Game Thread Game Nine: #1 tOSU 44, Minnesota 0 (10/28/06)

[osugrad21]

Canton

OSU REPORT
Thursday, October 26, 2006
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BUCKEYE BUZZ There's just something about homecoming games at Ohio Stadium. "When you go into play at Ohio Stadium, there'd better be a lot of energy, but it just turns up a notch at homecoming," Coach Jim Tressel said. The 1956 and 1961 football teams will hold reunions and will be introduced at Saturday's game against Minnesota. The annual captains breakfast will be held at 11:30 Saturday morning at the Blackwell. Plus, there will be a parade, a pep rally, a king and queen, and lots of parties after the game. LET 'EM EAT CAKE So you think you're a big Ohio State fan, huh? You make some buckeyes, maybe grill some brats and tear open a bag of scarlet-and-gray taco chips and you believe you're in the vanguard of Buckeyes backers. Prepare to be awed. The 16th annual Ohio Stadium cake can be seen all day on the south lawn of St. John Arena. This is not your typical cake. How many other cakes have their own Web site? Or a dozen or so sponsors? Or their own official sketch? Go to hometown.aol.com/Ohio StadiumCake. You'll be awed by what some folks can make out of around 85 boxes of cake mix, 250 eggs, 125 pounds of powdered sugar, 1.5 gallons of vegetable oil, 1.5 gallons of milk, 20 pounds of shortening and 25 ounces of vanilla extract. Oh, and there's a sad ending. When the game's over, they cut the cake and serve it up for donations to the Stadium Cake Scholarship Fund.
BAD GRASS You'd fire your lawn-care people if your yard looked like the playing surface at Ohio Stadium. About a month after being resodded, the field looks as if it's hosted 20 games instead of two. "It wasn't as good as we'd like it," Tressel said of the turf in the Indiana game.

 

[osugrad21]

Link

Minnesota brings Ohio natives back home

By Matt Markey

Toledo Blade

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? When Minnesota plays Saturday at op-ranked Ohio State, the Golden Gophers won?t need passports, a map or even directions.
There are so many native Buckeyes on that team and coaching staff, they know just where they are going.
Minnesota has a bunch of players on its active roster from Ohio, significantly more than from any other state outside the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Neighboring Iowa has just one player on the Minnesota team, while nearby Illinois has only three.
That recruiting strategy alone gets Ohio State coach Jim Tressel?s attention.
?The thing that impresses me about Minnesota is, No. 1, they?ve got 17 guys on their team from Ohio and half their coaching staff,? Tressel said. ?You know they?re going to not even need an airplane to come to Columbus.?
The Gophers will probably still take a plane, but landing rights won?t be an issue. Eight of those 17 players come from Columbus.
Ohio State cornerback Antonio Smith, another Columbus native, said it will be different seeing those familiar faces on the other side of the field.
?Minnesota did a lot of recruiting in this area,? Smith said. ?It is good to see a lot of city guys getting the opportunity to go up there and play in the Big Ten.?
Senior quarterback Bryan Cupito is from Cincinnati and is currently fourth in the nation in career total offensive yards per play among all Division I players. Cupito is averaging 7.33 yards per play for his career. He is second among Big Ten players this season, behind only Ohio State?s Troy Smith.
?They?re throwing it a little bit more than they have in the past few years,? Tressel said, ?and I think that?s because they have the outstanding quarterback. He?s an Ohio guy that?s just very disciplined, just does a great job with the football.?
The receiver group includes junior Ernie Wheelright from Columbus. The 6-5, 215 pounder ranks 10th in Minnesota history in receiving yards with 1,397 yards.
On the coaching side, Minnesota head coach Glen Mason, who has taken the Gophers to six bowls in the last seven seasons, is a former head coach at Kent State.
Mason, a New Jersey native, is a 1972 graduate of Ohio State and a former offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes. He also coached linebackers and the offensive line during his time with Ohio State (1978-85) while working under Woody Hayes and Earle Bruce. Minnesota wide receivers coach Luke Tressel is the son of Ohio State running backs coach Dick Tressel and the nephew of the Buckeyes? head coach.
Minnesota assistant head coach Mitch Browning went to Ohio?s Loudonville High School, graduated from Capital University in Columbus, and coached at Ohio State, Kent State and Miami.
Running backs coach Vic Adamle is a native of Kent who played at Eastern Michigan, then coached at Kent State, and linebackers coach Mark Criner coached two seasons at Cincinnati.

