OCT. 17, 2006

BUCKEYES-HOOSIERS: POINT-COUNTERPOINT

The Hoosiers are streaking, but they're still the Hoosiers. Cal Remkey and Scott Clifton take turns answering five questions about Indiana's trip to Columbus:

1. How will the Ohio State defense fare against the high-powered Indiana passing offense?

>> SCOTT CLIFTON: I can't believe the phrase high-powered was in any way associated with Hoosier offense that wasn't on the hardwood. But because Indiana has won its last two games (in conference, no less) I guess I can waste a few minutes of my life talking about it. OSU's defense is third in scoring defense (9.0 ppg) and has done it against the likes of Texas, Penn State and Iowa. I realize that James Hardy is a talented player, but we're not talking about Anthony Thompson. Hardy won't be able to make that much difference unless he is on the offensive line. You can't throw the ball to receivers unless you have time. The Hoosiers won't.

>> CAL REMKEY: Indiana has a nice little team over there in Bloomington this year. Their passing offense has produced well, and Kellen Lewis has not thrown an interception in his last four games. Lewis lit Iowa up for three touchdowns while completing nearly 76% of his passes. But I don't think that realistically, anyone can expect the same result from a freshman playing for the first time in Ohio Stadium. Malcolm Jenkins draws the cover duties on Hardy, the Hoosier's number one wide receiver. That could present a bit of a challenge because Hardy stands at a lofty 6'7”. Look for the key to this game being the Ohio State defensive front getting pressure on Lewis and forcing him to hurry his throws.

2. Sparty always plays OSU tough in East Lansing, will the Spartans be up to the challenge this year?

>> CLIFTON: Indiana doesn't have the facilities or the tradition to be competitive in the recruiting wars. And even if they did, they would have to start winning most of the recruiting battles it has with Purdue before it could start taking blue chippers away from OSU, TSUN and Notre Dame. And I'm not just making that point to rub it in. Every team can land a superstar once in a while. Trent Green, Antawn Randle-El and the aforementioned Anthony Thompson show up in Crimson and Cream on occasion, but it's depth that must be recruited for IU to ever be mentioned in Big Ten title talk. Ask John L. Smith how important depth is to a football team's success. The Spartans have been plagued by the injury bug this year, and the backups just aren't ready to fill in. Indiana has had a nice two-week stretch. Let's not go crazy and say they're ready to compete for any titles just yet.

>> REMKEY: Indiana is not a football school. They once were a basketball school. And today, they are a… men's soccer school?!? Yes athletics in general has been a touchy subject for most Hoosier fans since the day the school's administration fell under the leadership of Myles Brand and Clarence Doninger. Those two really kick started the downward spiral that has become the IU athletic department. Since then, Indiana has been through a number of athletic department scandals and mismanagements, including wasting millions of dollars on a new pitchfork logo that looks…well, exactly like the old pitchfork logo. Until the athletic leadership at that school improves, I do not foresee much chance of an imposing football program. Terry Hoeppner is a good coach, and the IU faithful should be thanking their lucky stars that he is there, but the incompetence behind the scenes by trustees and administrators alike will be too much for Hoeppner to overcome. But with all of that said, if Northwestern can make it to the Rose Bowl, and if Kansas State can compete for Big XII titles, surely Indiana could do the same.

3. With the game this weekend being televised on ESPNU, is this a great marketing ploy, or just another example of ESPN's hostile take-over of America's cable companies?

>> CLIFTON: A little bit of both. ESPN holds the trump card when it comes to its college football coverage. If they own the rights to a game and want to put it on ESPNU, they have every right to do so. It's good marketing and a way to play hardball with the cable companies. Get used to it, at least until ESPNU has made its way into hundreds of thousands of more homes. The handwriting is on the wall. pay-per-view is the the future will be a place where college football fans pay to see their favorite team every week, no matter where they live.

