Pre-Season AP Rank: 9th.

The famous slogan about Ohio State's football program each year is "We Don't Rebuild, We Reload" will have to be true again this season for the Buckeyes to have a chance at competing for a Big Ten and a national title. The schedule is absolutely brutal.

Eight OSU starters were drafted by the NFL. Among the stars that departed were: MLB Andy Katzenmoyer, Thorpe-Award winning CB Antoine Winfield, SS Damon Moore, WR's David Boston (85 catches for 1,435 yards and 13 TD's in 1998,a school-record) and Dee Miller, and QB Joe Germaine (who threw for a school-record 3,330 yards and 25 TD's last season), one of the all-time great quarterbacks in Ohio State history.

Those replacing the stars that were drafted by the NFL include: Senior Chris Kirk for Katzenmoyer at MLB (both high school teammates at Westerville (OH) South High School); sophomore Nate Clements replaces Antoine Winfield at CB; senior Percy King for Damon Moore at SS; Juniors Reggie Germany and Ken-Yon Rambo replace David Boston and Dee Miller at the WR positions; and sophomores Steve Bellasary and Austin Moherman battle it out for the starting QB position vacated by by Germaine. Junior Mike Gurr replaces Rob Murphy at OLG. Murphy was an all-american in 1998 and was declared academically ineligible during the summer before signing an NFL contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. Other starters who didn't leave early or graduate include: Senior TB Michael Wiley (198-1,235, 6.3 yards per carry average and 10 TD's in 1998), senior FB Matt Keller (521 yards rushing and 52 receptions for his career at OSU); junior PK Dan Stultz (a talented underachiever with a strong leg has made just 28 of 50 field goals in his career, he should have his best year this season, as he played with back problems in 1998. He had surgery in the off-season and is feeling much better.); Junior OLT Tyson Walter; senior C Kurt Murphy; senior ORG Ben Gilbert (lineman of the year for the Bucks last season) all return on the O-Line.

On defense, seven of 11 starters return. They are: Junior DLE Brent Johnson (led OSU with seven sacks last season); Sophomore DLT Ryan Pickett; Junior DRT Joe Brown; Junior DRE Rodney Bailey (10 tackles-for-loss and five sacks in 1998); Junior Na'il Diggs (second on team with 74 tackles a year ago). The outstanding duo of Junior CB Ahmed Plummer and Senior FS Gary Berry return on a defense that should be just as stifling as last season's group that gave up just 12.0 points per game. The defense and the running game should carry Ohio State to victories in most of the games, but with the schedule as tough as it is (Miami, Fla. in the Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium in E. Rutherford, N.J.; UCLA at home; Purdue and Wisconsin at home; Penn State, Michigan State, Minnesota and Michigan on the road), the Bucks will need to develop a passing attack that is respectable and that means settling on one QB to run the show by the Big Ten Schedule. If a somewhat decent aerial attack eludes the Buckeyes, this could be a tough, barely break even season. Here's saying that with a wideout with superb talents like Reggie Germany in the mix, respectability or better in the passing game shouldn't be too tough to attain. Afterall, "We Don't Rebuild, We Reload".

PREDICTION: An end to four straight 10+ win seasons. 9-4 will have to do. The potential is there to be better than this prediction, but until a QB steps up and shows he can win the big games, this is a safe pick.