Buckeye haters, I owe you an apology...

To all of you who've been saying all along that Ohio State is overrated (and the Big 10 in general), I have to agree with you now. I'm sorry that it took me so long.

One loss to Florida could have been a bad game. A second loss to LSU could have been because of sloppy play and stupid penalties. But this loss to USC just proved what us Buckeye fans have been worried about - Ohio State really can't compete with the best teams outside of the Big 10.

Maybe if the game had been close it would be a different story. Maybe if OSU had at least looked like it could compete with USC. But that wasn't what happened last night. OSU was over-matched at every position, except when Pryor was in at QB. Even then, the offensive line was so pathetic that Pryor was on the run most of the time. The receivers may have been open, but that hardly matters if your QB has no time to throw.

But I think the defense had the most disappointing showing. This is the great OSU defense that gave up 6 points a game last year. But this time, they couldn't apply any pressure. They couldn't stop the run. They couldn't cover USC's receivers. They looked like a Division II (or FCS or whatever) team. Pathetic.

So to all you Buckeye haters, I'm sorry. You were right. I'll admit it.

Now, that being said, I'm still looking forward to the Big 10 season this year. Assuming that OSU can make it past powerhouse Troy (can we stop scheduling these teams, please?) One thing that Ohio State does do well is recover from these ass kickings. Tressel should have these boys ready to play against Wisconsin in 3 weeks. Assuming all goes well there, the matchup of the year looks to be the game against Penn State on Oct. 25th. That may well decide the Big 10 title. And, it will certainly be fun to watch them pummel Michigan into submission again (how long until Wolverine fans can admit that they're not even a top 50 program anymore?)

Here's hoping that OSU runs the table in the Big 10 and gets put into a BCS bowl against the non-BCS conference team this year (i.e. BYU or Fresno St.) Maybe the Buckeyes would have a shot in that game. An 11-1 season would be nothing to complain about.