A.M. Ohio State links: Buckeyes are expected to bury the Gophers ... again

Ohio State goes up against overmatched Minnesota on Saturday.

Sometimes you just gotta feel for the opponent. Obliterate him, sure. But feel for him. Take, for example, Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber. The guy has started every game in his Gophers career, according to theozone.net's preview of Saturday's Ohio State @ Minnesota game, and just became only the fifth quarterback in Big Ten history pass for 10,000 yards in his career.

Of course, a lot of passing is pretty much what you have to do when you're behind a lot. As the website noted, Weber's first season, as a redshirt freshman quarterback, the Gophers finished 1-11, and they're on a pace to do the same THIS season.
Going up against the Buckeyes isn't likely to improve the odds for Weber or his team.

Ohio State is 42-7 against the Gophers all-time, including a 20-4 mark in Minneapolis.

The Buckeyes have won the last seven games against Minnesota, and 23 of the last 24.

Jeff Horton will be coaching in just his second game as the Gopher interim head coach. Jim Tressel is 16-1 against first-year head coaches, with the lone loss coming last year to Danny Hope and Purdue.

Ohio State owns a 69.8 percent winning percentage in Big Ten games all-time, which is the best percentage of any team in the conference.

Boy, that's gonna leave a mark.

Who are the other guys?
Starting Blocks just KNEW you'd want to know who the other members of that 10,000-yard passer club are. That would be Drew Brees, Curtis Painter, Bret Basanez and Chuck Long. Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor has 5,180 yards in the air at this juncture. If the wind is right, he could join the club this weekend. Yeah, Minnesota is that bad.

A bit of advice
Mom and dad, you might want to make sure that parental control dealie on the cable remote is working around 8 p.m. Saturday. The Ohio State-Minnesota game will be aired on WEWS-Channel 5, and it could be bloodier than "SAW 3D." That's the hint to be gleaned from collegesportsmatchups.com:

Expect Ohio State football to have no mercy on struggling Minnesota football team.

With three tough games scheduled for the end of the season, Ohio State gets a final chance to load up against one of the Big Ten’s bottom feeders. With Penn State, Iowa and Michigan looming, the Buckeyes can use a dose of Minnesota.

No. 10 Ohio State (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten) rebounded from its tumble against Wisconsin with a 49-0 rout of Purdue last week. Now the Buckeyes play a Minnesota team (1-7, 0-4) that has lost seven consecutive games and had its coach dismissed two weeks ago.

This one could get ugly, given Ohio State's plentiful offensive options.

Better option, 'rents, might be "Scared Shrekless," which is on WKYC-Channel 3 at the same time. Of course, it features someone other than Eddie Murphy as Donkey, so it's a little on the frightening side, too.

From The Plain Dealer
Beat writer Doug Lesmerises notes that the Buckeyes' head coach may not be the best-known Tressel in Minnesota this weekend, and he dang sure won't be the most-loved. Jim Tressel will have to defer to his older brother, Dick, who coaches running backs for the Buckeyes, but before that, spent 23 years as the head coach of Division III's Hamline University in St. Paul.

Lesmerises' Ohio State Football Insider column says that the tragedy at Notre Dame -- where a student videotaping practice was killed when high winds toppled the scissor lift he was in -- has reinforced Ohio State's safety-first attitude when it comes to taping outdoor practices in adverse conditions.

Busy Lesmerises also had a piece on the Big Ten media day for basketball, and it looks like another good year ahead for both the men's and women's Ohio State teams. The women are preseason favorites to repeat as conference champs, and the men -- ranked No. 4 in the first AP poll of the year -- are tabbed to finish second, behind Michigan State.