Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas

By Jimmy Sirody
Don Best Senior Writer

Three beatings administered in prime time have left the Ohio State Buckeyes with a black eye on the national stage. They're the main reasons few are giving them a chance against explosive Texas in Monday night's Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

The Ohio State defense has been thrashed in most of its biggest games the last three years dating back to the 39 points surrendered to Michigan in 2006. Counting the last two national championship games and the loss at USC this season, the Buckeyes have been outscored 114-41.

Ohio State will get its chance to show whether Texas' offense is really this powerful or if it is a product of bad defenses in the Big 12. Over the last six games, the Buckeyes surrendered an average of 10 points per game; about half of the 19.4 points the first five FBS opponents averaged this year.

The task now, though, stiffens significantly. The Longhorns rank fifth in the nation in scoring, averaging 44 points a game. They have scored less than 33 points just once this season. Conversely, Ohio State hasn't allowed more than 21 points after getting gashed by the Trojans.

Texas broke the 50-point barrier four times, and scored more than 40 points in eight of 12 games. Colt McCoy has led that attack, and has the ledger to prove it.

McCoy set a single-season record with his 3,445 passing yards and will show the Buckeyes an offense that has tallied 28 or more points in its last 19 games.

For one of the few times this season, the Longhorns will face an offense insistent on running the ball first and passing only when necessary It's a fairly large adjustment to make after opponents ran an average of 26 times and threw nearly 39 times on Texas during the regular season.

Ohio State's 4,076 yards of total offense this season would have ranked the Buckeyes second from the bottom in the Big 12, ahead of 5-7 Colorado.

Ohio State's running game nearly always has been the heart of its offense. That's just as true this year, with about 60 percent of the Buckeye's yardage coming from the run in Big Ten play, contrasted to the national average of closer to only 40 percent.

The Horns are 20th in the nation in scoring defense, which is also the best in the Big 12. However, they are just 109th in passing defense, allowing 266.3 yards per game, and Texas picked off just six balls in 12 games.

Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Graham Harrell of Texas Tech combined for 861 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions versus the Longhorns.

For Ohio State to move the ball through the air it would require improvement from quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The Buckeyes are 105th in the nation in passing yards per game and Pryor has thrown more than 20 passes for more than 200 yards just once, that coming against Penn State.

The Texas front seven is talented and one of the main reasons it is second in the nation in rush defense, allowing 73.6 yards per game. The Longhorns may not have faced someone as good as Beanie Wells, but the season's ledger indicates the Buckeyes will be hard pressed to hold their own if looking to hit a bunch of big runs against Will Muschamp's defense.

Texas only allowed a running back one play all year longer than 24 yards, that being Baylor's Jay Finley, a 40-yarder against reserves with the game already in the bag.

Unless Pryor plays lights out and forces the Longhorns to cover the pass, it's hard to imagine Ohio State moving the ball with any real consistency.

Texas gets most of its yards through the air, as its 229.5 passing yards per game places 11th in the country. That passing game will match up against a Buckeyes team that is seventh in the nation in passing defense and boasts the Thorpe Award winner in Malcolm Jenkins.

Most offshore books opened the Longhorns as an 11 1/2-point favorite with the 'total' set at 54.

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