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

OHIO STATE NOTEBOOK
Defense receives Gophers warning
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

JEFF HINCKLEY DISPATCH Ted Ginn Jr., being helped by an official after a long gain against Indiana, didn?t let a broken right little toe slow him down.
The Ohio State defense was lit up by Minnesota last year. Just in case the defenders forgot about it, support personnel hung a sheet in each of their lockers this week to remind them as they prepare to play host to Minnesota for homecoming Saturday.
The sheet pointed out that last year the Gophers passed for 396 yards and had 578 yards.
"That?s the second-most passing yards in 116 years of Ohio State football and secondmost total yards," linebacker James Laurinaitis said the sheet declared.
Well, not quite. The coaches have a bent toward hyperbole when it comes to such things, it seems.
Even though it was the second-most total yards ? Illinois gained 659 in a shootout won by Ohio State in 1980 ??it was merely the ninth most passing yards. But it was well short of the opponent record of 621 (again, Illinois and quarterback Dave Wilson in ?80).
Still, the idea was to get the attention of a defense that otherwise might be viewing the Gophers (3-5, 0-4) as harmless varmints.
"They are going to come in here fired up and ready to go, with all of those Ohio natives (17) and their coach (Glen Mason) being from here," Laurinaitis said. "It?s going to be a fun game."
Doors are dangerous
Receiver Ted Ginn Jr. confirmed that he suffered a broken bone in his right little toe last Wednesday.
"I bumped it on a door going into a meeting room," he said.
He played through it last week and plans to do the same Saturday.
"It hurts a little bit, but not that much," he said. "I just pad it up and just keep moving forward. I try to be a strong individual. If I?m going to play, I?m not going to make any excuses and say my foot was hurting or something else."
Ginn, a junior, also said he is not looking forward to the departure of senior quarterback Troy Smith, his boyhood friend.
"It?s going to be hard to try and go somewhere and play with another guy you haven?t played with all year," he said. "We will miss each other."
On Tuesday, junior running back Antonio Pittman said he planned to return for his senior season.
Asked what his plans were, Ginn said, "It?s hard to say."
Turning over a new leaf

When safety Brandon Mitchell met with reporters recently, he had a Buckeye leaf decal stuck on his cell phone.
And yes, it?s "real."
"I actually took it off my helmet, don?t tell coach (Jim Tressel)," Mitchell said. "Last game, I had all of one side filled up, and I had just one lonely one on the other side. So I figured I?d just take it off and put it on my phone.
"(Tressel) will probably get mad at me. I wanted it just to identify my phone."
[email protected]

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

BIG TEN FOOTBALL
Brookhaven grad among top returners
Minnesota?s Jones near the top in two statistical categories
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Rob Oller
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ATHLETICS Dominic Jones ranks second in the Big Ten with an 11.2-yard average on punt returns and is third in kickoff returns at 25.1.

