Game Thread Game Five: #1 Ohio State 38, #13 Iowa 17 (9/30/06)

[osugrad21]

DDN

TD celebrations irk Tressel

By Doug Harris
Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 27, 2006
COLUMBUS ? Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has about as much tolerance for end-zone spikes as prohibition activist Carrie Nation did toward spiked beverages, and he reviewed his stance with the two defensive players who scored touchdowns against Penn State.
"We talk a lot about handing the ball to the official, and find the other 10 guys that made it possible and celebrate with them," Tressel said, "Apparently, we've got to get better at that."

Sophomore Malcolm Jenkins returned an interception 61 yards, slamming the ball to the turf just as he was crossing the goal line (if not before).
Fifth-year senior Antonio Smith did hand the ball to a ref after taking one 55 yards to the house, but Tressel accused him of showboating with some high-stepping on the excursion.
Smith, though, claimed he couldn't remember if he did, saying the entire jaunt was a blur.
"Coach Tressel is always emphasizing that you act like you've been there before and hand the ball to the officials," Smith said. "At the moment, you don't really feel a lot of things. Then, when it's over, you have feelings and get brought back to earth. I just know I was trying to move my legs as fast as possible."
Fans weigh in
The Buckeyes are 10th in the 11-team Big Ten in rushing ? although junior Antonio Pittman is third in the individual standings with a 112.5-yard-per-game average ? and Tressel is getting mixed messages in e-mails from the public.
"I got one saying, 'Get rid of that shotgun and start running the ball down their throats.' And the next one was, 'I can't believe you're running so much,' " Tressel said.
The Buckeyes are fourth in the conference in total offense (yards per game) after never finishing higher than sixth in Tressel's previous five seasons.
ESPN comment surprises Tressel
During the ESPN broadcast of the New Orleans-Atlanta NFL game Monday night, one analyst gave the OSU coaches credit for teaching the Falcons to "read" the option that Troy Smith runs.
That was news to Tressel.
"I know our offensive staff was down at Clemson with the Falcons for spring practice, and they spent some time with them." Tressel said, referring to quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels and offensive line coach Jim Bollman. "I thought we were studying them, but maybe they were studying us."
Asked what they picked up from the Falcons, Tressel said: "Their quarterback (Michael Vick) can move around, and I think Joe and those guys studied that. And Coach Bollman got together with their line coach and, I'm sure, grunted back and forth. Whatever they talk about, I'm sure I couldn't decipher it."
GameDay crew coming
The ESPN College GameDay show will broadcast live from Iowa City for the first time since the Buckeyes visited in 1996 and prevailed, 38-26.
It will be the third time this season that the show has picked an OSU game site, having been in Columbus last week and at Texas on Sept. 9.

 

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Iowa City bracing for big one
Place is abuzz in anticipation of Ohio State visit

