago, Banks reminded everyone again this week that he remains a world-class optimist.

Ernie Banks, age 77, and his wife adopted a baby daughter earlier this week.

If Minnesota football coach Tim Brewster hears about that adoption, it might find its way into his pre-game talk when the Gophers play at Ohio State today.

Brewster is the original kitchen sink thrower of optimism. He is relentlessly optimistic. He was upbeat even when Minnesota went 1-11 in his first season last year.

So far this season, Minnesota is 4-0, with wins over Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Montana State and Florida Atlantic.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and his players – who memorize Tressel’s scripts very well – have been saying all week that the Gophers are a much-improved team who will be dangerous for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener at Ohio Stadium this afternoon.

“They have a better record than us. They can beat us,” defensive back Kurt Coleman insisted earlier this week.

But is Minnesota’s 4-0 start for real this time, or is it going to be more of what we’ve already seen so many times before from the Gophers?

This is the eighth time in the last 13 seasons Minnesota has been unbeaten in the non-league part of its schedule. But once it hit the Big Ten portion of those previous seven schedules, it went 23-33.

If Minnesota is going to have a chance, quarterback Adam Weber would have to have a huge game.

Ohio State has identified getting pressure on the sophomore QB as one of its top priorities.

He buying drugs online without prescription leads the Big Ten in passing yards (967) and completion percentage (71 percent). After throwing 24 touchdowns and 19 interceptions last season, he has seven TD passes and only one interception this season.

A week ago, all the attention at Ohio State was on freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who got his first start and responded by throwing four touchcdown passes in a 28-10 win over Troy.

This week, he will share main attraction duties with tailback Chris Wells, who is expected back after missing three games with a foot injury.

But they are hardly the only two Buckeyes who will under the microscope on Saturday.

By any objective standard, Ohio State has been unimpressive much of the time in its first four games.

A good game should be enough to handle Minnesota. But with games against teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State on the schedule in October, the Buckeyes would like to hit their stride and be more than just good enough today.

The prediction: Ohio State 35, Minnesota 14

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