>> REMKEY: Yes everything above is true… But it still pisses me off!!! As has been reported on this website before: ESPN is in the process of ruining sports in the same manner that MTV has ruined music. Everything has become about promotion, and hype, and dollars. Somewhere along the line, the original mission of this network has been lost.

The U is just another example of this. Including the HD channels, because they are separate also, ESPN U marks the 8th ESPN channel that viewers can watch. ESPN U is not available in many markets around the nation, especially those areas that have Time/Warner cable. Because the cable companies do not want to add yet another channel, and then subsequently charge customers more money, ESPN has decided to start strong arming the cable companies to pick up the channel. This hijacking of regularly scheduled programming is happening everywhere, not just Columbus. In Cincinnati, the annual hardwood match-up between Xavier and UC has also been relegated to the U. The problem is that it is not ESPN or the cable companies that suffer, it is you and I my friend. And for some schools, like Xavier in basketball and Indiana in football, they lose much needed exposure for their programs. How many times a year does Indiana get to play the number one team in the nation? How many times does Xavier get to play on ESPN? We, the customers, are merely pawns in this corporate battle. ESPN says to call your local cable provider. The cable companies say they will have to raise rates to offer the channel. It just winds up that both entities end up taking more of our money.

4. With the first BCS rankings of the season being released, how is it that the computers rank the Bucks 3rd?

>> CLIFTON: Two words: operator error. Computers can only work correctly if the people programming them know what the hell they're doing. So It's obviously human error causing the inaccurate computer rankings. There can be no other way to explain how USC is getting so much love from the computers. Did the geeks forget to tell the computers that Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and LenDale White all play in the NFL now? And that the Trojans have looked pedestrian for five straight games against weak competition? And how can a team that has one quality win over Notre Dame... oh. TSUN has played well, I'll admit that. By beating the Irish, TSUN must have caused the computers to think it was Y2K all over again. Defrag the hard drive! But I digress. TSUN is good. Not No. 2 good if it means OSU is ranked behind them. And who holds the computer gurus accountable anyway?

>> REMKEY: I don't know. All I know is that there should be a playoff. I can't really see Ohio State's ranking improving with the computers either because they have already beaten the number two team in the country, on the road. Now they have four creampuffs and TSUN left. The only thing that amazes me this year is that Ohio State is actually the “media darling.” In years past it has always been Ohio State trying to justify why they deserve consideration into the BCS, and trying to win a beauty contest, while leading in the computer rankings. This year they are the best looking girl at the dance. But until there is a playoff, we are going to have these same tired discussions year after year.

5. What aspects should Ohio State be working on, over the next four weeks, to prepare for the TSUN game?

>> CLIFTON: Run defense. TSUN's offensive line is good enough to hold their own with an OSU defense that likes to play nickel nearly all of the time. TSUN running back Mike Hart, if healthy, will have a chance to go Biakabatuka on the Buckeyes more than any other back this year because the Wolverines won't change the game plan if they stay close. Other teams have fallen behind early and abandoned the ground game to try and stay with OSU's high-octane offense. If Jim Heacock's boys know what's coming, they're a pretty good group. If they have to get out of their nickel comfort zone, the Bucks could be in for quite a battle.

>> REMKEY: No injuries. Seriously, that is half the battle, but I think that the hardest part as a coach, during a stretch like this, is to keep a team's focus so that they can continue to improve. One thing that is absolutely undeniable under Jim Tressel's watch at Ohio State is that his teams are fierce in late October and November. They continually hit their stride right before the TSUN game. I don't think that they have had four teams as bad as they are going to have in a row like this, but it will be interesting to see how they balance progressively improving with keeping people healthy.

Also, watch for the little adjustments that Tressel will throw in over the next four games that will either be in preparation for TSUN or to throw them off completely. Like last week when Ginn threw that pass, that's something that he probably won't call in the TSUN game, but it forces Lloyd Carr to practice for it, and therefore takes time away from more valuable preparation.

Cal can be reached via email at calremkey@meanbrutus.com

Scott can be reached via email at scottclifton@meanbrutus.com