September 27, 2006
BY NEIL HAYES Staff Reporter
You can hear the exasperation when you try to book a hotel room in Iowa City for Saturday night. ''There are no hotel rooms, sir,'' the clerk says, no doubt for the umpteenth time. ''There's a football game that night.'' That doesn't even begin to explain it. Iowa City is bracing for the most anticipated game in two decades, and one of the most anticipated games in school history, when top-ranked Ohio State visits the No. 13 Hawkeyes for a rare night game at Kinnick Stadium.
''It's an amazing thing,'' said Bob Brooks, the voice of the Hawkeyes for 55 years. ''Here it is September, and a game like this is attracting this much attention.''
Neon hotel signs blink ''No Vacancy'' from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids. Tickets are going for as much as $1,200 apiece on eBay. ESPN is springing for portable lights, and the network's ''College GameDay'' crew of Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler and Lee Corso will be doing its schtick from campus.
Rumors are circulating that 35,000 Buckeyes fans plan to descend on the town of 62,000, hoping to crash the party. The university is setting up a huge television screen at the baseball stadium to accommodate the overflow crowd.
Josh Schamberger of the Iowa City Convention and Visitors Bureau said the buzz surrounding the Iowa caucuses -- the first step in the presidential nomination process -- is nothing compared to this.
''I don't know if I'd make that comparison,'' Schamberger said. ''The caucuses don't fill up the entire town.''
This is the biggest event to hit Iowa City since the Hawkeyes were ranked No. 1 and defeated No. 2 Michigan 12-10 in 1985. When asked which game involved more hoopla, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, an assistant for the Hawkeyes in 1985, said he was the wrong guy to ask.
''I didn't get out in the '80s, and I don't get out much now,'' he said.
The only ones who won't be soaking up the atmosphere will be the coaches and players themselves. Ferentz sequesters his team in Cedar Rapids the night before home games. They won't return to campus until just before game time.
Ferentz was hoping to find some weaknesses in a Buckeyes defense that was supposed to be depleted by graduation. No such luck. That's not good news for the Hawkeyes, who need to have their running game in gear to complement standout quarterback Drew Tate.
''I don't mind telling you that I was a little skeptical during the summer when everybody was picking Ohio State to be at the top of the heap in the country,'' Ferentz said. ''Now after four games, you can see why. It's just amazing.''
It's only the fifth night game at Kinnick Stadium, where the Hawkeyes have won 25 of their last 26, and the first since No. 1 Miami beat Iowa 24-7 in 1992. The last time Ohio State came to Iowa City, the Buckeyes were trampled 33-7 in 2004.
Michigan State coach John L. Smith said Iowa's dominance at home can't be explained away by its controversial pink visitors' locker room.
''That was part of the mystique of what they had going there,'' Smith said. ''But more so than the locker room, they have a lot of pride in their place and kids have the tradition of 'When you walk in here, you better be prepared because we're going to knock your tail off.' It's more than the dressing room.''
This will be the second highly anticipated game in the first month of the season for the Buckeyes, who won at then-No. 2 Texas in Week 2. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel just wants to get it over with.
''I'd rather not play at night because you have to wait all day for the game,'' Tressel said.
''I'd rather wake up and go play rather than be nervous for so long. ... I just wish I could wake up at 4:30 in the afternoon instead of 6:30 in the morning and have to wait all day.''
Brooks, for one, believes the Hawkeyes have a chance to do what the defending national champion Longhorns couldn't do earlier this month.
''Iowa has got a good shot at this,'' he said. ''Drew Tate is a quarterback that can get ever so hot, and this is going to be a chance for him to perform and do something to gain national stature. This is a pretty salty football team, really.''
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner, who missed the last two games after brain surgery, said returning to the sideline Saturday for the Hoosiers' game against visiting Wisconsin is "the best therapy I can have right now." Hoeppner underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his head on Dec. 27, 2005, and underwent a second operation on Sept. 13 after a routine scan detected what could've been scar tissue or another tumor. The date of the second surgery happened to be his wife's birthday.
"Jane got scar tissue for her birthday," Hoeppner said. "That was the best present she's had in a while."
Indiana hired Hoeppner before last season to rebuild the program. He and his players made winning six games and earning a bowl bid their goal for 2006. Back-to-back losses to Southern Illinois and Connecticut while Hoeppner was recovering have made that goal even more difficult to attain.
Hoeppner said he's feeling "great" but will try to take it easy this week.
"I tell my team all the time in terms of injuries: Don't be soft and don't be stupid," he said. "I've got to follow the same directions."

SAY WHAT?
First-year Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald sounded more like a veteran coach in full filibuster mode when discussing with reporters which of his young quarterbacks will start against Penn State on Saturday. "As I sit here today, I can't give you a clear answer," Fitzgerald said. "As you guys get to know me a little bit better, I like to be as honest as I possibly can. If I can't be honest, I'm not going to be totally honest with you because I can't tell you. I don't know."

A BRIGHT SIDE
Big Ten coaches have been critical of new rules meant to speed up games. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel finally found a positive: "The upside to the new clock system is there aren't so many plays, so if you do get into an overtime situation, there isn't an unsafe or unhealthy number of plays."

 

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Web chitchat no big deal to Iowa

varUsername = "[email protected]";document.write("By ANDREW LOGUE");By ANDREW LOGUE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

September 27, 2006



Iowa City, Ia. ? Albert Young hesitated before taking the bait.

On Tuesday, during the Iowa football team's weekly news conference, somebody tried to amp up the intensity heading into Saturday's showdown with No. 1 Ohio State.

