2008 Football Rumblings

[osugrad21]

Link

Jon Spencer's Buckeye Rewind: Tressel should take his cue from Pryor

By JON SPENCER ? News Journal ? October 20, 2008

It sounds like freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor was channeling his inner LeBron and showing a different layer of his fiercely-competitive personality by offering Friday to bench himself if Ohio State's offense didn't start clicking.
It would have been nicer to hear OSU's de facto offensive coordinator walked into Jim Tressel's office and struck the same deal with the Buckeyes' head coach.
But that would mean Tressel admitting he talks to himself.
If no such conversation took place between stodgy Jim and stodgier Jim after the punchless performance against Purdue, Tressel appeared to have at least looked in the mirror before designing his game plan for Michigan State.
Was that a first-down, play-action pass, to a tight end no less? It went for a 20-yard gain by Brandon Smith to set up a touchdown.
Was that a first-down bomb to Brian Hartline, with the ball on the wrong side of the 50? It went for a 56-yard gain and led to a TD plunge by Beanie Wells.
Was that a Jim Tressel- designed attack scoring four touchdowns on four trips inside the red zone? What happened to his "don't screw up my three" mantra?
"Hallelujah," said Tressel, feigning relief when apprised of his 1.000 percent success rate. "I must have listened to that caller on the radio show."
Tressel, one week removed from his offense failing to score a touchdown against Purdue, tried to throw one back when Jermale Hines returned a fumble 48 yards in the waning moments of Saturday's 45-7 rout of Michigan State. Beggers can't suddenly become choosers, Tress.
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Doug Lesmerises' College Insider

Monday, October 20, 2008
BUCKEYE LEAVES
How's this for a turnover number? Ohio State leads the nation with 21 takeaways this year, tied with Texas Christian. The Buckeyes have given up the ball nine times, so their average edge of 1.5 turnovers per game is tied for fourth in the country behind Virginia Tech, Minnesota and Florida.
How's this for a red zone number? In their first seven games, the Buckeyes made 20 trips to the red zone and scored eight touchdowns and kicked 10 field goals. Against Michigan State, the Buckeyes made five trips to the red zone and scored four touchdowns and kicked one field goal.
So in one game Saturday, Ohio State scored half as many red zone touchdowns as it had in the previous seven games. That's a good sign for the offense.
Beanie Wells still doesn't appear on the official NCAA list of rushing leaders because he missed too many games, but if he did, his 619 rushing yards would rank 36th in the nation and sixth in the Big Ten.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Inside the Beat: Was 'Michigan State Massacre' a sign of things to come?

Monday, October 20, 2008 12:05 PM
By Ken Gordon and Tim May


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Each week during the Ohio State football team's season, Dispatch OSU football writers Tim May and Ken Gordon engage in a give-and-take that brings readers "inside the beat" of Buckeyes football. What a difference a week makes. Who would've thought a 6-1 Ohio State team would endure such withering criticism, only to find a 7-1 team now almost beyond reproach? That's what a good, old-fashioned 45-7 butt-kicking will do for a program and its fickle fans. There's plenty to talk about today, looking back on the Michigan State Massacre and looking ahead to a prime-time wrestling match with the Lions (Nittany, that is):
GORDON: Congratulations, Tim, for being the only predictor in our Gameday preview section last week to forecast Ohio State scoring more than 23 points. I thought it would be another gritty struggle, but 21 first-quarter points blew up that scenario. To me, the early success that OSU had running Terrelle Pryor made a huge difference. Against Purdue he got frustrated, and drives were killed when he got caught running around in the backfield. The Spartans allowed Pryor to get to the edge, and once the Buckeyes established that inside-outside running game, the passing game opened up. I would be shocked if Penn State didn't go all-out to hem in Pryor between the tackles.
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[osugrad21]

Scout$--Is Ohio State Back Among The Elite?

From The Bank, a breakdown of last week's performance and this weekend's challenge

 

[osugrad21]

OZone

October 20, 2008 12:10 PM

Football: The football program has announced the players of the week for the Michigan State game. They are as follows:
Offensive Player of the Week: Beanie Wells
Defensive Player of the Week: James Laurinaitis
Special Teams Player of the Week: Austin Spitler
Attack Force Player of the Week: Ross Homan
Jim Parker Offensive Lineman of the Week: Alex Boone
Jack Tatum Hit of the Week: Not awarded
Scout team champions: Offense - Ricky Crawford, Defense - Solomon Thomas, Special Teams - Joe Gantz.
​

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Spitler deserves about 20 "player of the week" honors

 

[daveeb]

Great to see a West Chester man (Even if he was a Lakota West man), Solomon Thomas, listed as a Scout Team Player of the Week. I really hope he can get some playing time in the future, because he has some great drive and determination. I ran into him late last year, and he looked a lot bigger than he did when he was tormenting myself and the rest of Lakota East's fans.

