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2007 tOSU Football Season Discussion (merged)

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Lima

Tressel will wait for the final poll to get excited

Jeremy Schneider | [email protected] - 10.17.2007

COLUMBUS ? Ohio State?s latest, and possibly most unexpected No. 1 ranking in the Bowl Championship Series standings and in the college football polls, was met by the same reaction from coach Jim Tressel as all the others.
Boiled down to its essence, Tressel?s message, as always, is that the only poll that matters is the last one.
?The only euphoria about being No. 1 is if you're that in the middle of January,? the Ohio State coach said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. ?It hasn't been discussed. Now, is it talked about by individuals? Maybe.But not by this individual.?
Ohio State jumped from No. 8 in The Associated Press poll to No. 1 in a span of three weeks when a series of upsets cut down teams like Southern California, LSU, Texas and others ranked ahead of them.
In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year after eight players from last year?s team were taken in the NFL draft, OSU is back on top.

Cont...[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif][/FONT]
 
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MJ

Familiar poll standing comes with a message
JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
10/17/2007




COLUMBUS -- The combination to motivation, for a time, was the same as the combination to the inner sanctum of Ohio State football.


At least for a little while.

Jim Tressel didn't want his players to forget their devastating loss to Florida in the national championship game back in January. So for awhile, the combination into some of the secure parts around the football facility included the combination, in some form, of 41, 14 and 06.

Tressel said yesterday those combinations don't exist anymore, but the point was clear -- don't forget history and you won't repeat it.

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Dispatch

Players dealing with top ranking
Buckeyes can't count on staying in the shadows
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:48 AM
By Ken Gordon


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Swaggering with confidence and ranked No. 1 all season, the 2006 Ohio State team stormed the gates of the national championship game. That didn't turn out so hot.
This year's team is different -- younger, quieter. Though the players burn with an inner fire to return to the title game, they had hoped to sneak in the back door.

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MJ

"To rest is to rust"

Jim Tressel said that at his weekly press conference last week before the Kent State game. I got to thinking about that yesterday before his press conference this week.

A few of us were sitting around eating lunch when JT was about to begin his Big Ten teleconference. He stopped off to talk about the Indians' playoff run and the topic of the Rockies' hot streak inevitably came up.

"They'll have to sit around for eight days now," I said. "All that momentum will go right down the drain."

"You're right," Tressel said, then walked away.

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CPD

OSU FOOTBALL
Top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes doing it without big-name stars


Saturday, October 20, 2007 Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus -- Todd Boeckman laughed. And laughed. The Ohio State quarterback was invited this week to declare his candidacy for the Heisman Trophy, and obviously, he found that hilarious.
"I definitely don't want to do that," Boeckman said. "That's not a big deal to me if I'm getting all the attention or not getting attention at all, if I throw for 5,000 yards or 5 yards or 30 touchdowns or 10 touchdowns. As long as we keep winning, I'm very satisfied with what we're doing now."
There lies the difference between the No. 1 Buckeyes of a year ago and today's top-ranked team. By the time they were 7-0 last season, OSU quarterback Troy Smith could start writing his Heisman speech. This year, at 7-0, with a Heisman race as wide open as the national championship scramble, the Buckeyes, other than a middle linebacker with a wrestler father, could barely muster an award candidate the average college fan has heard of.

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CPD

Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Bill Livingston analyzes the Ohio State Buckeyes in The Year of the Upset


Saturday, October 20, 2007 Bill Livingston
Plain Dealer Columnist
The Year of the Upset has cast college football in a new and unfamiliar light.
Always a bastion of privilege and pedigree, it now is empowering the have-nots. South Florida, until a loss to Rutgers on Thursday, was unbeaten and ranked second in the BCS standings, behind only Ohio State.
For all the upstarts who have risen, however, almost no one is more a part of the football establishment than Ohio State. The Buckeyes, runners-up last season when they were considered great until emphatically shown not to be in the BCS Championship Game, are not being talked about that way now. No one is.

