Much of the loss from last year comes from the decision of Hart, Henne and Long to stay for their senior year. To assume that their back ups had no talent and didn't improve during the year while riding pine is probably not accurate. The loss of Mallet is a major set back, to be sure. But this is still a team that played the Bucks right down to the last possession and this is a program that recruits well even if they lost Pryor.
You can count on one finger the number of times this (UM) program has lost to both
OSU and Penn State. That's better than the Buckeyes can say. That could well expand to two fingers this year, but they'll be in a bowl game and they'll be a load by the time they get to Columbus. After all Millie doesn't leave the island for nothing.
__________________
"When our Big Ten brothers are playing Notre Dame, we're always rooting for them," Tressel said. "I'm rooting for our Big Ten partners. I want our strength of conference to be as good as it can be." Jim Tressel