The latest fad in college football.

David Spade said it best in 'Tommy Boy'...

GAS STATION ATTENDANT: "I'm picking up your sarcasm."

RICHARD (Spade): "That's good because I'm laying it on pretty thick."

Indeed.

I'm starting to sense a trend in the national media. You know what that means when I pick up trends? Yes, more annoying blather. As it stands though, the backhanded, vote-of-confidence as it pertains to the Buckeyes' 2008 football team I'm guessing will be all the rage for the next month or two.

It seems that so-called "experts" cannot discount with any shred of integrity the strength of Ohio State's returning starters and relatively awesome results over the last few years before giving their initial assessment of the big picture. At least they're not consulting a Quija board. That's good to know.

Of course, this won't stop the talking heads from reminding everyone whenever they get the chance that the Buckeyes have "never beaten the SEC" (which is not actually true) and have been knocked around in the last two national title games (which is 100% true). This creates a strange dicotomy when it comes to assessing Ohio State 2008.

Without delving into this too much though, I will say that I would expect many more comments and observations similar to the ones CBSportsline's Dennis Dodd has recently offered up with his initial Preseason Top 25...

Against the tide of an emerging preseason consensus ... against the wishes of Fox, which frowns on televising re-runs in January ... against my better judgment...

Ohio State is No. 1.

For now, in the CBSSports.com post-spring top 25, but maybe right up until kickoff. Yeah, I know, you've already seen this movie. The outcome is more predictable than an M. Night Shyamalan film, and twice as scary. The Buckeyes are good enough for the Big Ten, but hopelessly outclassed in the big game. Oh, the humanity.

I know, it's getting bo-ring. How long, you ask, can this cow be milked?

Answer: Grab an udder, Zeke.

Ohio State looks like the best thing on 44 legs right now. That is a reference to the starting 22, of which 18 are returning starters. We're talking some of the nation's best, most-decorated players -- tailback Beanie Wells, linebacker James Laurinaitis, defensive back Malcolm Jenkins. Heck, quarterback Todd Boeckman already is rated one of the best quarterbacks available in the 2009 draft.

Todd Boeckman?

Oh, there's this Terrelle Pryor kid too.

These comments, in my opinion, eerily echo those of espn.com's Mark Schlabach. Schlabach you might remember, has already moved Ohio State from one to two in his preseason rankings even though all the relevant news (injuries, suspensions, etc.) during that time period seemed to fall in the negative ledger for Georgia (his alma mater and now #1) while Ohio State had nothing but good news. That's not important though.

Basically, Mr. Dodd is saying that while he thinks Ohio State is overmatched when it counts, he is still going to rate them #1.

Huh?

Unfortunately we get into "What exactly is a preseason poll anyway?" again which is too bad. More importantly what we get is an assessment of Ohio State that indicates "The Buckeyes are very good, but not the best when it matters." And yet Dodd, like others, has us #1.

It's strange. Are they giving themselves an out? I don't know.

If I may speak on behalf of Buckeye Nation, the assumption was that going into the 2008 season, following the losses to Florida and LSU, that even with the Buckeyes' obvious resources that they would still be discounted as also-rans in the mainstream media. Strangely, what we're seeing is that while the pundits still believe OSU is not in the elite of the upper echelon, they're still willing to rank them #1.

Very weird. I expect more of the same up until we play USC.