There's a lot of Ohio State fans that are saying no one from Iowa could even start for their team. Do you guys circle games like this?

Young, a junior tailback for the No. 13 Hawkeyes, paused.

"Where'd you hear that from?" he asked.

You know, the Internet.

"You're trying to shuck the bone with me," Young said with a grin. "That kind of hit me for a second, there. I had to think about that."

A verbal misstep by Young might have landed him at the center of a storm that continues to build toward this weekend's matchup of Big Ten Conference title contenders. He might have earned mention on ESPN's "College GameDay," which is coming to Iowa City, or received a little extra face time during ABC's prime-time broadcast from Kinnick Stadium.

Instead, Young plans to spend much of the week tucked away with his teammates inside the Hayden Fry Football Complex.

"It's really not that big of a deal," Young said. "I won't lie. I thought about it a little when I was driving over here. I was pulling up saying, 'This is going to be crazy Saturday.'

"But it's really not that difficult to block things out because we're sort of like in our own little nutshell."

Same routine. Different week. Except for Monday, when Young, quarterback Drew Tate, tight end Scott Chandler, linebacker Mike Klinkenborg and safety Marcus Paschal did interviews for ABC.

Chandler seemed unfazed. The senior from Southlake, Texas, probably won't see the tape, and didn't plan on asking his parents to record it.

"They have plenty of stuff on the TiVo back home," Chandler said.

Tate, meanwhile, watched ABC's broadcast of Notre Dame-Michigan State last weekend, so he could get an idea of what awaits when Iowa meets the Buckeyes.

"I was just seeing how they were doing that," Tate said. "Just to see what it was going to be like for us."

Coach Kirk Ferentz continues to follow his usual routine, stopping for coffee on the way to his office, then closing the doors behind him.

"That's what I like about coaching," Ferentz said. "It's kind of like being a hermit."

One difference Ferentz noticed was more people asking for tickets. He let his wife and secretary Rita Foley keep track of the list, and help shield him from possible distractions.

"As far as my stuff goes, I say 1-800-Rita, 1-800-Mary," Ferentz said. "Then, it's try and stay out of the way of all that stuff."

 

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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]King gaining his footing at defensive tackle[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]By Pat Harty and Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen [/FONT][/FONT]

