Boeckman, Ohio State a revelation despite key losses

Todd Boeckman, filling the shoes of Heisman winner Troy Smith, has thrown 21 TDs in the Buckeyes' first nine games. Hunter Martin/Getty Images

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They are a rock in this season of upheaval; of Appy State over Michigan and Stanford over USC. In 2007, Ohio State stands as a traditional bulwark against the gatecrashers swarming the BCS Top 10 -- your BC Eagles and Arizona State Sun Devils; your Oregons and Kansas Jayhawks and Mizzous. Going into Saturday's game against No. 21 Wisconsin, the undefeated Buckeyes stand atop the BCS poll. And that, frankly, rates as one of the larger surprises in a season of them.

Was it so wrong to expect Ohio State to fade from view for a season or two? Following its 41-14 pratfall against Florida in last season's national title game, this humbled program commenced hemorrhaging studs.

No, it was not wrong to expect his team to enter a valley, Buckeyes quarterback Todd Boeckman assured me earlier this week. "I guess after you lose a Heisman Trophy quarterback [Troy Smith], a 1,200-yard rusher [Antonio Pittman] and two first-round draft picks at receiver" -- Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez -- "it's tough to say this is going to be a Top 5 team. But among ourselves, we knew we had the guys."

Forgive me, Todd, for jumping to the unfair conclusion that you would spearhead a regression in the Buckeye offense; from the wide-open pyrotechnics of the Troy Smith era back to the dink-and-dunk days of Craig Krenzel. Certainly we heard those phrases in the preseason that are uttered around caretaker quarterbacks. He's got enough talent around him ... All we're asking him to do is not lose it for us.

"Todd is a different player from Troy, but he's also a different player from Craig Krenzel and from Steve Bellisari." The speaker is Gonzalez, the ex-Buckeye slot receiver who lived with Boeckman for three years. Gonzo now backs up Marvin Harrison for the Indianapolis Colts, who took him in the first round of last spring's draft. (His friend and bookend, Ginn, was taken 10th overall by Miami). "What Todd does, that Ohio State hasn't done a whole lot of lately, is he throws the deep ball a lot. We took our shots, certainly, but they're throwing the ball downfield a lot more than we did."

Ask the poor Penn State corners, whom Boeckman picked on right out of the gate in a commanding 37-17 win in Happy Valley last Saturday. A 6-5, 243-pound junior lauded for his accuracy and vision, Boeckman hit wide out Brian Robiskie for a 27-yard gain on Ohio State's second play from scrimmage. On his first pass the next series, he connected with quicksilver Z receiver Ray Small for a 60-yard gain.

A polite, intelligent product of St. Henry (Ohio), where he was a four-year starter, Boeckman nonetheless strikes a cocksure note as he talks about taking what the defense gives him. "If I see that they're stacked at the line, I'm gonna hit 'em over the top."

The confidence in his tone is a measure of how far he's come in just two months. Asked to name the area in which he's improved the most, Boeckman speaks of a skyrocketing "confidence level ... the more reps you get, the more comfortable you're going to feel." Each passing week, he says, adds to his knowledge of "what my guys do best."

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