OSU has lots of problems to work on

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

This promises to be an intriguing week for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Coming off a dreadful 24-6 loss at Miami on Saturday night, interim coach Luke Fickell and his staff and players will be trying to solve a lot of problems while preparing for the most challenging part of their season.

The Buckeyes are coming off one of the worst offensive performances in the program’s 122 years.

“We didn’t execute as a whole,” said fifth-year senior quarterback Joe Bauserman.

Then Bauserman added, “It’s a long season.”

It could get even longer. The Buckeyes, ranked No. 17 last week, plummeted from The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in almost seven years. Now they’ve got to regroup for a home game against Colorado, buoyed by a victory over cross-state rival Colorado State.

Beyond the Colorado game lies a minefield of awaiting the Buckeyes: Michigan State, at No. 9 Nebraska, at No. 24 Illinois and home against No. 6 Wisconsin.

“With a loss like this, we can go and learn from things and get a lot better,” defensive back C.J. Barnett said of the punchless loss in Florida.

Fickell seemed as flummoxed by his team’s mental and physical lapses as anyone. As the final minutes ticked away, he didn’t even use any timeouts to stop the clock. It was as if he just wanted the whole, ugly thing to disappear as quickly as possible.

“We’ve got to do a great job at sitting down and figuring out how we need to move forward and where our focus is going to be with the guys we have,” Fickell said.

The first position is quarterback. The Buckeyes hit on just 4 of 18 passes for 35 yards with one interception. Freshman Braxton Miller was stuck with that pick when his hard throw went off the hands of tight end Jake Stoneburner and was intercepted by JoJo Nicolas. Miller also lost a fumble and recovered another one he dropped.

Despite the two turnovers, many Buckeyes fans want him to step into the starting role. It’s a troubling dilemma for Fickell and offensive coordinator Jim Bollman.

Bauserman has not been on the field for a turnover but has also not produced in the last two games.