Mitch King wasn't thrilled when the Iowa coaches asked him to him switch from linebacker to defensive tackle.
"My initial thought -- I probably shouldn't tell you -- but I was a little worried that I wasn't going to get enough playing time or I wasn't going to get what I wanted," King said Tuesday. "I knew it was going to be starting all over.
"I felt like I had put a significant amount of time in learning the linebacker position, and then switching is like teaching an old dog new tricks. It kind of hurt my feelings that I wasn't the linebacker that they thought I was."
The Iowa coaches obviously saw something because King now ranks as one of the best young defensive tackles in the Big Ten.
The sophomore from Burlington leads Iowa with seven tackles for loss and leads the Big Ten with five sacks heading into Saturday's game against top-ranked Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium. King also leads the Iowa defensive linemen with 22 tackles in four games.
"I'm not quite satisfied with where I am, but I'm glad with where I am, and I'm proud of how hard I've worked to get here," King said.
King said his style of play at linebacker has helped him make the transition.
"At linebacker, I was a down-hill kind of guy," King said. "I was read run first, react to the pass second.
"I think that's what helps you the most. I always know where I'm going; I'm going forward every play."
King made the switch during the spring of his freshman season in 2005. He remembers Iowa defensive line coach Ron Aiken taking it easy on him the first day.
"The first day I got little breaks," King said. "Aiken's pretty intense on his drills and stuff, so I got a few hall passes as he calls them.
"But after that it was all downhill for me. It was pretty tough."
King said he spoke to his older brother, Vince King, shortly after making the switch looking for some advice. Vince King was an all-America defensive lineman at Wartburg a few years back.
"He was a defensive lineman all his life, so he just told me some days you've just got to go out there, and even though you don't like it, work your butt off and keep going," Mitch King said. "And that's what I've tried doing every day."
King was asked Tuesday if he and his brother ever did one-on-one drills against each other.
"He gave me some tips and things like that, but I'm still scared of him," Mitch King said. "He's my big brother."
King's quickness and tenacity are probably his greatest assets as a defensive tackle. He is only listed at 264 pounds in the Iowa media guide, which is small for a Big Ten defensive tackle.
On gamedays last season, though, he was smaller than that.
"I think gamedays I was in the 240s," King said of his weight. "I got pretty light, I guess."
King said size is overrated on the defensive line. He proved it last season by making several freshmen all-America teams.
"I tell the younger guys, it doesn't really matter how much you weigh, it's how much effort you put into each play," he said. "If you put 100 percent effort into each play, you're going to do a darn good job."
King's quickness can be traced to his days as a standout running back in high school. He also swam competitively in high school.
"When some of those guys get a hold of me, at 240 pounds, I'm not really going to push off them as well," King said. "But I can run around them pretty quick."
As for playing Ohio State, King knows that putting pressure on Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith will be crucial to Iowa's success.
"You notice he's trying to be a pocket quarterback a little more," King said of Smith. "I think to get him moving and to get him out of his norm this year, we're going to have to put a lot of pressure on him and have him make a few bad decisions."
? KING'S HAIR: King has received plenty of attention for his long blonde hair, which stretches past his shoulders. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz even joked about King's hair at the beginning of his Tuesday press conference.
Reporters had just been told that King would be available for interviews Tuesday, but that he would be late to arrive.
"He's getting his hair done, right?" Ferentz said.
? GAINING ADMIRATION, IF NOT YARDS: You won't find Iowa running back Albert Young among the Big Ten's rushing leaders this week, although he is tied for fifth in the league with 18 receptions.
But even though the 2005 conference rushing king has yet to post his first 100-yard game, Young is still gaining praise.
Ferentz said he had a conversation Sunday night with his son, Brian, and the former Iowa center commented about Young's play.
"He watches everything pretty closely, and he just thought Albert is playing tremendous football, which was interesting to hear him say that, and I agree with him," Kirk Ferentz said. "His yardage isn't where any of us would like it at this point, but he's running tough. He's really blocking very well. He had a big block on that touchdown pass (to tight end) Tony (Moeaki) the other day on a blitz pick-up, and he does a good job in receiving."
? STORY TIME: The Hawkeyes plan to adjust their pregame schedule to adapt for Saturday's 7:13 p.m. kickoff. Ferentz said the Friday night meeting will be pushed back to Saturday morning, and the Hawkeyes will find some form of entertainment Friday night.
"Maybe I'll tell a couple stories," Ferentz said. "Maybe even a joke or two."

 

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Breakdown

 

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ToledoBlade

SATURDAY NIGHT MADNESS
Buckeyes gearing up for rowdy crowd in Iowa City




Troy Smith and Jim Tressel know all about the environment at Kinnick Stadium. The Buckeyes got beat 33-7 there in 2004.

By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER


COLUMBUS - A tough road game is a tough road game, right? Seen one, seen 'em all, right?

Top-ranked Ohio State traveled to Austin a couple of weeks ago and faced the purported wrath of the defending national champions and their passionate following. After weathering Texas and its fans with apparent ease in a 24-7 victory, this week's journey to Iowa should be just another stagecoach ride, in theory.

But that premise dies right where the Mississippi River bisects the Quad Cities, an hour east of ground zero - Iowa's Kinnick Stadium.

The Longhorns fans were decked out in pressed oxford shirts, Tony Lama boots, and designer jeans, but in Iowa City, they'll be covered in war paint, and if they're wearing shirts at all, they'll be T-shirts, and they'll be bright gold.

Texas was a cordial, gentlemanly, southern crowd. At Iowa, they won't spit on you - until they run out of insults.

OHIO STATE AT IOWA? When: Saturday, 8:13
? Records: OSU is 4-0, 1-0; Iowa is 4-0, 1-0
? Series: OSU leads 43-14-3
? Favorite: OSU by 7
? TV: Ch. 13
? Radio: 1470

MORE OSU
? Game 1: OSU 35, N. Illinois 12
? Game 2: OSU 24, Texas 7
? Game 3: OSU 37, Cincinnati 7
? More OSU football stories, schedule

The tailgaters in Austin drank chardonnay and snacked on crab cakes and julienne carrot sticks. In central Iowa, if it doesn't start with a "B" - as in beer, brats, burgers - you won't find it anywhere near the stadium.

