What's Next For Ohio State?

With Jim Tressel resigning over a week ago and now star QB Terrelle Pryor coming out and saying that he will not return for his senior year, the simple question to ask is, what is next for Ohio State?
Any top program in college sports would be able to get over the loss of their starting quarterback, but don't forget that Ohio State will dealing with the suspension of four other key players for the first five games of the season and a new head coach in Luke Fickell.  Dan Herron, Devier Posey, Mike Adams, and Soloman Thomas have all played key roles on this Ohio State Buckeyes team over the past few seasons, but with them out for the first five games, it is tough to see anybody else stepping up to fill the void that these players leave open.

Their first two games are at home against Akron and Toledo, so those shouldn't be a problem.  In fact, they should serve as a nice tune-up for their third game at Miami.  However, this game was a little more intriguing when it was put on the schedule a few years ago, as now Miami isn't the same team as even as far back as last season.  So don't be surprised if Ohio State stays in contention for a top bowl game with a 5-0 or 4-1 record.  They will host Michigan State to cap off all of the suspension and to open up Big Ten play, but won't have any tune-up time for the four suspended players to get into a rhythm before they travel to Lincoln to take on Nebraska.  I don't see this as a terribly lost season, in fact, I see Ohio State having a fairly successful season going 8-4 or 9-3, very respectable for everything that they will be up against.
As for Terrelle Pryor, he said that when the NFL lockout ends, he will enter the supplemental draft.  But that isn't the biggest issue that he faces.  He is still under investigation from the NCAA for receiving free tattoos for signed memorabilia, but now an ex-friend has come out and said that he received around $30-40 thousand for signed memorabilia.  If any further damage happens to Ohio State, his reputation will be more tarnished than that of Jim Tressell's and he may never be able to show his face in Columbus again.  And in my opinion, he is the reason Tressell is no longer around.

But, the way I see it, Pryor will have a tougher future than the Ohio State football program.  And what's that old saying... "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
Well in this case, Pryor is weak for bailing on his teammates in a tough time.

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