 

[osugrad21]

DDN

Win vs. PSU would vault OSU into BCS picture again

By Rusty Miller
Associated Press

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
What's brewing today with
the Ohio State Buckeyes:
Buckeyes buzz
This is another chance for the Buckeyes to redeem themselves on a big stage.
No. 10 Ohio State has crawled back into the top 10 in the polls and the Bowl Championship Series rankings after those painful, lopsided losses in the last two national championship games, along with the 35-3 beating at USC. Now the Buckeyes need to take advantage of an opportunity to show that they can win a big game when
No. 3 Penn State comes to town.
"On the team there really hasn't been too much talk about what happened at SC and playing in the big games," CB Malcolm Jenkins said Monday, Oct. 20. "For us, we're motivated enough just off of the fact that it's a game that has Big Ten championship implications (and) it's a night game at Ohio Stadium."
Sore Beanie
TB Chris "Beanie" Wells said he's still sore after carrying a season-high 31 times for 140 yards and two touchdowns in the 45-7 rout of Michigan State on Saturday.
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Buckeyes ready to show how good they can be Penn State game gives Ohio State its chance to restore some respect
By Rusty Miller
Associated Press

Published on Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008
COLUMBUS: Having proven for at least one game that they're better than they've seemed, No. 10 Ohio State now has to impress No. 3 Penn State.
''The mindset was, 'Let's show how good we are.' I think we did,'' OSU guard Jim Cordle said after Saturday's 45-7 rout of No. 20 Michigan State, undoubtedly the Buckeyes' most impressive game of the season. ''We wanted to get some momentum going for the back end of the Big Ten season.''
That ''back end'' of the season kicks off with a national spotlight game under the lights Saturday night at Ohio Stadium. On the line is first place in the Big Ten for both the Buckeyes (7-1, 4-0) and Nittany Lions (8-0, 4-0).
For the Buckeyes, it's a last chance to redeem themselves after falling apart in the past two national championship games and a 35-3 blowout loss at Southern California earlier this season.
''I definitely think if we could come out with a win it would force some people to respect us again,'' cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said Monday. ''It seems right now they don't have any [respect for us] nationwide. But we're more worried about getting a win and trying to win a Big Ten championship.''
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[osugrad21]

CPD

OSU insider

by Doug Lesmerises Monday October 20, 2008, 10:19 PM


Columbus -- Since Ohio State played its most recent night home game, losing to Texas, 25-22, on Sept. 10, 2005, the Buckeyes have been served up in prime time as often as "American Idol."
Of their 17 road games since that home loss, eight have been 8 p.m. Eastern starts, the Buckeyes facing matching T-shirt onslaughts in numerous colors from packed stadiums. Ohio State has managed to win six of those eight games:
Oct. 8, 2005, at Penn State, lost, 17-10.
Sept. 9, 2006, at Texas, won, 24-7.
Sept. 30, 2006, at Iowa, won, 38-17.
Sept. 29, 2007, at Minnesota, won, 30-7.
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Canton

Ohio State returns to national stage
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
BY TODD PORTER
[email protected]

COLUMBUS Uh-oh, you know the drill. Big game. Big stage. National TV.

Ohio State, its nose bloodied on a regular basis in these games, gets a second chance to make another impression Saturday night.

The Buckeyes, coming off their best performance of the season, host No. 3 Penn State at Ohio Stadium in a game that is likely to determine the Big Ten championship, and whether the rest of the country groans, or grins, at Ohio State.

"I definitely think if we could come out with a win it would force some people to respect us again," OSU senior and co-captain Malcolm Jenkins said. "It seems right now they don't have any (respect) nationwide for us."

For good reason.

Ohio State hasn't just lost the last two national titles ? that in and of itself speaks volumes for Jim Tressel's program ? but the Buckeyes were steamrolled. Then they laid an egg at USC in the third game of the season.
Cont...

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

espn.com

Buckeyes playing no respect card this week

October 21, 2008 10:38 AM

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Ohio State running back Chris "Beanie" Wells never took the field Sept. 13 at the L.A. Coliseum, but he's still paying for what happened that night against USC.