In Texas, there were more Escalades in the stadium parking lot than pickups. This Saturday, there'll be enough stakebeds, duallies, and four-wheel drive F-250s on the grounds to stage a land rush.

The Buckeyes are expecting a charged, volatile atmosphere, and with a 7 p.m. local time kickoff, the locals will have plenty of time to put on their game faces.

"The place has an atmosphere all its own," Ohio State wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez said. "Their crowd really gets into it, and they are all over you from the moment you get there. That might bother some people, but for me, I really like that. It's part of what makes the Big Ten so competitive, that kind of passion."

Gonzalez and the other veteran Ohio State players remember the pounding they took on their last visit to Iowa's Kinnick Stadium two years ago. The Buckeyes got whacked 33-7, their worst defeat of the Jim Tressel era. Ohio State, 0-2 entering that game, got serenaded with the Iowa fans chanting "oh and 3, oh and 3" as time ran out.

Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, who saw his first significant action in that game when he replaced an injured Justin Zwick, said the 2004 Iowa game was a cold slap of reality for the Buckeyes.

"That was a wake-up call for all of us," Smith said. "In that game, they let us know that if you come into a Big Ten stadium and you are not focused, then this is what could happen to you."

The Buckeyes returned the favor last year, winning 31-6 in Ohio Stadium, but Smith does not want to look at Saturday's game as just the latest round of some team trying to right a wrong.

"I don't want to see our guys motivated by revenge because of what Iowa did to them in the past," Smith said. "We just have to go out and play every week in a different way, and hopefully, we can get wins. We have to put in our work in preparation, and, hopefully, we come out focused."

Tressel said yesterday that the Hawkeyes are looking for their first 5-0 start in more than a decade and can match the Buckeyes in momentum. He expects a frenzied environment when the evening kickoff rolls around.

"They're going to have a tremendous atmosphere at Kinnick Stadium," Tressel said. "And it goes without saying that when we enter that stadium, we'd better be tremendously poised. There's going to be all of those gold shirts in the crowd Saturday night, but you'd better not use that as an excuse. This is Tuesday, and you know they're gonna be there."

Tressel said he anticipates the toughest of circumstances at Iowa, adding that Ohio State is circled on everyone's calendar, and the Hawkeyes are certainly going to be jacked up about playing the No. 1 team in the country.

"I think adversity like that and more difficult situations always help you get better," he said. "We have some great challenges on our schedule, and the next one is a big one."

Contact Matt Markey at:
[email protected]
or 419-724-6510.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

OHIO STATE FOOTBALL
Buckeyes go back down road of ?04 rout
33-7 loss to Hawkeyes left lasting impression on Ohio State players

