Yes, Ohio State is pretty good again this year. We gave the game away to Texas (I'm not saying Texas is a bad team, but our offense just refused to put the ball into the end zone after our D gave them great field position all game). Against Iowa last week we looked darn good, though I have a feeling Iowa was over-rated, especially by whoever it was on ATOT that was touting Iowa's spanking of Ball State as indicative of how they would play all season, a theory that ignored two key facts:
-it was Ball State
-it was Ball State with 13 starters suspended, aka they started their second string at most positions
Really, I see our games against MSU and UM as being the biggest challenges this year. That isnt to say the Buckeye's couldnt lose against Minnesota, but MSU is looking stronger than them, and the OSU-UM game does often go to the underdogs as both teams seem to frequently spoil the other's shot at a national title.
If our offense starts performing at the level of it's talent, I think we easily win out, as our defense has been reminding me of the 2002 OSU national champions defense. It's going to suck to lose all of our starting linebackers next year, though.