Buckeye O-Line drawing fans' ire

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In coffee shops, on city buses, at the kitchen table and around the water cooler, Ohio State fans are becoming increasingly familiar with the guys on the offensive line.

This is not a good thing. What is being said about the usually anonymous guys on the front wall isn't fit for young ears.

Sure, the Buckeyes are No. 12 in the nation and share the Big Ten lead with marks of 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference. But that offensive line stinks! Or so everyone says.

The linemen had a summit meeting Sunday night - and, amazingly, they agree with that assessment.

"(Tight end) Rory Nicol was the person who stepped up and said it," tackle Alex Boone said during preparations for Saturday's showdown with No. 20 Michigan State. "(He said) you guys look like a bunch of girls out there. That's the truth."

The numbers show that the biggest blockers aren't doing a very good job. Ohio State failed to score an offensive touchdown last week in a 16-3 victory over Purdue, which came in ranked near the bottom of the conference in defense.

To date, Ohio State's quarterbacks have been sacked 19 times - matching the total from all 13 games last season. Of the 118 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Buckeyes rank 94th in total offense, 108th in passing, 70th in scoring and 106th in sacks allowed.

"Certainly, things have not gone as smoothly on occasion as we would like," said line coach and offensive coordinator Jim Bollman. "We're not going to say this or that or make excuses. We're going to keep pounding and working on it."

Ohio State has worked on those troublesome areas this week. The problem is that there are so many of them.

Asked why the offense isn't clicking, tight end Jake Ballard said, "Maybe it's the fact that we're just now getting used to playing with everybody. I mean, the offensive line keeps moving around, it's all guys who aren't used to playing with each other. Then there's a new quarterback, obviously. Terrelle (Pryor) is definitely a whole different quarterback from Todd (Boeckman). And (there is) the fact that he can run at any time so we just have to keep playing and blocking and keep the blocks alive longer to give him more time back there."

Nicol didn't even play in the Purdue game because of an ankle injury, but still was the guy who said things had to change. Now.

He didn't exclude anyone on that side of the ball, and he didn't just blame the line.

"I don't think every position across the board is on all cylinders at the same time," he said.