What the Buck?

What the buck? What happened? Where were the Hoosiers Saturday afternoon? \nThe offense was dormant, the defense relented and now I have loads of mail coming in from Buckeye Nation declaring themselves the greatest football team in the history of the world.\nIn Friday's column, I dubbed Ohio State the bullies of the Big Ten. And Saturday, they took the Hoosiers' lunch money. \nBuck the Buckeyes. \nThey're like cicadas that invade Bloomington every two years instead of every 17. They're loud. They're everywhere. And they make a horrible noise when you step on them. Wait ... what? \nFive reasons we can beat OSU? \n1. Coach Hep. Hep could not duplicate OSU's speed in practice. They were fast, and IU forgot how to tackle. \n2. Turnovers. OSU's one fumble recovery and one interception matched IU's one fumble recovery and interception. The only difference is when Brandon Mitchell picked off Blake Powers in the third quarter and returned it 57 yards to the end zone, it put a 31-10 score on the board, and the game out of reach. \n3. James Hardy. Hardy had two catches the entire game, and one of them wasn't even thrown by Powers. Wide receiver Marcus Thigpen's 20-yard completion to Hardy wobbled in the air for so long it made one writer in the press box wonder aloud whether Matt LoVecchio was back throwing for the Hoosiers. \n4. Lance Bennett. Bennett never had a chance. OSU kicker Josh Huston landed most of his kickoffs deep into the Hoosiers' end zone and even once put the ball through the uprights. Bennett only had 12 yards on one return. \n5. It was time. Now, if only time could have scored 42 points for IU -- maybe then they would've been in business. \nOverall, the game was ugly. The only touchdown came off a magic trick pulled out of the arms of Ted Ginn Jr. IU linebacker John Pannozzo ripped the ball out of Ginn's arms and streaked 57 yards to the OSU goaline to put the game within seven points. But it only took five plays for the Buckeyes to respond, and in the process, extinguish both the defense and the hopes of the Hoosier faithful. \nAnd so Hoosier Hysteria had a setback with reality. The reality has become another long year of listening to Buckeye fans casually drop in a 41-10 domination into conversations. The reality has become how the Hoosiers have not only shown their inefficiencies when both Powers and Hardy are neutralized, but that building a Big Ten program worthy of hype is no instant gratification project. The reality has become a black and blue IU squad discarded by their Big Ten bully counterparts.\nBuck reality and buck the Buckeyes. \nPlease don't misinterpret my inappropriate rant. I am, by no means, putting up a white flag on the cream and crimson simply because they have lost three of their last four games. There is still bowl eligibility to think about.\nBut in front of a nation of viewers OSU crushed any optimism IU would finally rock the Buckeyes. Let's face it -- they gave us an atomic wedgie. \nLord -- I buckin' hate bullies.