Dominic Jones is a Corvette sharing curb space with a Ferrari.
The sleek and fast Minnesota sophomore turns heads but doesn?t snap necks the way Ohio State kick and punt return specialist Ted Ginn Jr. does.
Jones, a Brookhaven graduate, ranks second in the Big Ten with an 11.2-yard average on punt returns and is third in kickoff returns at 25.1, but might as well rank 20 th for all anyone knows. In the Big Ten, there is Ginn and everyone else.
The lack of notoriety doesn?t appear to bother Jones, maybe because he catches even himself sneaking peeks at Ginn?s performances.
"You can always learn from somebody, so week in and week out I look at other teams? returners or defensive backs," he said.
Jones will get a closer look at Ginn on Saturday when Minnesota (3-5) visits Ohio Stadium to play No. 1 Ohio State. Jones? day job is playing cornerback, but impressive special teams play first got the 5-foot-8, 190-pounder on the field.
Like many freshmen, Jones earned the majority of his early playing time helping fill the special teams, where he quickly became Minnesota?s best return threat. His defense kept him on the field, first as a cornerback in nickel situations, then as a strong safety when Brandon Owens suffered a season-ending injury.
Jones entered 2006 as the Gophers? starting strong safety but returned to cornerback two weeks ago when Trumaine Banks, an Eastmoor Academy graduate, saw his college career end when he suffered a broken arm in a loss at Wisconsin.
Minnesota coach Glen Mason had little choice but to move Jones back to cornerback, not that it was a tough decision.
"D.J. is one of our best tacklers," Mason said. "When I see him tackle, I say, ?That?s how you?re supposed to do it, right there.? His motor always runs."
The transition was more difficult than Jones anticipated.
"It was like back to square one again," he said. "But I was willing to do it if it meant helping our team."
The biggest adjustment has been trying to break a safety?s habit of reading the quarterback?s eyes. Try that as a cornerback and it?s going to be a long day of chasing receivers.
"If you keep your eyes on the quarterback now, he?ll hit you with a pump fake, which is not good. So you?ve got to keep your eyes on your man and stay there," he said.
It?s a different story on punt returns, which require more than just catching the ball and eluding tacklers. The intricacies are lost on most fans, who only see the catch and run, Jones said.
Exceptional returners such as Ginn, who owns the Big Ten career record for punt return touchdowns with six, plot strategy even as the ball spirals toward them.
"You have to look up and down and up and down to read the coverage," Jones said. "You want to take a look at the gunners, because there?s no halo rule anymore, to make sure that you?re not in jeopardy of being put out."
[email protected]

 

[osugrad21]

Link

October 26, 2006

Offensive woes disastrous for Minnesota

By Tyler Rushmeyer

t's hard to imagine reaching the pinnacle of a season when a team is sitting at 0-3 in conference play. But, for Minnesota's passing game, it is shaping up to be just that. Nearly three weeks ago, in a game that ended so wrong for the Gophers, one thing went incredibly right.
Senior quarterback Bryan Cupito had a near-career day, placing the ball in the hands of six receivers, while senior wide receiver Logan Payne continued his emergence as a top receiver in the Big Ten.
Since that day, the passing game has been an ugly combination of missed routes, sacks and dropped passes.
And no one has personified the shift for the worse more than Payne, who has quickly faded in recent weeks after solidifying himself as Minnesota's premier offensive threat.
For the Gophers, getting annihilated by Wisconsin came with an excuse: the credit of a tough Badger defense and a hostile crowd.
Cupito called the game "embarrassing." A visibly frustrated Payne seemingly disappeared, catching just two passes for six yards.
Flash forward one week to the game against North Dakota State. In what most would
call an embarrassing victory, Cupito didn't fair much better, and Payne, who had 35 receptions for nearly 500 yards and seven touchdowns before the two-week tailspin, finished with two receptions for 19 yards.
"It's frustrating ? we should be scoring 25 points every week," Cupito said. "We're just not making plays and I'll put a lot of that on my shoulders."
Although Cupito may be quick to take the blame, the passing game works on the coordination of receiver and passer and no one's absence has been felt more than Payne's.
Coach Glen Mason said he realizes the importance of his senior receiver.
"Someone asked me the question the other day, 'As Logan Payne goes, does that mean that's the way you go?' " he said. "That's the wrong way to look at it. I think the way we go is the way Logan Payne goes."
With fellow senior Matt Spaeth scheduled to watch Saturday's game from the sidelines, Payne will need to regain his early-season form if the Gophers want to avoid a third consecutive embarrassing week.
No one realizes that more than his quarterback.
"I'm trying to spread it out a bit ? other guys are coming along," Cupito said. "But Logan has to get the ball for us to have chance to win."
Both Payne and redshirt freshman wide receiver Eric Decker point to small breakdowns in the offensive unit as the main contributor to the recent rut of the passing game.
Whether it is poor protection, missed reads or just running into good coverage, it's been difficult to get all 11 guys on the same page, Payne said, adding that the increased attention he has garnered by opposing defenses has been frustrating at times.
"Sometimes it's the way it goes as a receiver. We just need to take what the defense gives us," he said. "I'm a big believer in team ? only one stat matters, and that's wins and losses. Right now we're not getting it done."
As a redshirt freshman, Decker regards Payne as a leader for the offensive unit and said that for the offense to click, the ball needs to be in his hands.
"For a player of his caliber, two receptions a game is not enough," he said. "We need to find a way to get him the ball. Maybe he can give us that spark and get this thing rolling again."
Minnesota will need to quickly find what it has been missing before facing off against the best team in the nation - Ohio State - this weekend.
Payne, who has just four games left in his college career, said the Gophers can't hold anything back down the stretch.
"We got nothing to lose," he said. "Let's just let it all hang out. Take chances, take risks, and let it fly ? we're still fighting."

