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Just as fabulous as Beverly Hills, only without Luke Perry

As you may or may not have read, I currently find myself living and working in a city called Tulsa. Situated in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma, the Tulsa metro area is home to just under a million residents. After living here for two football seasons, it has become pretty clear: out of the 905,000 Tulsans, about thirty are Buckeye fans. The odds are not in my favor.  It's not often that I run across a fellow Buckeye. What I do run across, however, is an unsettling amount of Sooners. Amongst a sea of Crimson and Cream, another color scheme also becomes prevalent: Orange and Black. Common colors, could indicate fan-dom of a multitude of teams: the Bengals, my high school's cross town rival (Central H.S. Tigers), or even Princeton. But here, these colors are reserved for a school whose initials seem to cause déjà vu. As I read the local sports section, and listen to my husband and his friends, I can't help but wonder… 

When did OSU start referring to a different school? 

OSU's most recent victory came against the Troy Trojans. Now, now, I can hear you: "She needs to check her calendar". Actually, it's true. OSU, as in Oklahoma State University. Last week, they played Troy, just as we did the week prior (feel free to interpret that as a double-entendre). This gave me a good comparison of where my OSU (the REAL OSU) stands. The score of our game vs. Troy: 28-10. Not bad. Not fabulous, but a solid win. The score of the other OSU vs. Troy: 55-24. Headlines read: "Oklahoma State Trounces Troy” and Ok State has entered the top 25 for the first time in four years.

The way Ok State played against Troy serves as a lesson to the men at Ohio State. You can't win football games without a powerful offense. Now, I know, my last column was all about the importance of a reliable D. Which just goes to show, teams need balance between the two. With a little more experience, I think Pryor has the chance to help introduce that balance into the Buckeyes. Against Troy, Pryor accounted for four TDs, and three versus Minnesota. These numbers give me hope for the future. Maybe not this season. Maybe not even next season. But I think Pryor's years at Ohio State will prove why he was the #1 recruit, and my OSU will start "trouncing" opponents.

Next up: Wisconsin. We all saw what happened last week. I thought it was in the bag. I think everyone thought it was in the bag. How, exactly, do you blow off a 19 point lead, just goes to demonstrate the importance of balance. The Badger's offense did their work, but the D let them down in the end. Only one of the Wolverine's touchdowns came from a turnover. That means the other three came from regular plays, where the D couldn't stop the score. Lesson learned, courtesy of the Badgers: both sides of the team must be ready to play a full sixty minutes. If the Buckeyes can prove they are capable of sixty quality minutes, maybe my fellow Tulsans will start to think of another school when they hear the letters OSU. Then again, maybe not.