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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The chill, the crowd, the humiliation. Two years later, the memories of a 33-7 loss at Iowa still linger for Ohio State?s players.
Even a 31-6 victory over the Hawkeyes last year has not completely removed the sting of the most lopsided loss in coach Jim Tressel?s five-years-plus tenure.
"I think it?s almost a recurring nightmare," defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock said. "We just kind of block it out of our thoughts. It was a cold day, and we really, to tell you the truth, they just beat us physically. I don?t really know what happened."
The Buckeyes are preparing to return to the scene of that crime Saturday. This time, instead of being a reeling 3-2 like they were in 2004, they are a rolling 4-0, topranked in the nation.
But the Hawkeyes are also 4-0, ranked 13 th, and of course now they have the revenge factor on their side from the 2005 drubbing in Columbus. Before last year?s game, OSU coaches put signs up all over the locker room reminding them of the score from 2004.
Surely, Iowa?s coaches are doing something similar now.
"You know those guys remember how it felt last year to come up here and get beat, just as bad as we remembered how it was to go up there and get beat," running back Antonio Pittman said. "So we know its going to be a battle out there."
Add to that the fact that it?s a night game, just the second prime-time game at home in Iowa football history. The only other true night game in Kinnick Stadium was in 1992 against the top-ranked University of Miami. The Hurricanes won 24-7.
Kinnick is a tough environment anytime. In 2004, Hawkeyes fans chanted, "Oh and Three," to the Buckeyes, reflecting their Big Ten mark at the time, and also, "Music City," in reference to the league?s sixthplace bowl tie-in.
"It?s a hostile environment and the fans are rowdy," cornerback Antonio Smith said. "It?s a night game, as well, so the fans seem to be a little more crazy because they had all day to get ready and prepare."
ESPN?s College Gameday will broadcast from Iowa City, adding to the hype and excitement. It?s the first time the show will be broadcast from Iowa since 1996, when No. 2 OSU beat No. 20 Iowa 38-26.
Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz has predicted the atmosphere will be "like a six-ring circus."
Ohio State has lost its past three Big Ten road games at night: in 2003 at Wisconsin, 2004 at Northwestern and 2005 at Penn State. But in their last night game, at Texas on Sept. 9, the Buckeyes gained a decisive victory. And overall, Tressel is 7-4 in night games at OSU.
"I don?t know if our guys had any mental problem with (night games)," he said. "Some of the (media) did. I?ve never heard our guys worry about that."
Saturday marks a chance to solidify what has been an impressive opening month to OSU?s season. It would give the Buckeyes their first 2-0 Big Ten start since 2002 and would be their third victory over a ranked team.
If OSU gets past Iowa, it likely wouldn?t face another ranked team until the regular-season finale Nov. 18 against Michigan.
"We knew September was going to be a hard month," Pittman said. "Make it out of here and I?m not going to say it?s going to be smooth sailing, because it?s not. We?re in the Big Ten and it?s going to be a game every week, but this might be the hardest September in the nation."
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Dispatch