 

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

CFN.com

Big Ten Game of the Week

Minnesota (3-5) at Ohio State (8-0) 3:30 PM EST ABC Saturday October 28th
Why to Watch: Ohio State's not going to lose at Northwestern or Illinois, so if there's going to be a gag on the way to the Michigan showdown, it's going to be this week against Minnesota. Yeah, and Jim Tressel will say something interesting in a press conference. Minnesota needed a last-second blocked field goal to beat North Dakota State (yes, North Dakota State) last week to break a four-game losing streak. The pressure is on head coach Glen Mason with the hot seat starting to flame up despite being in a transition year with a young team that's not producing on offense and gives up way too many yards. Even so, a bowl game isn't out of the question with winnable games against Indiana, Michigan State and Iowa (depending on the health of Drew Tate). Nothing would turn the program around like a win over the nation's top team, and Mason's teams have been able to pull off the occasional out-of-nowhere shocker. Last year, the Gophers stunned Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 2003 they beat Penn State (who turned out to be lousy), beat Ohio State in Columbus in 2000, and most famously, stunned No. 1 Penn State in Happy Valley 24-23 in 1999. Mason, who was publicly grouchy after being passed over for the OSU gig when John Cooper got canned in 2000, would love to finally get some personal revenge.
Why Minnesota Might Win: Has anyone tried chucking the ball on the Buckeyes? No, not just in comeback mode, but to try to bomb away from the start. Everyone has tried to control the clock by running it or trying the short-to-midrange pass, but to no avail. Iowa had some success until Drew Tate started to make Buckeye defenders among his favorite targets. Minnesota's running game isn't up to past standards, and safety-valve TE Matt Spaeth is out, so the offense might have no choice but to try pushing the ball deep. QB Bryan Cupito is a crusty veteran, the line is decent enough to give him time, and Logan Payne, Ernie Wheelwright and Eric Decker have big play potential.
Why Ohio State Might Win: It's a bad equation. Minnesota can't score on a consistent basis plus Ohio State's No. 1 ranked scoring defense equals a big-league blowout. Talk about your bad matchups, Minnesota has one of the worst pass defenses in the nation against efficient passers, and Troy Smith is fourth in the nation in passing efficiency. Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez will eat the Gophers alive.
Who to Watch: Remember when Antonio Pittman was known as a nice yardage machine, but couldn't score? He had a ton of yards but only one touchdown in his first 19 games, and then he had his breakout performance in a tough battle at Minnesota last year rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Since then, he rushed for at least one score in 12 straight games before getting shut out against Indiana last week. The unsung cog in the mix, some want to put him in the Heisman race, even though he likely won't even get First Team All-Big Ten honors over Wisconsin's P.J. Hill and Michigan's Mike Hart.
What Will Happen: Minnesota doesn't have the firepower on offense or the playmakers on defense, particularly in the secondary, to make this close.
CFN Prediction: Ohio State 38 ... Minnesota 7 ... Line: Ohio State -27
Must See Rating: (5 skip the birth of your first born - 1 Flicka) ... 3

 

[scooter1369]

Minnesota - three
Ohio State - eleventy billion

The ran will keep the score low.