Since Wells returned from a right foot/toe injury, Ohio State has won five consecutive games. The Buckeyes ended Wisconsin's 16-game home win streak and dominated Michigan State on the road last Saturday. The defense has allowed just 11.6 points per game during the stretch.
But another set of numbers continues to rankle Ohio State fans and, apparently, Ohio State players. Ohio State has moved up only three spots in the AP Poll and four spots in the Coaches' Poll since its 35-3 loss to USC. The Buckeyes remain ranked behind Georgia, which got torched on its home field by Alabama, and Florida, which lost at home to 3-4 Ole Miss.

Continued.............

 

[Mr_Burns]

I didn't see this posted anywhere, and rather than letting it get lost in the Michigan State game thread, I thought I'd post it here.

The second half of the article is not about the MSU game as much as it is a positive (and refreshing) outlook on the state of our program.

Mods, move this as you see fit, of course.

Link

Buckeyes let out some frustration on Michigan St.

by Matthew Zemek


In light of the frequency and ferocity with which they've been criticized this season, a reasonable person would have assumed that the Ohio State Buckeyes would have the 3-4 record belonging to Clemson, or the 4-3 mark belonging to Auburn. Saturday afternoon in East Lansing, Mich., the Bucks unleashed a lot of pent-up frustration, and the Michigan State Spartans just happened to be the unlucky recipient of OSU's onslaught.

...

Memories have been short, both across the nation and in the Buckeyes' home base of Columbus. The 2002 national championship team, in case anyone needed a reminder, never used style points. Wins such as the previous week's plodding 16-3 victory over Purdue aren't artistic, but they've been a staple of the Tressel era.

While looking poor from an aesthetic standpoint, they sure beat upset losses, the surprising kinds of setbacks that have been few and far between in this decade of dominance for the Scarlet and Gray.

...

Mindful of these tensions and troubles, the Buckeyes ? who have sustained Big Ten supremacy and national excellence on a continuous basis, despite receiving every opponent's best shot every week of every season ? played with the faith and fire of a program that knows how good it really is.

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

OSU chasing a Big Ten first: three consecutive outright conference crowns

by Doug Lesmerises Tuesday October 21, 2008, 10:37 PM

Tony Ding/Associated PressJames Laurinaitis and the Buckeyes thought they were headed to Pasadena when they won the outright Big Ten title for the second consecutive year last November. Can they be the first team to win outright three in a row?

Here are the previous Big Ten teams who won two consecutive outright conference football titles, and how they finished in attempting a three-peat:
Wisconsin (1896-97), third
Chicago (1907-08), second
Ohio State (1916-17), eighth
Minnesota (1937-38), seventh
Minnesota (1940-41), fifth
Michigan (1947-48), tied first
Ohio State (1954-55), fourth
Michigan State (1965-66), fifth
Michigan (1988-89), tied first
Michigan (1991-92), fourth
Ohio State (2006-07), ???

COLUMBUS -- Roses in their mouths, conference titles on their minds, the Buckeyes were happy last November, without a BCS thought in their heads. On the field after winning at Michigan, one week after a loss to Illinois, a Big Ten title was enough, long before the BCS standings collapsed in on themselves and sent Ohio State to a second straight national title game. After September's loss to USC, the Buckeyes once again zeroed in on a major quest on a smaller stage. It may not resonate in Miami or Los Angeles, but doing something for the first time in the 103 years of the Big Ten is goal enough for now.
The Buckeyes are trying to become the first Big Ten team to win three consecutive outright conference titles, and it's a goal Ohio State actually controls, unlike the BCS standings.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Canton

Ohio State Notebook
Thursday, October 23, 2008


QBS NEEDED Ohio State quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels said that the ideal situation is to have four scholarship quarterbacks on the team. The Buckeyes have three ? freshman Terrelle Pryor, fifth-year senior Todd Boeckman and redshirt sophomore Joe Bauserman. He said it was necessary to get another young QB soon and begin grooming him. "One thing we try not to do is reach for somebody," Daniels said. "We're pretty picky." Asked if the staff recruited a "type" of player ? a runner/passer along the lines of Pryor, for instance ? Daniels said, "If you could show me another Terrelle, I'd recruit him."

IMPROVING D Defensive Coordinator Jim Heacock said he hasn't taken a more vocal approach with his players in recent weeks. "I don't know if I have any answers," he said with a laugh. "We're all working hard, trying to get this thing going, to get them playing harder and faster. We've seen a little bit of improvement, but we've still got a long way to go."

HONORABLE MENTION The honorary captain this week is silver anniversary captain Kirk Lowdermilk. He will address the team and former captains at the annual captains' breakfast Saturday.

Cont...