Iowa adjusts to night life
Late game against No. 1 OSU causes changes in routine
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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The prime-time kickoff, only the second in the history of Kinnick Stadium, has Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz changing his team?s routine this week.
The usual Friday night meetings will be moved to Saturday to help fill the hours before the Hawkeyes play Ohio State. But what to do Friday night?
"We?re going to find some way to entertain the (players), just get them away from football for a little bit and give them a break," Ferentz said yesterday.
That won?t include turning them loose on the town to sample the atmosphere.
"We prefer to get out of town," Ferentz said.
That would be wise.
By all accounts, Iowa City is getting jacked for the first visit of a No. 1-ranked team since 1992 ? the only other time a game in Kinnick has kicked off past 5 p.m. Ferentz called it "potentially a six-ring circus instead of a three-ring circus. We don?t get a lot of six-ring circuses.
"People at Iowa get very enthused about any game. You factor in a real good opponent, they get very, very excited, and then if you have the top-ranked team in the country, I think it?s fair to say the excitement level is pretty high out here."
Tickets on an online service yesterday were being offered for as much as $1,198. The lowest price was $150. The original face value was $60.
Adding to the hype will be the ESPN College GameDay crew coming to town for the first time in 10 years.
"Maybe we can get some autographed pictures from Chris (Fowler) and Kirk (Herbstreit) and Lee Corso to show the guys," Ferentz said.
"I don?t think it?s going to affect us at all. As far as I know, they?re setting up somewhere else on campus. I don?t even know where they do the show. My guess is we?ll be off campus by the time all that stuff takes place."
The team sets up camp the night before home games at a hotel in Cedar Rapids, 30 miles north of Iowa City.
"Obviously, there?s a little buzz on campus right now, like you?d expect when the top team in the country comes to town," Ferentz said. "The guys will enjoy that, it should be exciting, and certainly when we get back to campus Saturday evening, it should be a real exciting environment."
Ferentz is more concerned with Ohio State?s explosive offense and stingy, opportunistic defense and the fact his own running game has not found its stride, in part because of injuries. He said the Hawkeyes have a "minivan full" of banged-up players whose status might not be decided until later in the week.
Iowa beat Montana 41-7, Iowa State 27-17 and Illinois 24-7 and escaped Syracuse 20-13 in two overtimes without quarterback Drew Tate, who sat out the game with an abdominal strain and continues to nurse the injury. The Hawkeyes needed a goal-line stand in the second overtime to hold off the Orange.
Ferentz agreed with a newspaper column that rated the Hawkeyes "an unimpressive 4-0" after Saturday?s win at Illinois.
"Better than a crummy 2-2," he said.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Tate?s experience will test OSU[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]BY JIM NAVEAU - Sep. 27, 2006[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]COLUMBUS ? You wouldn?t have heard this from Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel last week, but he?s singing a different tune this week.
The first four quarterbacks the Buckeyes faced this season did not provide the sternest of tests for OSU?s young defense. But on Saturday night, when No. 1 Ohio State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) plays at No. 13 Iowa (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten), that will change.
Iowa?s Drew Tate is a three-year-starter.
And with Northern Illinois? Phil Horvath, Texas? Colt McCoy, Cincinnati?s Dustin Grutza and Penn State?s Anthony Morelli in the rear-view mirror, Tressel indicated Tate is probably easily the most challenging quarterback OSU has faced in its first five games.
?The first game we faced a senior who had kind of split time his whole life. The second game we faced a guy making the second start of his life. The third game was a red-shirt freshman or red-shirt sophomore. And then this past weekend, it was a guy in his fourth start. So it (playing Tate) will be a great test for us,? Tressel said on Tuesday at his weekly news conference.
Two years ago, Tate torched Ohio State in a 33-7 Iowa win at Iowa City. Last year, he was far from on fire, unless you count a fiery reaction ? spiking the ball into the ground in frustration after one of five sacks he took ? in a 31-6 Ohio State win.
Tate was 26 of 39 for 331 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another in Iowa?s big win in 2004. He scrambled almost untouched through Ohio State?s defense in a performance that was all the more amazing because Iowa was down to its fifth-string tailback.
Last season, Ohio State got some payback when Tate threw for only 146 yards. Saturday night could be the tie-breaker.
Tate has thrown for 687 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He has 6,256 yards passing and 30 TD passes in his career.
Senior defensive back Antonio Smith agreed with Tressel that experienced quarterbacks bring challenges for a defense that inexperienced ones usually don?t.
?Experience brings confidence, knowing what you can and can?t do. In any situation it gives you a little bit of confidence and self control and knowing what to do in key situations. An experienced quarterback can control the game,? Smith said.
The atmosphere in which Tate will be trying to take control of the game could be a highly charged one at Kinnick Stadium.
Iowa has won 25 of its last 26 home games.
ESPN?s College Game Day will be in Iowa City. The fans will have all day to warm up for the 8:13 p.m. EDT kickoff (ABC-TV).
After beating Illinois 24-7 last Saturday, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said, ?This is going to be potentially a six-ring circus instead of a three-ring circus. We don?t get a lot of six-ring circuses.?
No matter how you juggle it, though, Iowa does not have a history of success against OSU on its own field. The 2004 victory was the first by the Hawkeyes over the Buckeyes in Iowa City since 1983.
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[Dryden]

If any other coach in America would have answered that home field advantage question like JT did (a repeat of the same question) 99%
of you would be calling that coach an arrogant smart-ass.

JT wasn't sure he heard the question correctly. Jesus H Weis you need to get a life.

REPORTER: What makes a good home field advantage?
COACH TRESSEL: What makes a good home field advantage?
REPORTER: Iowa had a streak of 25 or 23 in a row and they were pretty dominant at home. Is it just crowd noise, good crowd factor or what all goes into it?
COACH TRESSEL: It starts with good players, then the energy that a good crowd can bring for those good players to play even better, now all of a sudden you win 20 some games in a row, but you can't have a great home field advantage without great players.

 

[craigblitz]

Funny weren't you the one downgrading people about reading comprehension? Karma sure is a funny thing at times huh!

