2008 Football Rumblings

[osugrad21]

BSB$--Back to Basics

JT discusses using the bye week to focus on basic fundamentals

 

[osugrad21]

BSB$--Time to Move On

TP discusses getting over the PSU game.

Also some injury discussion.

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Ohio State fooball: Notes on Beanie Wells, the offensive line and OSU politics

Posted by Doug Lesmerises November 04, 2008 15:49PM

Marvin Fong/ The Plain DealerVote for Jenkins? Jim Tressel would.
Updates from Jim Tressel's news conference this afternoon: * Beanie Wells practiced more last week than he had during any of the previous three weeks leading into games. Wells' nagging right foot injury had particularly limited him in practice before the loss to Penn State, when he was limited to 55 yards on 22 carries.
* Former left guard Ben Person, who started the first eight games of the season but did not dress against Penn State because of a leg injury, may require minor surgery and is not expected to be available on Saturday. Freshman backup tackle J.B. Shugarts, who earlier in the year was though to be out for the season with shoulder injury, according to Tressel, did dress for Penn State and will remain an alternative who could be ready to play in spot duty if needed.

But Tressel said the offensive line should remain what it was against Penn State - Alex Boone, Jim Cordle, Mike Brewster, Steve Rehring and Bryant Browning.
Cont...

Not sure where this came from exactly, but when asked whether the pressure of coaching in the SEC, where Tennessee coach Phil Fullmer, with a national title to his name, is being forced out at the end of the season, Tressel wound up calling some high school football fans idiots. "I haven't been to many high school games, but the high school games I've been to, you can hear every one of those idiots clearly and at least in our stadium, what they're yelling is muffled," Tressel said.
"And then when we're not in our stadium, we're in the film room and I don't hear a thing, other than a little country western in the background occasionally. But I don't know. I think the expectations to succeed in every job, whether it's president, head coach, high school coach, salesperson, whatever, the expectation to succeed at what you do is significant."

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

College football: Bye week let Buckeyes heal, Tressel says

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 2:30 PM
By Tim May


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The bye week gave Ohio State time to heal some wounds, both physically and mentally, that were taken in the 13-6 loss to Penn State, coach Jim Tressel said today, and it allowed the Buckeyes to refocus on the finishing sprint, starting with the noon (Eastern time) game at Northwestern on Saturday.
"I think we were all down after a hard fought battle and we came up short," Tressel said at his weekly media luncheon. "That's not the easiest thing in the world when you've invested a lot of time and effort. I'm sure some of the guys that have been here five years, it was just as deep or deeper."
But he said that after giving the players the weekend off, affording some the chance to return to their hometowns for a day or two, he noticed something he liked when the team reassembled for some weightlifting and whatnot on Sunday night.
"They all seemed glued in," Tressel said.
Cont..

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Rested Buckeyes eager to rebuild reputation with a fast-closing November

Posted by Doug Lesmerises November 04, 2008 21:05PM

Marvin Fong/The Plain DealerChris Wells and the Ohio State offense are looking for a more efficient performance when they play Northwestern on Saturday at Evanston, Ill.


Buckeyes vs. Wildcats, noon, ESPN2

COLUMBUS -- A record of 9-0, No. 1 in the BCS standings, a nearly unanimous choice at the top of the AP and coaches polls -- in each of the previous two years, everyone in college football was looking up at Ohio State at this stage of the season. What do you do now when you're part of the pack? From what the Buckeyes said Tuesday, it's clear Jim Tressel has planted a you-never-know idea inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. With the November upsets of recent seasons, the players are simultaneously claiming to not worry about things beyond their control while grasping the faintest of impossible hopes that a two-loss team can still reach all of its goals.
What fans should see from the No. 11 Buckeyes (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) when they visit No. 24 Northwestern (7-2, 3-2) on Saturday is a team trying to win a game, not jockey for a national title. Legitimate national talk is taking place in Tuscaloosa and Lubbock and State College and Gainesville, but not Columbus.
Coming back from a week off after their loss to Penn State, maybe the Buckeyes will play better for not having to listen to it.

"I think just having that mindset that we don't have to be the perfect team out there, it's going to let us play loosely and fly around and make a lot more plays," junior safety Kurt Coleman said.
Somewhere inside an offense that hasn't scored an offensive touchdown in two of its last three games, the Buckeyes believe a great team still resides. Coleman thinks the Buckeyes are better than last year, when a soft schedule didn't send them to USC or against a Penn State team that was this good.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

DDN

Buckeyes prepare for stretch run

Since Tressel took over as head coach in 2001, OSU is 1-4 in games that follow a week off.


By Rusty Miller
Associated Press

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

COLUMBUS ? Take a bye, then kiss the next game bye-bye.
That's been a common refrain for the Ohio State Buckeyes in recent years. In games that follow a week off, they are 1-4 since Jim Tressel took over as head coach in 2001.
"We haven't done wonderful with byes since we've been here," Tressel said Tuesday, Nov. 4, as he reflected on not having a game last week and what's in store on Saturday at Northwestern.
The 12th-ranked Buckeyes (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) have had an extra week to stew over a 13-6 loss to No. 3 Penn State on Oct. 25. They took a few days off last week, rested up and recuperated, and now have returned to a typical week of practice. It's the same procedure they have always followed under Tressel ? and which has been far less than successful.
In Tressel's first season in Columbus, they won their opener and were ranked No. 21 before taking a one-week hiatus. They came back to lose 13-6 at UCLA.
Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

DDN

Tressel's time of the year


By Staff reports

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Ohio State finishes the regular season against Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan. Here's Jim Tressel's record in November since becoming head coach of the Buckeyes:
Tressel in November
2001: 3-1
2002: 4-0
2003: 3-1
2004: 2-1
2005: 3-0
2006: 3-0
2007: 2-1
Note: Tressel was 39-16-1 in November as head coach at Youngstown State before taking the OSU job. Overall, he's 59-20-1 in the month.

