Can the Buckeyes win it all in 2009?

Some big names are gone from a team that was co-Big Ten champs and went to the Fiesta Bowl, only to lose a heartbreaker to Texas 24-21. Chris Wells, Malcolm Jenkins, James Laurinaitis, Brian Robiskie, Brian Hartline and a slew of other great players are now either in the NFL or are on to other things. Can this Buckeyes team, with sophomore Terrelle Pryor at the helm, win it all?

The 2009 schedule for the Buckeyes is below:

9/5 - Navy
9/12 - USC
9/19 - Toledo (in Cleveland)
9/26 - Illinois
10/3 - @ Indiana
10/10 - Wisconsin
10/17 - @ Purdue
10/24 - Minnesota
10/31 - New Mexico State
11/7 - @ Penn State
11/14 - Iowa
11/21 - @ Michigan

Clearly the two games that pose the biggest problems will be the September 12th game vs. USC, ranked in the top 5 in almost every preseason poll, even though they lost a ton of talent as well, and November 7th at Penn State.

A lot will ride on the arm of Terrelle Pryor, whose running skills are obviously off fthe charts, and they were as a freshman, but whose passing game needs a lot of work. It wasn't that Pryor wasn't accurate last year, because he led the Big Ten in passing efficiency, but the majority of those passes were short passes. Pryor did show improvement near the end of the season with some long bombs against teams like Michigan State and Michigan, but for the most part, Pryor did not scare secondaries.

Once again, the receiving corps will be there for Pryor with the likes of DeVier Posey, Ray Small, Dane Sanzenbacher and company, Pryor will have plenty of talented receivers to throw to. The question will be whether the line can give him enough time and whether he can deliver downfield passes in pressure situations. If that is the case, this Ohio State squad could hang with anybody in the country.

The loss of Tyler Moeller for the season is a big loss. How good the defense will be is a big question mark. Pundits have the defensive line being a force, but the back seven - who knows? Can Ohio State stop USC? Can they stop Penn State? The season will be an exxciting one, that's for sure. I certainly look forward to it!