 

[NightmaresDad]

Minnesota - three
Ohio State - eleventy billion

The ran will keep the score low.

Eleventy billion?
There's NO WAY they hold us to eleventy billion!!!
Matt Kascandi will throw for 5 TDs in this game!

 

[Zurp]

Dispatch

OHIO STATE NOTEBOOK
Defense receives Gophers warning
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

"It?s going to be hard to try and go somewhere and play with another guy you haven?t played with all year," he said. "We will miss each other."

Is Ginn hinting at leaving after this year? Or is he saying that it's going to be hard for Smith to go somewhere next year? Or is he talking about playing with Todd Boeckman (or Schoenhoft or Henton)?

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Is Ginn hinting at leaving after this year? Or is he saying that it's going to be hard for Smith to go somewhere next year? Or is he talking about playing with Todd Boeckman (or Schoenhoft or Henton)?

Sadly, he is almost certainly talking about playing on a different NFL team than the one Troy plays on. Very small chance they're taken by the same team.

All the best to him, whatever he means.

 

[Mike80]

Dispatch

Asked what his plans were, Ginn said, "It?s hard to say."
[email protected]

It will all come down to where everyone thinks he is going in the draft. That's how I would translate that.....it's to be expected, he's a next level talent obviously.

 

[BuckeyeGanoosh]

I think the Bucks D still has a chip on the shoulder from last years game.

tOSU - 52
Minnesnowta - 7

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

This is NOT 2002

It recently occurred to me that I have a means of comparing all Div. IA teams with a single statistic that I have not yet employed. It's just sitting there in my spreadsheets, waiting for me to do 30 seconds worth of work to extract the data.

What are the most important stats?

• Points Scored?
• Points Allowed?

When ranking statistics by how meaningful they are, I bet that most people would have those two values ranked at the top.

IMHO there are two numbers that are MORE important:

• DIFFERENTIAL Scoring Offense (DSO)
• DIFFERENTIAL Scoring Defense (DSD)

By "Differential", I mean how many points you scored or allowed compared to how many points your opponents allowed or scored vs. everyone else they played.

Ohio State's DSO is 153.4%. In other words, they score 53.4% more points than their opponents give up, on average.

Ohio State's DSD is 28.6%. In other words, they grudgingly surrender only 28.6% as many points as their opponents usually score.


In thinking about how much more impressively this team is winning in contrast to the 2002 team I realized that at the nexus of DSO and DSD is a single number that tells you how much better you are than everyone else your opponents have played. If you DIVIDE DSO BY DSD, you get a composite that tells you how dominant each team is. I'll call this number DSC, which is short for Differential Scoring Composite.

Here are the top teams in the country based on DSC...

#..SCHOOL............DSC
1..Ohio State........5.36
2..LSU...............4.26
3..Florida...........3.30
4..Michigan..........3.25
5..Rutgers...........3.22
6..Auburn............3.17
7..Texas.............2.80
8..Wisconsin.........2.74
9..California........2.67
10.USC...............2.60
11.Boston College....2.50
12.Tennessee.........2.35
13.West Virginia.....2.27
14.Boise St..........2.26
15.Oklahoma..........2.23
16.Louisville........2.23
17.Clemson...........2.13
18.Missouri..........2.07
19.Pittsburgh........1.71
20.Nebraska..........1.69
.
.
.
36.Minnesota.........1.34

First some general observations:

• Yes, that's a pretty big lead that Ohio State has on EVERYONE ELSE.
• LSU is number 2 based on crushing lesser teams mercilessly and losing to good ones.
• OSU compiled that number while taking it easy on most of its opponents for at least the fourth quarter.
• I've said it before and I'll say it again: 10 first down passes in the 1st half vs. Texas; 1 whole first down pass in the second half.
• Even with all of the untapped potential that this team has, only 8 teams in the nation are within HALF of OSU's number.

