Ohio State vs. Troy Preview By Tony Gerdeman

This will be the first meeting between Ohio State and Troy; in fact it will be the first time Ohio State has ever played a team from the Sun Belt Conference.

Troy has only played one Big Ten opponent previously, losing to Minnesota 48-7 in 2003.

In its history, Troy has played fourteen ranked opponents, winning just once. Troy isn 2-1-1 against teams from Ohio. The Buckeyes are 0-4-1 against teams from Alabama, though Jim Tressel is 1-0 against teams from Alabama (N. Alabama) in his career.

Troy comes into this game as the two-time defending Sun Belt champs. The Buckeyes do them one better by coming into this game as the three-time defending Big Ten champs.

Jim Tressel is 22-1 at home against non-conference teams during his tenure at Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are 14-2 following a loss under Tressel.

When Troy Has The Ball

The Troy Trojans take the “spread” aspect of the spread offense very seriously. They don’t just spread the opponent out, they also spread the ball out. Last season, twenty different players caught passes for the Trojans, and fifteen of those players return this season. Last week in a 65-0 win over Alcorn State, sixteen different players caught passes.

The offense is led by quarterback Jamie Hampton, a former Purdue commitment, who is completing 66.2% of his passes and averaging 229.5 yards passing per game. He has thrown three interceptions this season, so the Buckeyes will be on the lookout for some wayward throws.

Hampton’s mobility has allowed him to rush for an average of 43 yards per game. The defense will have to be wary of Hampton tucking and running if there is nobody open.

Because of Troy’s spread attack, it’s likely that we will see plenty of nickel defense from the Buckeyes but with the possible return of outside linebacker Tyler Moeller this week, the Buckeyes may still be able to play three linebackers on some passing downs.

While Hampton does spread the ball around, his two favorite targets are receivers Jerrel Jernigan (14 rec 137 yds) and Kennard Burton (10 rec 111 yds). The Trojan passing game utilizes short passes and screens and requires players to make plays after the catch. So far this season however, the big play has elluded the Troy passing game. They only have one pass play over 30 yards, and that was just 38 yards to receiver Mykeal Terry.

With three, four and five-wide sets, the Buckeyes will have to get more out of cornerback Donald Washington who returned from suspension against USC. The Buckeyes will have to go with three cornerbacks for much of this game, and rotate linemen and linebackers appropriately.

With the quick passing game, sacks are hard to come by against Troy. The offensive line has given up just three sacks so far. This is a bad combination for the Ohio State defense who only has four sacks in three games. With the defense spread out, it would be nice if the Buckeyes could get a pass rush from their front four (or front three) for a change. If they can, it would make their blitzing even more effective. If they cannot get pressure, then it will again be a game of tackling in space, or hoping receivers drop third-down passes which isn’t exactly a winning game plan.

Carrying the ball for Troy will be sophomore running back DuJuan Harris. Harris only played sparingly last week in the blowout against Alcorn State, but in the season-opener against Middle Tennessee he carried the ball19 times for 148 yards. Harris only received one scholarship offer (Florida A&M) as a high school senior before finally catching Troy’s eye. Look for him to be heavily involved in the offense on Saturday.

Troy is breaking in a new punter and place-kicker. Place-kicker Sam Glumsman is 4-4 on field goals with a long of 48-yards. Punter Will Goggans he has started a little slowly, averaging just 39.4 yards per punt with a long of 49 yards.

To this point, Troy has yet to do anything too impressive in the return game, and the Buckeyes have done well defending the return. If the Trojans are able to make an impact here, it would definitely go a long way in helping their cause.

When Ohio State Has The Ball

The Ohio State offense is surrounded by the unknown right now. Freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor is slated to play at least half of the game, and seemingly, the starting job is up for grabs.

Furthering the question marks on offense, running back Chris Wells is considered “questionable” for this game, still nursing a foot injury.

So under the assumption that this offense is going to heavily feature Terrelle Pryor, what should we expect to see? The Buckeyes will probably utilize a good deal of shotgun formation and the pistol formation, but will never entirely eschew the old standby I-formation for any gimmicky gadget or gizmo.

