Drew Thurman (10:02 am)

If Saturday's contest in Bloomington was any indication, it appears as if the Buckeyes are just fine without the big names at key positions. Obviously Pryor will always dominate headlines for the Buckeyes this season, but outside of him the majority of the country could not name another player on either side of the ball for the Buckeyes. That's a problem right? Well it could be, but for the Buckeyes it may finally be what the doctor ordered.

The last two years the Buckeye offense has had what I called the "Big Play Syndrome." The offensive play calling became very vanilla and totally depended on Beanie Wells for production. Without his big plays and ESPN highlight runs, the offense rarely got into a rhythm. The only other play calling fans got to see was the occasional bombs to Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline. All three were big names for the Buckeyes, but for some reason they handicapped Tressel and the playcalling. 

On defense, the Buckeyes lost high caliber guys like Malcolm Jenkins, Marcus Freeman, and James Laurinaitis. All three dominated the press clippings over the past two years, yet they already seem like a distant memory just a season later.

One would have assumed that all these departures would have caused setbacks for the 2009 squad, but unlike the last two years, this team actually resembles those from earlier in Tressel's tenure. The offense in 2009 does not depend on results from one or two playmakers. I don't want to diminish the importance or vital role of Pryor (who is definitely not carrying this team), but this squad has young weapons all over the field. Want proof? Well, Saturday night Pryor completed passes to eight different targets, seven of which caught passes in the first half. On top of that the Buckeyes second string running back, Brandon Saine, ran for 113 yards while averaging 6.6 a carry. So yes, the offense is doing just fine without all the individual accolades.

What about the defense? They are only giving up 11.8 points and 252 yards per game, and no one is talking. This unit is led by a defensive line, which is probably the best in the country, yet they may as well not print the names on their jerseys because the national media has not said boo. The defensive line isn't the only place where blue collar guys are ripping it up. Guys like Ross Homan, Chimdi Chekwa, Devon Torrence, and Jermale Hines are all under the radar players making plays for a dominating defense. Even the top performing defensive player, Brian Rolle, has not been featured in too many newspaper clippings. While the Big Ten is chattering about guys like Navorro Bowman, Sean Lee, Pat Angerer, and Greg Jones, Brian Rolle is making tons of plays on a defense that doesn't need him to have 150 tackles this season.

So in 2009, no big names equals no problems. There seem to be no prima donnas, and Tressel seems to spread the ball out not now that he isn't worrying about depending on a select few guys. Not to mention that this team is hungry and seems to be focused on the bigger picture rather than each person's draft status. Austin Spitler hinted at this a few weeks back when he gave away the defensive motto in 2009: "No blame, no names, no worries." So honestly, maybe the Buckeyes are finally a true team!