P.M. Ohio State links: Indiana's top-ranked aerial game will test Buckeye secondary

Next up for the Buckeyes: Indiana and the Big Ten's top-ranked passing attack.

Right now, the Buckeyes are almost 24-point favorites to beat Indiana at the Horseshoe on Saturday. Weren't Gene Hackman's boys from "Hoosiers" also big underdogs? And they didn't have the top 10 offense in the Big 10, as the guys from Bloomington who'll visit the Buckeye state do. Here's how espn.com tells it in Adam Rittenberg's "What to Watch in the Big Ten" blog:

Pass the Buck(eyes): Excuse the bad pun, but Indiana brings the Big Ten's top pass offense (348.2 ypg) to Columbus, where it faces an Ohio State Buckeyes team that leads the Big Ten in defending the pass (161.8 ypg allowed). Something's got to give as Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell  and his talented wide receivers and tight ends go up against Chimdi Chekwa, Jermale Hines and a speedy Ohio State secondary. Chappell (480 pass yards) and receiver Tandon Doss (15 rec., 221 yards) come off of huge games, while Ohio State plays its first full contest without Tyler Moeller.

Say what you want about the cakewalk that was the opening salvo of the 2010 season for the Buckeyes, what with Marshall, Ohio University and Eastern Michigan. If they make it to the end of this season unscathed -- and by end of this season, we mean through the Big Ten -- they'll have EARNED a shot at the BCS title.

Pryor conviction
Karl Von Clausewitz was a 19th century Prussian military strategist who developed what's basically become the thought process for modern warfare (and here you thought you were just going to get stuff about the Buckeyes). One of his most oft-quoted principles advises combatants to know their enemies. If that's true -- and it is -- the folks at hoosiernation.com have certainly studied their Clausewitz. They know the Buckeyes. One Buckeye in particular.

The Buckeyes got a shocking dose of reality during the second half of their recent win at Illinois -- a painful snapshot of just how miserable life without Terrelle Pryor might be like.

Pryor, who had ripped off a brilliant 66-yard run early in the game and was directing Ohio State to another methodical victory on a gusty day in Champaign, took off in the third quarter on a called running play. He had gained about 10 yards before stumbling awkwardly, without contact, and then crashing to the turf.

When Pryor did not get up, and lay wincing in pain on the Illinois sideline, everything changed for the Buckeyes. A sixth straight Big Ten title, an undefeated regular season, a trip to the national title game -- it all seemed to be so tenuous. He missed only seven plays and returned to finish the game, but the Pryor-less Buckeyes struggled without him in the huddle.

This is not a one-dimensional, one-man team, but there are few places in the country where the quarterback and his role carry more importance. The ultra-athletic Pryor is a much-improved passer, and his skills as an open-field runner cannot be exaggerated. In multiple plays this season, Pryor has simply run away from people, once he gets some available pasture in front of him.

As the Buckeyes move on in the Big Ten, they remain the favorites, but their vulnerability if Pryor is out of the picture is significant. The backups are barely capable, a product of the difficulty in recruiting quality quarterbacks when they know the resident signal-caller is a Heisman Trophy candidate.

That being said, maybe the Buckeyes would do well to heed another Clausewitz aphorism: "If you entrench yourself behind strong fortifications, you compel the enemy seek a solution elsewhere." In other words, O-Line, make sure Pryor doesn't get hit!

From The Plain Dealer
Ben Chappell is completing passes right now for Indiana, but if the ball had bounced a little differently, Ohio State safety Orhian Johnson might have been studying Buckeye defensive game film as Chappell's backup. Ohio State beat writer Doug Lesmerises talked to the Florida native who was recruited as a quarterback by both Indiana and South Florida.

"He can jump out of the gym and run fast and do everything," OSU senior cornerback Chimdi Chekwa said. "So we have high expectations for him."

"He's a crazy athlete," senior Jermale Hines said. "He's probably the most athletic on the team besides Terrelle."

At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, Johnson isn't as big as 6-6, 235-pound Terrelle Pryor, but he might be the closest thing to Pryor the Buckeyes have on the roster. Indiana saw Johnson as a dual-threat quarterback, and Johnson said he could do it all under center, though he was a sucker for the big play.

"Every down I was trying to score. I went too much for the big play," Johnson said. "That's why I never criticize the quarterback because no else knows how that really feels until you've got 300 pounds in front of you and you're trying to look downfield. That's a tough job."

Almost as tough as covering a receiving corps of the Big Ten's top-ranked passing team.