Seventy-three points! But ...

OK, the Buckeyes beat the Eastern Michigan Eagles by 53 points yesterday. I predicted they'd win by 50, and Vegas predicted they'd win by 44 1/2, so hooray and what not. It was certainly an impressive showing by the Ohio State offense, but let's not forget this happened against a team that hasn't won a game since 2008. When you're the #2 team in the nation playing a team that can't even win in the MAC, you should dominate, which they did.

Terrelle Pryor was nearly flawless, completing 20 of 26 passes for 224 yards and four touchdowns, rushing for 104 yards on just seven carries, and even catching a touchdown pass of his own from Joe Hall on a throwback trick play. Pryor's four touchdown passes all went to Dane Sanzenbacher, who tied an Ohio State record with the four catches for scores. Kudos to those guys, and the entire offense. They did what they should have done, which is tear that EMU defense to shreds. I'm sure everybody who cares enough to read this blog already knows this, but OSU hasn't scored this many points in a game since 1950, when I was -21.

The thing that concerns me about this game is the 20 points allowed. The Eagles even tied the Buckeyes in the second quarter, 14-14. The Eastern Michigan offense is not nearly as pathetic as its defense -- they scored 27, 21 and 14 in their first three games -- but still, they shouldn't be able to put up 20 against the #2 team in the country, whose defense had only allowed two touchdowns in three games coming in. But the Eagles put together three long scoring drives out of four possessions in the second and third quarters -- nine plays, 75 yards; seven plays, 73 yards; and six plays, 80 yards. They were three-and-out on all but one of their other possessions (the other one went five plays and ended in a fumble), so at least those were the only times they got something going, but still, that's reason for some concern.

But never mind all that. The Buckeyes are 4-0 heading into the Big Ten portion of their schedule, and that's all that really matters. They have one truly impressive victory under their belts (the 36-24 win over Miami on Sept. 11), and there's not much reason to believe they can't run the table. They've got Illinois next week, then Indiana before their next real test on Oct. 16 against Wisconsin. That's going to be a toughie.