"When will then be now?" "Soon."

So I went to the Michigan State-Ohio State game a couple weeks ago. Incidentally, I sun-burned the crap out of my face... but that is neither here nor there. Not there, THERE!

While watching the offense flounder against the Spartans I was suddenly reminded of the frustration of watching the 2002 offense. And I began to contemplate the differences and similarities of the two offenses, which led me to then contemplate how the special teams and defenses compare. The more I thought about it, the more I noticed similarities between the two teams. So I decided to do some research into the matter, and I found some startlingly similar statistics between this year's offense and the offense of 2002:

Statistic	2002	2005
Average Net Yards/Game	364.5	376.6
Avg. Points For	29.3	28.6
Avg. Time of Possession	31:45	31:45
Average Rush Yards/Game	191.3	176.0
Average Yards/Rush	4.3	4.2
Average Pass Yards/Game	173.2	200.6
Average Yards/Pass	8.7	7.9
TD:INT Ratio	2	2.25
Pass Completion %	61.8	62.7

And while I perused these statistics, I noticed some similarities between the stats of the defenses and special teams that may not be as striking, but are still worth noting:

Statistic	2002	2005
Average Points Against	13.0	14.6
Average Yards/Punt	44.6	46.7
Average XPs/Game	3.2	3.3
Average Field Goals/Game	1.8	1.9

There are, of course, some noticeable differences as well. For instance the number of rushing touchdowns per game is much lower this year than in 2005. Also, over half (16 of 31) of the rushing touchdowns in 2002 were scored by Clarrett, whereas Troy Smith has nearly all of the rushing touchdowns (8 of 10) this year. The 2002 team was very good at holding onto the ball and only lost 10 fumbles in 14 games, whereas the 2005 team has already lost 11 fumbles in 7 games. And Hartsock had a much more prominent role in the passing offense than Hamby does this year. Let's send him death threats.

So I will put the following questions to you, the other loyal readers and contributors... all 3 of you.

1.) Can we officially remove the "loyal reader/contributor" label from Todd?

2.) Which Ohio State offense was/is more frustrating to watch - 2002 or 2005?
Author's note: I contemplated limiting the comparison to the 2005 offense vs. 2002-without-Clarrett-in-the-line-up offense, but I decided against it. The offense was considerably more effective with Clarrett in the line-up, but I'll leave it to you to make or not make such a distinction as you see fit.

3.) Which Ohio State defense was/is better - 2002 or 2005?

I've got my opinions but I'm trying not to inject my bias into the post, so I'll let you guys respond first. If anyone responds at all... Is this thing on?