Smelling Rosy...

It's a good time to be an Ohio State football fan...

Last weekend, the Bucks celebrated another victory over the rival Wolverines. Granted, with "That School Up North" struggling through another painful season of rebuilding, the victory was pretty much assumed this year.

The Wolverines did not play well, as Ohio State beat them soundly by the final score of 21-10. UM committed 5 turnovers, including 4 interceptions and a fumble that was recovered by OSU for a touchdown. The Buckeye defense played well yet again and the offense scored just enough points to win (typical "Tressel Ball"). While OSU's offense has been pedestrian (to say the least) for most of the season, they did gain over 225 rushing yards for the 5th game in a row. The Bucks finish the regular season at 10-2, recording at least 10 wins for the 5th year in a row.

Meanwhile, the Wolverines finish at 5-7, their second straight year below .500 and their second straight year without bowl game eligibility. It seems that Rich Rodriguez's style of football will take a few more years to catch on in Ann Arbor.

Even so, the Bucks have turned this rivalry into a rather lopsided one over the last few years, winning 6 straight games against Big Blue. Jim Tressel has pretty much secured his legacy at Ohio State by opening his career with a sparkling 8-1 record against them.

With the win last weekend, Ohio State earned yet another outright Big Ten Championship. They have now either won outright or shared the conference title for the last 5 years in a row! An amazing accomplishment, even considering the overall struggles of the Big Ten over the last few years. So now Tressel's bunch can only sit and wait for the rest of the country to finish their regular season schedules and for the BCS bowl pairings to be announced.

In all likelihood, Ohio State will be heading to the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten Conference Champion. They will likely end up playing the Pac-10 Champion, which will be either Oregon State or Oregon (whoever ends up winning the huge showdown in Eugene on December 3rd). Hard to believe, but this will be Ohio State's first Rose Bowl trip since 1997 when they beat Jake Plummer and the Arizona State Sun Devils 20-17 on a last-second TD pass from Joe Germaine to David Boston.

So yes, the Bucks won "the big game" yet again this year and they won the Big Ten title again. But I am a little worried about the bowl game. For starters, the Big Ten has been incredibly weak the last couple of years, so that may have inflated OSU's record a bit. But also, after having to endure watching Tressel's bland no-risk offense underperform all year, what kind of performance can they turn in against a solid Pac-10 foe? Remember, Tressel's ultra-conservative play calling cost them a Fiesta Bowl win against Texas last year. And we all know how well Tressel's teams have performed in BCS bowl games... Not well!!

So here's hoping for a Buckeye win in the Rose Bowl. At least they won't have to play USC again...