Early word out of Jim Tressel's Tuesday presser is that Akron native and running back Chris Wells will start against the USC Trojans in this weekend's huge showdown.

That's good news for a Buckeyes team that looked woeful on offense against Ohio University of all teams and needs a spark.

Teammate and defensive end Lawrence Wilson spoke with Wells last week and Monday as the runner worked out apart from the team.
‘’Beanie told me he was going to play and when Beanie says he’s going to do something, he does it,’’ Wilson said. ‘’I know he’s a tremendous competitor.’’

Call it looking past the Trojans, but the OSU offensive unit was lower than flat.

Bad snap in the shotgun inside the 10 yard line, ball in the endzone, boom, score Ohio University 14-6 OU. To say this is not good would be mild. Extremely mild.

This is the No. 2 or No. 3 team in the country? After the butt whupping that USC laid on Virginia last week we're supposed to believe this is a contender for a national championship? Even if they pull this out, they're not contenders for a national championship. Right now, they look like a loosely assembled group of ball players looking for someone to step up and show them how to win. This is not what you expect from a team that returns more than 20 starters on both sides of the ball.

Yes, it's beginning to look as if the Buckeyes will eke out a win here, but I'm almost fearful of what will happen next week in SoCal. Gee, couldn't you guys tell that from other comments? Jim Tressel likes to talk about learning from every game. The Bucks will have plenty to learn about themselves from this one.

One person who really needs to study the film is quarterback Todd Boeckman whose decision making has left a lot to be desired. He's thrown into double coverage more than a few times, including on a pass in the endzone that could have easily been picked up.

Malcolm Jenkins comes up with up with a nice pick to start the second quarter and Todd Boeckman looks as if he wants to give it back by throwing into double coverage.

The Buckeyes had a whopping 28 yards of offense in the first quarter on 15 plays. That's not ugly, that is freakin' scary.

Ohio University puts together the best drive of the day to go ahead 7-3 with 6:56 left in the half. I don't want to be the purveyor of doom and gloom, but can you say Appalachian State? Are the Buckeyes sleepwalking during this game or what? Did they expect that they would not have actually show up?

That's what it looks like.

OU 7, OSU 6. End of the first half. About the only thing the Buckeyes can take solace in the fact that the defense - except in a couple of breakdowns - is as advertised. Akron native and defenisve end Lawrence Wilson is a straight out beast and his partner Thad Gibson, a Euclid native, has impressed as well. Both have been quick, tenacious and disruptive.

First noticeable difference - Mo Wells starting at tailback for Chris "Beanie" Wells.

Two series - two three and outs. It's still a shade over half of the first quarter left and the Buckeyes look as if they have ZERO pep. Nothing. No enthusiam. NO fire. In two series they have no first downs.

Quarterback Todd Boeckman looks to be in Six Million Dollar Man slo-mo, which isn't completely his fault because he's not getting the pass protection that he should. The old axiom is true, the longer they let these guys stick around, the more confident they will get.

Update: Lawrence Wilson makes a nice interception off a ball tipped at the of scrimmage setting the ball up in OU territory only to have the offense continue a trend that developed last week - Ofer in the red zone. They settle for a Ryan Pretorius field goal.

3-0 at the end of the first quarter? Are you kidding me? This is Ohio U. Not USC. OU. Speaking of USC, it won't be pretty next week.

The offensive line is getting no explosion. The running backs have no holes to run through and the offense in general looks lackadaisical.

As Buckeye Nation holds its breath.

Literally, as I sit here Ohio Stadium is silent as Chris Wells gets worked on. He and fumbled the ball as he rushed near the goal line. It didn't look good as teammates helped him off the field. Wells had to eventually be helped to a cart where it can only be presumed he's heading for X-rays.

Wells eventually came back in an orthopedic boot. X-Rays taken in the locker room came back negative.

A couple of observations:

Despite a 26-0 lead the Buckeyes look far from impressive. The two TDs they scored came outside the redzone - one courtesy of a Chris Wells 43-yard-TD run and the other a 31-yard Todd Boeckman to Brian Robiskie TD pass.

The went 0-4 inside the redzone. Not good. Not inspiring because there will come a time when the offense has to come up big inside the 20 and if they can't do it against YSU, then they won't be able to do it against a USC or a lot of Big Ten teams.

Injury update: at one point in the first half Beanie Wells pulled himself out of the game and Robiskie wasn't out at mdifield for the the start of the second half. Considering he's a team captain. He should have been. That shoulder-arm injury looks troublesome.