 

[osugrad21]

CFN

Big Ten Game of the Week

Ohio State (4-0) at Iowa (4-0) 8:00 PM EST ABC Saturday September 30th
Why to Watch: There are only three realistic chances for the nation's number one team to topple off its perch: at Michigan State in mid-October, at home against Michigan in the season ender, and this game against an Iowa team that's been on just about everyone's radar as the sleeper in the Big Ten race. The last time the Buckeyes traveled to Iowa City, they were leveled 33-7 in the worst loss in the Jim Tressel era. This is the most dangerous offensive team Tressel has coached, and the defense is coming around so fast that there hasn't been much of a drop-off from last year's powerhouse. This year's Hawkeye team isn't quite as explosive, but it's a solid 4-0 highlighted by a great goal line stand in overtime to beat Syracuse and a surprisingly easy win over in-state rival Iowa State. Iowa is 0-9-1 all-time against No. 1 ranked teams, but this might be the squad to break the hex. Expect a well-played game with the Buckeyes getting a bigger test than last week's win over Penn State.
Why Ohio State Might Win: This has been a good Iowa team, but not a great one so far. The secondary isn't nearly as good as the statistics might indicate with corners that should have a rough time with the speed of the Buckeye receivers. The Ohio State defense, which was such a concern going into the year, has only allowed 32 points in four games and has been great at forcing turnovers picking off eight passes. This isn't going to be the game the Iowa offense starts to take off after sputtering a bit over the last few weeks, so it'll have to capitalize on any positive momentum and any Buckeye mistakes. That could be a problem against a veteran offense that rarely screws up.
Why Iowa Might Win: If Ohio State plays like it did last week against Penn State, it'll lose. Sure, the game plan might have been classic Tressel ball; don't mess up, get up early, and wait for the other team to make mistakes, but the outcome was still in doubt late. That worked against a quarterback like Penn State's Anthony Morelli, but it's not going to fly against Drew Tate. The veteran Hawkeye quarterback has 34 games under his belt and is the type of fearless playmaker the Buckeyes have yet to see this season. He has the ability to make the plays Morelli, and Texas QB Colt McCoy, couldn't. On the other side of the ball, Ohio State's offense has been explosive, but it hasn't put together a full sixty minutes. It's not likely to hang 45 on the board and put the game out of reach early.
Who to Watch: The quarterbacks, Tate and Ohio State's Troy Smith, will take center stage, but the unsung running backs will be just as vital. Buckeye junior Antonio Pittman has been the steady force for the offense for the last 16 games with ten 100-yard outings and averaging 111.3 yards per outing while scoring at least one touchdown in each of the last nine games. Iowa's speedy Albert Young hasn't had the room to move he had last year when he ran for eight 100-yard days, but he's been decent. Averaging only four yards per game, like he has over the first four games, won't work against the Buckeyes. If he's not cranking out a few yards in chunks and taking the pressure off of Tate, Iowa's offense will struggle.
What Will Happen: Expect a battle. Ohio State has been a very good number one team, and now it has a chance to prove it's great. It'll take four quarters to do it with the Hawkeye defense keeping the Buckeye attack under wraps, but Smith will come up with one Heisman-worthy play late to break the hearts of rowdy Iowa fans.
CFN Prediction: Ohio State 17 ... Iowa 13 ... Line: Ohio State -7
Must See Rating: (5 skip the birth of your first born - 1 Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) ... 4.5

 

[Muck]

As you can probably imagine, the WSU flag bearers have had their run ins with rowdy fans who just don't get it.

At Bowling Green, a student grabbed the flag from Bley's daughter and snapped the pole. (It still made GameDay, though.) Another woman flag bearer was grabbed at Florida, but a group of eight WSU fans broke it up.

They were worried at Columbus last week, but had no problems. Pounds is counting on Iowa's gentle nature this week.

 

[osugrad21]

BG$

Kevin Noon's breakdown of the matchup.

 

[martinss01]

Iowa City, Ia. ? Albert Young hesitated before taking the bait.

On Tuesday, during the Iowa football team's weekly news conference, somebody tried to amp up the intensity heading into Saturday's showdown with No. 1 Ohio State.

There's a lot of Ohio State fans that are saying no one from Iowa could even start for their team. Do you guys circle games like this?

Young, a junior tailback for the No. 13 Hawkeyes, paused.

"Where'd you hear that from?" he asked.

You know, the Internet.

"You're trying to shuck the bone with me," Young said with a grin. "That kind of hit me for a second, there. I had to think about that."

so... at what point did mr. young take the bait mr. logue? flippin morons. god i hate reporters with a passion. well played mr. young. though im not entirely sure how one would "shuck a bone" nor why they would want to.. *ponders* :P