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Canton

Ohio State able to pass its first test as top team
Monday, October 22, 2007
By Mike Popovich
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

COLUMBUS The target gets a lot bigger when you're No. 1. It's a pressure-cooker spot, one where you have everything to gain and just as much to lose.

How Ohio State would handle being the No. 1 college football team in the country was a big question after the Buckeyes rose to the top of the rankings last week. Head Coach Jim Tressel's players gave him an early indication Saturday when their season could have suddenly been shattered.

Ohio State escaped danger and held on to beat Michigan State, 24-17. In a season where being No. 1 or even 2 over an extended period is no sure thing, the Buckeyes never wavered when the game swung dramatically.

One minute, the Buckeyes were leading 24-0 and in complete control.

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MJ

Buckeyes vow to stay focused through break
JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
10/25/2007




COLUMBUS -- Jim Tressel has long been an advocate of ending the season before Thanksgiving, so his players have the opportunity to spend the holiday with their families and forget about football for awhile.


If he polled his current players, they might disagree on that.

One by one, a number of players made available to the media this week admitted that the focus of last year's team shifted during the lapse between the Michigan game and the national championship game.

Outsiders wondered how the Buckeyes would respond to a 51-day layoff, then they got their answer in the form of a 41-14 whipping at the hands of the Gators. Players this week said it is their mission to make sure focus doesn't drift this year.

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DDN

OSU No. 1, but fans not bragging

Buckeye football analysts say many 'are still spooked' by title-game loss.

​

By Doug Harris
Staff Writer

Friday, October 26, 2007

COLUMBUS ? Maybe it's the fallout from the 41-14 beat-down by Florida in the BCS championship game in January.
Or the lack of a signature win this season.


But the consensus among the public seems to be that Ohio State isn't a bona fide No. 1 team, that it got there only through attrition. The players sense the negativity flowing their way.
"We know it's pretty much like us against the nation," OSU cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. "Everyone thinks we're going to stumble somewhere once with our schedule. ... We're trying to stay focused and not worry about what people are saying about us."



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Morning Journal

Bucks silence critics with big win
By: JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
10/29/2007




UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It was the equivalent of the Buckeyes tearing off their shirts, pounding their chests and flexing their top-ranked biceps.


It if was a quality win skeptics were looking for, Ohio State provided it Saturday night with a 37-17 win over Penn State. Now with each passing week and each added win, the players are beginning to believe they belong at the top of the college football world.
"We came out and showed a lot of the nation we deserved to be the No. 1 team," said tight end Jake Ballard, who caught one of three Todd Boeckman touchdown passes. "It's a hard place to come in and win. Penn State is not just some walk all over team and we took it to them and did a good job.

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Dispatch

Ohio State football
Rob Oller commentary: Few cracks visible as key games loom

Monday, October 29, 2007 3:39 AM
By Rob Oller


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




Heading to the homestretch with a bit of breathing room affords an opportunity to sneak a peak at what Ohio State has going for it with three regular-season games to play. What have we learned about the Buckeyes?



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ABJ

Herbstreit's take
Count ESPN analyst and former Buckeyes quarterback Kirk Herbstreit as one of those not surprised by the fact that his alma mater entered the game Saturday against Penn State undefeated.
''What will be surprising is if they're able to get through Penn State and to Michigan,'' he said. ''What's surprising is when you replace a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, two first-round receivers and a 1,200-yard back and you get back to 12-0, who does that? That's just not human.''
Because of ESPN's College GameDay, Herbstreit finds himself playing the role of de facto Big Ten ambassador, hearing the mumblings of college football fans nationwide.




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CPD

OSU broadcasts finalized



Tuesday, October 30, 2007
From staff reports
Ohio State's football game times and television broadcasts are finalized for the rest of the regular season.
As announced Sunday, the OSU-Wisconsin football game Saturday at Ohio Stadium will kick off at noon and be shown on the Big Ten Network.
OSU's Nov. 10 home game with Illinois will begin at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on WEWS Channel 5. The Nov. 17 game at Michigan had previously been announced as a noon kickoff and will be shown on Channel 5.
 
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