Terrelle Pryor's stats in his first drive: 3 of 3 passing, 25 yards and he rushed for 16 yards on 4 carries including a long of 14.

Pryor flashed the skills that made him last year's most wanted recruit, but you can definitley see that when it comes to the passing game, he will need work. He took a sack looking to make something happen. Admirable, but he needs to know when to get rid of the ball

It's the first game and the Buckeyes have a comfy 16 point lead, but here's hoping a trend isn't developing. They are 0-for-3 in the redzone. Sure, they'll get away with it against YSU and OU next week, but the likelihood that they will against USC…ummm…NO.

After dealing with parking issues and the like I finally hit Ohio Stadium and it would the Buckeyes already realize that they are playing an inferior opponent.

This is one of those games - as well as next week's - when they should take the opportunity to get their kinks worked out. Settling on for a field goal on the first drive doesn't qualify.

In this very game last year, Akron's Chris Wells looked uninspired and unimpressive. Not so today. Four carries 55 yards and a score. 'Nuff said.

Now the crowd cheers as Jim Tressle give sthe crowd what they want on the third drive of the game - Terrelle Pryor - the QB phenom out of Jennette, Pa.

I'm no fashionista. Some might even say I'm fashion challenged, but those Brown pants? Yuck.

In fact, they were so hideous that maybe they cast some kind of wicked spell on the Browns first-teamers Monday night.

Yes, they were live from New York and they definitely were the Not-Ready-For-Primetime Players and not in the good sense.

Shall we recap the first quarter? Oh, lets:

16 plays for 26 yards
Six penalties for 98 yards
A blocked punt for a safety
The subsequent kick from that safety returned for a touchdown
Said retuner, one Domenick Hixson caught two other TDs from Giants QB Eli Manning
The Giants recover a fumble and return it 80 gazillion yards for a score.
Derek Anderson suffers possible concussion
Pass protection is non-existent
Josh Cribbs injures ankle

Did I leave anything out? Let's face it. This isn't exactly what Browns fans expected in the team's first appearance on national television in umpteen million years. Hell, I'd suspect that even the Miami Dolphins, last year's worst team in the NFL, didn't expect this one. But it happened.

The best thing for the team? First Coach Romeo Crennel and his coaching staff obviously have some work to do with the O-line, the D-line, DBs…Well, can't they just start over? Just kidding.

The fact of the matter is that it's just the second pre-season game. There's still time to get most of these problems corrected.

Secondly, I don't know if a butt kicking like th is in the pre-season is necessarily a bad thing. It kind of serves as a reality check for a young team that is brimming with confidence. Does that confidence come close to arrogance? Not from what I've seen during my many visits to training camp, but still, this could definitely serve as one of those moments when they realize there's hard work to be done and they get down to the business of it.

The NFL schedule is out and the Cleveland Browns saw themselves from starving from lack of respect from TV networks and the schedule making gods last year to gorging on it next season.

The Browns will appear on national television a whopping FIVE times in the 2008 campaign. That's going to make for a lot of late nights in Cleveland.

Here's the rundown:

Pittsburgh Steelers: Sunday, Sept. 14, 8:15 p.m., NBC (WKYC Channel 3)
New York Giants: Monday, Oct. 13, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Denver Broncos: Thursday, Nov. 6, 8:15 p.m., NFL Network
At Buffalo Bills, Monday, Nov., 17, 8:30p.m., ESPN
At Philadelphia Eagles, Monday, Dec. 15, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Additionally, one other game, the home opener against the Dallas Cowboys has a 4:15 starting time which means that more than likely it will be the national game for the FOX Network that week. Three other Sunday games also start after 4 p.m.

Find the entire schedule here.

What should Browns fans make of this? First of all, the league rewarded the Browns entertaining play on the field and their perceived status as an up-and-coming team. It will however, mean nothing should they not win.

And at first glance, this schedule is fair to middlin' with respect to difficulty. The combined winning percentage of every team on it is .535. If the Browns have improved the way everyone believes them to have they should have a successful season.

The toughies: Pittsburgh, the Giants, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Colts (how many of you want payback for them not playing with any desire in their season closer?) and the Titans. That's not to say the rest of the teams on the schedule will be pushovers. Far from it. But the Browns find themselves in an unenviable position - they either perform on the limelight or they likely won't be invited back as often in the future. Additionally, it's going to be interesting to see how this funky schedule affects this team the following week. Three of those national matchup will cause the team to play on short weeks.