Pryor would likely be served well, as would all of the Buckeyes, if he could exhibit the ability to go down field. The Buckeyes have not been as active downfield as they were last year, and much of that has been due to the fact that quarterback Todd Boeckman hasn’t had enough time to load up. With Pryor taking the snap, defenses will have to sit back a little, because if they rush too hard, they’ll take themselves out of the play when Pryor leaves the pocket. His very presence makes the defense more cautious, which makes them slow decision-makers, which makes them sitting ducks in certain situations.

With or without Chris Wells, we can probably expect to see a healthy dose of the running game. Last week, running back Boom Herron rushed for 51 yards on eleven carries. He should probably get at least that many carries, providing Wells is out this week. Brandon Saine and Maurice Wells saw cursory duty last week against USC and both can probably expect more playing time this weekend.

Looking to contain the Ohio State running game will be a defensive line that sports a quality three-man rotation at defensive end, but a thin corps of defensive tackles. It will certainly be a battle of wills (or won’ts) when the middle of the defensive line for Troy meets the middle of the offensive line for the Buckeyes.

Troy sports some talented linebackers who are active at the line of scrimmage and behind it. Middle linebacker and Butkus Award candidate Boris Lee is averaging 14 tackles per game and already has three tackles for loss. On the weak side is former walk-on quarterback Bear Woods. He is second on the team with 24 tackles. Perhaps the key linebacker will be Terence Moore who was Troy’s nickel back last season. Moore will be everywhere on the field. He will blitz, he will cover, he will tackle and he’ll do it all very well.

The Trojans are breaking in two new cornerbacks, but they’re bolstered by the return of last year’s starting safeties. Right now the secondary (and the schedule), is responsible for Troy having the number one pass efficiency defense in the nation.

If the Ohio State offensive line can give the Buckeye quarterbacks time to throw it will be interesting to see if they test Troy downfield. If they don’t, there will be little reason to have both safeties worrying about the passing game.

The player to watch for the Buckeyes will likely be Ray Small. Small has been the most effective receiver on the team to this point. Running from the slot, the Buckeyes could conceivably get him in favorable match-ups all over the field.

If the offense fails the Buckeyes again this week, there’s always the return game. In OSU's first two games, Small had over 70 yards of punt returns in each game. Unfortunately, last week there just wasn’t much punting going on for USC, so Small only got one opportunity to make something happen. Provided it’s not just a Trojan thing, Small should have some opportunities to put the Buckeyes in good field position this week.

It would be nice to see some improvement in the kickoff return game, but at this point, it’s probably just not going to happen for the Buckeyes.

How It’ll End Up

With Terrelle Pryor in the game, the entire Buckeye team will play with an emotional boost. And with each play, each third down kept alive with his feet, and each “Ooh” and “Ahh”, Pryor will establish himself as not just the future of this offense, but also the present.

And with Pryor’s presence, every running back on the Buckeye roster will reap the benefits. However, Pryor will still lead the team in rushing. He will rush for over 100 yards against the Trojans.

He will also throw the ball very well, as will Todd Boeckman.

Boom Herron will again get the start, and again he’ll be effective when given the chance.

Troy’s offense will be effective early on, as is usually the case against spread teams. Adjustments will be made--believe me--and the Trojan offense will settle down.

The Buckeyes will still struggle to get a pass rush from their front four, but the defense will force a couple of interceptions. Last week, Troy forced six turnovers against Alcorn State in the second quarter. This week, they won’t. However, they do love to ball hawk, so the Buckeyes will need to be very careful.

The Troy running game will have its moments, as all spread running games do, but when it counts, the Ohio State defense will step up.

But the story of game will, of course, be Terrelle Pryor. And we’ll get to see him on all of the various highlights on all of the Saturday late night highlight shows. And when the Buckeye highlights come on, we’ll stop what we’re doing, watch, and shake our collective Buckeye noggins and think, “I am so glad he didn’t go to Michigan.”

Ohio State 33 - Troy 16

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