I’m not certain who that was playing quarterback for Ohio State University last week at Miami. It sure wasn’t the player that most of us saw blossom for Wayne High School last fall.

That would be Braxton Miller. I would introduce the Miami game film to the Olentangy River.

I’m certain that the fine and high-decible Buckeyes coaching staff has tutored our beloved freshman in the finer qualities of being a college quarterback since last January. Why, then, did it seem like Miller and even Joe Bauserman were so clueless?

That’s as much a tribute to OSU quarterbacks of late as the Hurricanes’ defense. We’re used to excellence at QB, even in defeat. That was anything but.

Maybe I missed it, but I never saw Miller and Bauserman huddled together on the sideline. That’s not good.

We all know Miller can throw the ball accurately. We all know he’s as brittle as thin ice. He’s not going to last long running the ball like he did at the end of the Miami game.

I don’t believe Miller has suddenly lost his ability to be an electrifying presence. But it sure seemed as if that plug had been pulled.

He missed the Toledo game because of a leg injury? Running him against the Hurricanes doesn’t quite make sense, does it?

This was a lost season months ago. Now, we have to endure its weekly unraveling.

OSU’s future is at stake this season. And it doesn’t include Bauserman, a fifth-year Methuselah gray — actually red — beard.

Wayne coach Jay Minton finally got it right when he instructed the elusive Miller to stay in the pocket last season to protect yet another leg injury. The rest was Warriors football history.

If the Buckeyes don’t at least follow that course of tempered action, they’re history, too.

Contact this writer at (937) 225-2381 or mpendleton@DaytonDailyNews.com.