 

[osugrad21]

Blade

Article published Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tressel says lots still on line for Buckeyes
Upbeat despite fall from national title chase
By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
COLUMBUS - After he paid the obligatory homage to the next opponent, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said yesterday that the biggest priority for the Buckeyes heading into this weekend's game at Northwestern is getting their own house in order. "The most impressive team I saw over the weekend? How about Northwestern," Tressel said, knowing that was a tough sell after the show Texas Tech and Texas put on, and the way Florida riddled Georgia. Nationally, Northwestern's 24-17 win over Minnesota on the final play of the game hardly got an honorable mention, but the Big Ten is Ohio State's only concern right now, and the Wildcats provide the opposition on Saturday. It's the first of Ohio State's three final conference games to close out the season, and determine where this team is headed on the bowl schedule, and if it is positioned to take a piece of the conference title, should that become available. But Tressel wants to keep the attention very short-sighted, and the Buckeyes' motivations all directed at this weekend. "The biggest carrot we're chasing now is that we're going to play a 7-2 football team away from home, and that's a great challenge," Tressel said. "That's a carrot every time you compete - that's a carrot of its own. Do we like to think about what the big carrot is down at the end of the road? We'd rather not." Despite the fact that Ohio State's hopes of appearing in a third straight national championship game were essentially eliminated with the 13-6 loss to Penn State 10 days ago, Tressel said he has impressed on his team that there is still plenty on the line. He called on the teachings of one of his predecessors at Ohio State, Earle Bruce, to make the point. "There's been a lot that's happened in the first few weeks of November and into the course of December over the last few football seasons," Tressel said. "Coach Bruce used to say November is what it's all about, and that who you are as a football team is really decided by what you do in November."
Cont..

 

[HINYG8]

Beanie getting stronger...I hope he rolls the next three games and exceeds Biakabituka's rushing total in THE GAME.

If the UM D stays in their new scheme.. I think it really might be possible.

 

[NightmaresDad]

Beanie getting stronger...I hope he rolls the next three games and exceeds Biakabituka's rushing total in THE GAME.

If the UM D stays in their new scheme.. I think it really might be possible.

Pryor should be the one gashing them if they are in that stack 3-3-5.

I can't imagine they would play that aginast us, though. They will try to do what PSU did and take the run away on first and second downs.

I said "try" to do what PSU did. After we burn them with a couple of big plays, it won't matter what their base formation is.

 

[osugrad21]

Scout$--One Buckeye Says OSU Better This Year

Kurt Coleman says this team is better than last year but the competition has also improved.

 

[osugrad21]

Link

OSU shifts motivational gears in midseason



November 5, 2008 - 5:32PM
Jim Naveau

COLUMBUS - They say they aren't wallowing in regrets. But rematches are something different.
While most Ohio State fans really don't want any part of watching OSU-Southern California, Part II, after the Trojans rolled over the Buckeyes 35-3 in September, the feeling inside the locker room might be different.
Ohio State (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) saw its national championship hopes deflated with that loss at USC, then watched any slim chance of still getting to the BCS title game disappear in a 13-6 loss to Penn State two weeks ago.
But tight end Rory Nicol, for one, would like a second chance. "I'd love to play both those teams again but there are no re-do's on Saturdays," he said. "I'd love to play USC again."
Maybe that's just an illustration of the innate confidence and competitiveness of athletes at Ohio State's level.
Or maybe it's an example of how OSU has had to find new motivations this season after dropping out of the national title race for the first time in three seasons.
Nine games into both last season and the 2006 season, Ohio State was unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings. They have been ranked first in 13 of the last 19 BCS polls.
Every year around this time, regardless of BCS standings, coach Jim Tressel rolls out his annual declaration that November is the month that defines a football team. This year, with OSU going to Northwestern (7-2, 3-2 Big Ten) on Saturday, is no exception.

 

[osugrad21]

OZone

Football
Personnel Report
By John Porentas ​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ben Person [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Photo by Jim Davidson [/FONT]

OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel said on Tuesday that offensive lineman Ben Person is likely to miss the game against Northwestern this weekend. Person did not dress for the Penn State game due to an injury.​

The news was much better on another offensive lineman however. Freshman offensive tackle J. B. Shugarts has practiced this week and will be available to the Buckeyes this weekend, at least on a limited basis. It was earlier reported that Shugarts would likely miss the remainder of the season, but is once again available to play. In other news along the offensive front, Tressel also added that backup Connor Smith may also miss the Northwestern game due to injury.​

The bye week has allowed Beanie Wells to get some healing time for his injured toe, and that should be good news for the Buckeye backfield. In other news in the OSU offensive backfield, running back Brandon Saine continues to recuperate from the pulled hamstring he suffered in fall camp and is seeing more and more playing time. In a somewhat surprising statement, Tressel said on Tuesday that Saine is getting snaps at fullback. Saine came to OSU with a reputation as a speedster with Ted Ginn-like sprinters speed, but according to tight end Rory Nicol, he is more than capable of playing a little fullback.

Cont...​

 

[BUCKYLE]

Saine at FB? This offense has the potential to be record breaking.

 

[osugrad21]

Pryor should be the one gashing them if they are in that stack 3-3-5.

I can't imagine they would play that aginast us, though. They will try to do what PSU did and take the run away on first and second downs.

Possibly. However, the 33 is neutralized with double TEs...it almost always forces a personnel change to bring in another DL. That means more power running game and less spread the field...but it also could lead to more playaction, rollouts, etc, which plays right into your idea.

Personnel choices will be interesting for sure.