Despite an emotional, social and behaviorial earthquake that turned every aspect of Ohio State football inside out, out there on the sacred pasture of Ohio Stadium, the shrill whistles tweet, the coaches yell at top decibels.
 
"Dammit, what part of 'Stay with your men' don't you understand?" coach Luke Fickell will bark at fuzzy cheeked Buckeye freshmen wearing the Scarlet and Gray for the first time.
 
Long gone are the questions about being legendary Jim Tressel's successor, dismissed -- politely but definitively -- with "I don't even have time to feel bad (about the massively public issues that took down Tressel and shook up every precinct of Buckeye nation). We're aiming toward Sept. 3 (the opener against Toledo in The Big Horseshoe). Period."
 
No nonsense. Full speed ahead. And, even with a seasoned, weathered media, a certain "Aye-aye, sir" response.
 
So, the Bucks -- fully minus controversial wunderkind Terrelle Pryor, who is now an Oakland Raider, and with a large chuck of its 2010 accomplishments wiped out by their heavily-documented off-field misadventures tattooed on their loyalists conscious, persevere.
 
"We've got talent, a lot of it," says Fickell, who was a standout lineman for John Cooper in the early 1990s and played his high school ball at Columbus St. Francis de Sales. "We just need to get people worked into the right places."
 
And so it goes. Until the NCAA unloads its final judgements sometime around mid-season, so it will continue. Ohio State has a tradition of winning second to precious few, Fickell will remind -- as will most Big Ten rival coaches. And indeed, even with a key recruiting change-of-mind by prized Lakewood Saint Edward HS offensive tackle Kyle Kalis, who opted for archrival Michigan, as a negative reminder of the work ahead, Fickell and his talented staff can well be equal to the enormous task.
 
"We don't rebuild -- we're Michigan," insists Brady Hoke, the Wolverines' first-year coach. "Same for those guys."
 
Once the dust clears from the five-game suspensions imposed in-house, players like wideout DeVier Posey, running back Daniel "Boom" Herron and lesser lights will once again get a chance to show the nation why Ohio State at least will be in the Top 15-18 conversation, with an optimistic eye to the future.
 
Losing Chimdi Chekwa, Jermale Hines and Devon Torrence from a multi-talented secondary would be a concern in many schools, but the Bucks have supertalents in corner Travis Howard and the talent level is just slightly lower at the other positions.
 
There won't be any Cameron Heywards on the defensive line this fall, but junior tackle John Simon and defensive end Nathan Williams, along with some very talented underclassmen will assure very little quality dropoff here.
 
The linebacking corps, led by senior Andrew Sweat is long on power and speed, a typical Tressel-era package.
 
On offense, of course, the question will remain if senior Joe Bauserman, who has a major league cannon and the ability to soft-touch it as well, will beat out the very talented freshman Braxton Miller, whose strength is stretching defenses.
 
With clutch wideout Dane Sanzenbacher gone, Fickell and offensive coordinator Jim Bollman will get chances to see if DeVier Posey can emerge as one of the nation's great game-breakers, and discover if Chris Fields and Corey Brown can give the passing game the necessary diversity. When Tressel looked at the situation last winter, he  told Athlon Sports, "Oh my gosh, we might be in three tights (ends), a fullback and a tailback,". Tight end Jake Stoneburner could make Tressel an unwitting prophet.
 
The offensive line is young, but junior center Mike Brewster and right tackle J.B. Shugarts are two of the league's best and the replacements are typical Big Ten power ballers.
 
So where does that leave the Bucks? The off-field issues, monitored endlessly, will continue to surface from time to time, but Fickell loves the challenge. So do the players.
 
The schedule originally set up with an early season minefield that included a game at Miami (whose program faces a far grimmer future than Ohio State's), Colorado and Michigan State. If the Buckeyes can somehow negotiate that, with the other three obligatory cupcakes, they could begin to thing the unthinkable.
 
A bit of realism kicks in. A 9-3/10-2 finish seems likely. This year, talented Wisconsin, which whipped OSU in Madison last fall but needs to replace quarterback Scott Tolzien and several other offensive talents, Michigan State and Penn State look like the primary challenges.
 
"Let's go," Fickell said, clapping his hands.