tOSU could lose three, even four games before the year is out. They could also run the table.
The Bucks are in a weird sort of limbo. They 40 of their 44 in the two deep return from back-to-back MNC contenders/conference champs but lacked chemistry. It was almost as if they had locked in deficiencies at certain positions and had so much experience that a 'business like' work ethic was all they could muster. That shouldn't be the case, but there it was, along with a lack of senior leadership.
*** kicking at the hands of USC.
New players infused all over the place, including true frosh at and under center, the return of Beanie Wells, shakeups along the OL and DL, etc. It is as if the mantra of experience failed so miserably in LA that a new mantra of shake and bake rose to prominence. I can't recall a team this deeply experienced witnessed this kind of shakeup in the two deep , etc., a quarter or third of the way through the season.
Bottom line is, at this point, no one can say what the Bucks will do. Wisky is at night, on the road, and Pryor has no similar experience. He is raw and the O has elements of formative uncertainty that mean anything can happen at any time. Beanie or Pryor could get hurt, etc.
Wisky, PSU, MSU, Illinois, UM are all land mines. Hell, even Northwestern, who will host the Bucks, is playing with a much improved effectiveness. tOSU's confidence could be shaken at any point. Still a fragile team.
That said, the Big X, while not as strong as the Big XII or the SEC this year, still has much more quality and competitiveness than last year. The Bucks will play all of the mid-to-top teams in the conference, so, if they can snowball some experience and confidence into a string of wins, they will be back in the title hunt as ranking formulas and the BCS will have a hard time continually down-grading such victories. This is especially the case as they will be seen as having lost on the road to a powerful foe while playing without their primary source of offensive identity and as having since changed personnel in order to become a 'new' team, which in many ways they are.
I would expect a 10-3 season at this point, which is a far cry from what I would have predicted at the onset of the season.
