Buckeyes facing many questions

Hopefully many will be answered before their Sept. 1 season opener.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Here’s 10 questions facing the 2007 Ohio State Buckeyes as they prepare for their Sept. 1 opener against I-AA Youngstown State:

1, Who’s the QB?

There are four candidates, none who has been on the Ohio Stadium field with a game hanging in the balance. Todd Boeckman is the odds-on favorite to start, backed by Robbie Schoenhoft and Antonio Henton, with all likely to get some snaps in the early games. An intriguing possibility, if not for 2007 at least in the future, is Joe Bauserman. An acclaimed high school QB, he disdained Ohio State to play minor-league baseball. Now he’s in camp trying to switch back to football.

2, How good’s the D?

It ought to be pretty good, although it lost a chunk of good players from last year’s unit, including three top linemen and two DBs. James Laurinaitis is an animal in the middle, Vernon Gholston is a superb end, and Marcus Freeman at LB and Malcolm Jenkins at CB are fine players. The DBs are promising but unproven, much like the line. Don’t count on the D holding six straight teams to 10 or fewer points as it did last year.

3, What’s the O look like?

Unsettled. A lot is riding on Boeckman (or whomever the QB is) making good decisions. But that will be impacted by two new starters on the line, Beanie Wells’ running (and not fumbling) and the dependability of WRs Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie.

4, How hard is the schedule?

It’s a breeze, really. The toughest early test is at Washington, traditionally a difficult place to play, although the Huskies remain a team in the middle of reconstruction under Tyrone Willingham. Barring a mammoth upset, the Buckeyes should be favored in every game until they play at Penn State on Oct. 27. That’s eight games to sort out the problems and tune up for the stretch run. The final four games are a killer, though: at Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois (which gave the Buckeyes fits last year) and then at Michigan.

5, Is there a Florida hangover?

You betcha. No one has forgotten that 41-14 pasting in the BCS championship game in January. It can serve as a downer, or incentive.

“We all have to live with that and we all know that’s going to motivate us,” offensive coordinator and line coach Jim Bollman said. “We can’t sit here and dwell on that too long. That doesn’t do us any good either. There’s a positive and a negative on those kind of deals, so carry on.”

6, Where are the biggest strengths?

If Wells has erased his freshman-year propensity to fumble, he can give the offense a chance to grow. With no turnovers and 100 yards or so a game, he provides the QBs more time, the line confidence and the WRs room to maneuver. On the other side of the ball, Gholston will terrorize QBs and Laurinaitis may rack up some stunning tackle totals.

7, What about the frosh?

The Buckeyes need depth at running back, where the two, unrelated Wellses (Beanie and Maurice) ply their trade. Reigning AP Mr. Football in Ohio, Brandon Saine, will get a genuine shot to play if he devours the playbook. Same thing out wide, where Dane Sanzenbacher may see time right away. Don’t discount Cameron Heyward, son of the late ex-NFL running back Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, getting in on the DL and Donnie Evege insinuating himself into the CB picture.

8, What are the biggest worries?

This isn’t a deep team. If Beanie Wells, Laurinaitis, Jenkins or a couple of the OL went down, the rest of the year could be a scramble. PK Aaron Pettrey and P A.J. Trapasso also must be at least as good as they were a year ago.

9, What’s the deal with TV games?

A number of games are scheduled to be carried by the fledgling Big Ten Network. That’s good. Most people, however, do not GET the Big Ten Network. That’s bad. Unless conference commissioner Jim Delany and cable carriers Comcast and Time Warner have a meeting of minds, and soon, this may be a return to the days when only a handful of games were on the tube.

10, What’s the prognosis?

This is a good, talented team, with a dream schedule. A lot of things can go wrong — it wouldn’t be stunning to see a young team lose at Washington and struggle in every other road game (Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State and Michigan).

The red-letter day may be Nov. 3 at home against Wisconsin. If the Buckeyes are still in the hunt on that afternoon, it’s not inconceivable they could steal the Big Ten title or at least a BCS bowl. But many, many things have to go right for that to happen. The guess here is that the media’s prediction of third in the Big Ten might be on the money.