#20 Ohio State Buckeyes: College Football 77 in 77

Welcome to The Sports Bank 77 in 77. We’re previewing one team a day everyday as the college footballseason approaches. And we’re doing it in rapid fire sequence. Today, the Ohio State Buckeyes

2011 was: a mediocre, very year in school history. Their defense was good, but overall their offense was terrible. The Buckeyes lost their last four, including a bowl game and finished under .500 in conference, and overall for the first time in a long long while. They were ravaged by the fallout from tattoogate and will face a bowl ban this year. Even if they win their division, Ohio State is ineligible for the Big Ten Championship game.

2012 will go smoothly if: Braxton Miller lives up to the hype; as does new coach Urban Meyer who’s treated like the Pope in Ohio. The offseason was once again unkind, as their big TE Jake Stoneburner and the best OL Jack Mewhort need to earn their way back on the squad. Former starting LB Storm Klein (a stripper name if I ever heard one) was kicked off the team. The running game should be deep, but not exceptional, not by Ohio State stndards. There’s talent, and a strong recruiting class.

2012 will be rough if: the offense is where all the questions marks are. The defense should be solid ESPECIALLY the defensive line, where many monsters exist including John Simon and Johnathan Hankins, who are NFL talent. Last year’s interim head coach Luke Fickell returns to lead the defense, and they may have to force turnovers and score to bail out the offense at times.

BMOC: All the dudes I just mentioned, plus Jordan Hall, Carlos Hyde, CB Bradley Roby and FB Zach Boren

All Name team: very very strong at this area, both with freshmen: Se’Von Pittman and Armani Reeves and in the veterans who I’ve already mentioned plus Philly Brown and Orhian Johnson

Bottom Line: 7-9 wins looks likely. They might be deserving of more, but it all depends on if they stay healthy at the positions where they have little depth and the QB play.

All the 77s

#21 Texas

#22 Texas A&M

#23 Michigan State

#24 Louisville

#25 Stanford

#31 Virginia

#32 Notre Dame

#33 NC State

#34 Iowa

#35 BYU

#36 UCF

#37 Washington

#38 Tennessee

#39 Rutgers

#40 Penn State

#45 Mississippi State

#46 North Carolina

#47 Northwestern

#48 Miami, FL

#49 California

#50 SMU

#51 South Florida

#52 UConn

#53 UCLA

#54 Illinois

#55 Vanderbilt

#56 Washington St.

#59 Purdue

#62 Arizona State

#63 Boston College

#64 Ohio

#65 Marshall

#66 Arizona

#67 Southern Miss

#72 Colorado

#73 Kansas

#74 Maryland

#75 Duke

#76 Minnesota

#77 Indiana

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, Walter Football and Yardbarker

A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too

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