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Where are the Ohio State fans?

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Posted: Friday September 03, 1999 07:20 PM

CNN/SI college football analyst Trev Alberts answers your questions weekly during the season, including on-air during CNN's College Football Preview, Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. ET.

To submit a question, click here.

I enjoyed reading all the Ohio State fans' hate mail during the preseason, but I was wondering where they all went after last week's loss to Miami.

Now I'm not against Ohio State by any means, but the first game showed there's really some question marks. Maybe our college football producer Stewart Mandel, who did our site's Big Ten predictions, wasn't so far off when he picked Minnesota above Ohio State.

In that game, Ohio State QB Austin Moherman did show us more than I was expecting, but Steve Bellisari did not. There's an example of why you shouldn't run the two-QB system. Moherman leaves and now there's a new guy working with the center, he has a couple fumbles, loses one, and there's a total change in momentum. If Moherman stays in, OSU's ins that game.

I'm not sure if it was that Miami was that good or Ohio State was that bad, but when they wanted to, Miami just took it at them. If a Big East team is able to line up and smash it in like that, imagine what Michigan or Penn State will do if they don't shore up that line.

The Buckeyes are still a good team but we'll find out what John Cooper and his staff are all about as they try to rally the troops after losing such a heavily hyped first game. You don't want to have to spend the whole season trying to get your confidence back.

On to your questions, which it seems have come to include a mandatory Nebraska question! ...

Both Penn State and Florida State have been great additions to their respective leagues, the Big Ten and ACC. Do you foresee future expansion in the Big Ten and ACC, and, which teams would be logical additions?
-- Ben Curti, Clemmons, N.C.

I think there will be expansion, but I'm not sure what form it will take. I'm of the opinion that there will eventually be four or five "superconferences" that encompass every major program, and you've got to figure both the Big Ten and ACC would be among them. I still think Notre Dame ends up in the Big Ten in the long run. Miami, and maybe even the rest of the class of the Big East (Syracuse, Virginia Tech etc.) would be absorbed by that ACC-based superconference.

Being a former Nebraska player, you must keep a close eye on what the Huskers do. Why are Bobby Newcombe and Eric Crouch not going to be on the field at the same time? Their running game would open up a great deal if Newcombe was on the field as a wingback.
-- Patrick Nichols, Sterling Heights, Mich.

I talked to the Nebraska coaches, and they'd love to have both Crouch and Newcombe on the field at the same time, but the way the Nebraska offense is run, the quarterback is getting hit on nearly every play by some rather big players. They believe that in major college football these days, it is unlikely that an option QB won't miss a snap all season. That's why they can't afford to have Crouch at QB and Newcombe at wingback, because if Newcombe was to get hurt, you wouldn't have that depth at QB. Maybe at the end of the season in a big game you do that, but not now -- you need to keep that depth.

First off, I would love to see my K-State Wildcats improve the non-conference schedule. The time has come. That said, I wonder why so many people put so much importance on the strength of only one-fourth of the schedule. I would think a more accurate gauge would be the total number of ranked teams on the overall schedule. -- Mike Winters, Garden City, Kan.

You've got a good point in that, when you look at it, the scheduling just looks bad more than anything else. With the BCS now, you can do your schedule however you want, and just hope your conference plays well. Someone in Michigan's athletic department was telling me that the whole Notre Dame thing was set up in the '70s, when the Big Ten was the "Big Two" and the Little Sisters of the Poor, and you just wanted a tough game at the beginning and at the end of the season. But now, with the addition of Penn State and the emergencies of Wisconsin and Purdue, you've got to be smart about it. You can really hurt yourself by losing like Arizona did against Penn State, but you've got to have some balance to get any respect. It's a fine line.

The Colts took Edgerrin James out of Miami, who came out of college a year early. What challenges will he face that someone who came out on time may not?
-- Alex Birge, Indianapolis

It's an overall maturity thing. I'm not one of those old-fashioned people who's against guys coming out early. NFL salaries have just changed so much, Edgerrin James could have gone on to medical school and still never made as much money as he did on just the day he signed with the Colts. Some guys are ready for it, some guys are not. When you've been raised by your mom and dad, went to school on scholarship, had everything given to you, now suddenly it's like: Boom! Reality. Some guys, like Ryan Leaf, showed they weren't ready to handle it. But Edgerrin James so far seems to be doing OK.

How well do you think the passing offense Bob Stoops and Mike Leach have implemented will fare in Norman during cold, blustery November afternoons?
-- Shane Smith, Tulsa, Okla.

There are some people, like Gary Barnett at Colorado, who think you cannot win in the Big 12 with a finesse offense, because that's what your defense practices against all year and it gets soft when it has to play those tough, power offenses. It's a valid point -- remember what happened to Florida when it ran into Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl in '95? But look at Purdue in the Big Ten -- they're having success because teams don't see that offense very often. So if you're Mike Leach, you come in and say, "Everyone in this conference has a power running game; Let's see Nebraska and Co. try to prepare for this." He's done at Florida, and I think it's a good move. Yes, you can run it in the cold. It's going to be easier to recruit some of those good receivers because kids want to go somewhere they can catch 100 passes. I think they'll be competitive this year and challenge for the conference title in two years.

Mike Riley got close at Oregon State (5-6 with one-point losses to Cal and Washington), Key losses but a JUCO class rated No. 1 in the nation. Do you see Dennis Erickson getting the Beavers above .500 and bowl bound in '99?
-- Jon Weaver, Portland, Ore.

I really like Simonton, the running back, but the first year's always tough. Dennis Erickson obviously knows the only way to compete was to go out and get a bunch of JUCO players and that's an immediate fix, but in the long run you need to get high-school players. I think they'll still be a mid-pack, Pac-10 team, though the Pac-10 is not as strong this year -- UCLA is down, Washington is down -- so maybe that will play into their favor. I see another season around .500, but a bowl may be a little more than should be expected.

 

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