Thoughts about Minnesota:

• If you look at the Behind the Numbers section of the BP Game Preview, you'll see that Minnesota compiled mediocre stats for the season by pasting the patsies and getting bludgeoned by the big-boys. Their 37th ranking in this metric is a direct result of pasting the patsies.
• What is truly sad is that, as many of you know, I always eliminate I-AA competition from stats that I compile/calculate. So Minne doesn't have to count their dismal differential performance against a Division I-AA team!!!
• Against teams with a pulse, Minne has been obscenely bad. (see game preview)
• Now they're about to play a team that is 25.8% better than anyone else in the country by this metric... without a starting CB and their star TE.

BTW: Notre Dame's Rank? 37, one spot behind Minnesota.

 

[Oh8ch]

Daddy - If I were to peak in your pantry would I find that your canned goods are arranged by circumference, volume or net weight?

I like the stat. Rutgers at #5 indicates you need something to factor in SOS to make it perfect.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

[strike]It recently occurred to me that I have a means of comparing all Div. IA teams with a single statistic that I have not yet employed. It's just sitting there in my spreadsheets, waiting for me to do 30 seconds worth of work to extract the data.

What are the most important stats?

• Points Scored?
• Points Allowed?

When ranking statistics by how meaningful they are, I bet that most people would have those two values ranked at the top.

IMHO there are two numbers that are MORE important:

• DIFFERENTIAL Scoring Offense (DSO)
• DIFFERENTIAL Scoring Defense (DSD)

By "Differential", I mean how many points you scored or allowed compared to how many points your opponents allowed or scored vs. everyone else they played.

Ohio State's DSO is 153.4%. In other words, they score 53.4% more points than their opponents give up, on average.

Ohio State's DSD is 28.6%. In other words, they grudgingly surrender only 28.6% as many points as their opponents usually score.


In thinking about how much more impressively this team is winning in contrast to the 2002 team I realized that at the nexus of DSO and DSD is a single number that tells you how much better you are than everyone else your opponents have played. If you DIVIDE DSO BY DSD, you get a composite that tells you how dominant each team is. I'll call this number DSC, which is short for Differential Scoring Composite.

Here are the top teams in the country based on DSC...

#..SCHOOL............DSC
1..Ohio State........5.36
2..LSU...............4.26
3..Florida...........3.30
4..Michigan..........3.25
5..Rutgers...........3.22
6..Auburn............3.17
7..Texas.............2.80
8..Wisconsin.........2.74
9..California........2.67
10.USC...............2.60
11.Boston College....2.50
12.Tennessee.........2.35
13.West Virginia.....2.27
14.Boise St..........2.26
15.Oklahoma..........2.23
16.Louisville........2.23
17.Clemson...........2.13
18.Missouri..........2.07
19.Pittsburgh........1.71
20.Nebraska..........1.69
.
.
.
36.Minnesota.........1.34

First some general observations:

• Yes, that's a pretty big lead that Ohio State has on EVERYONE ELSE.
• LSU is number 2 based on crushing lesser teams mercilessly and losing to good ones.
• OSU compiled that number while taking it easy on most of its opponents for at least the fourth quarter.
• I've said it before and I'll say it again: 10 first down passes in the 1st half vs. Texas; 0 first down passes in the second half.
• Even with all of the untapped potential that this team has, only 8 teams in the nation are within HALF of OSU's number.

Thoughts about Minnesota:

• If you look at the Behind the Numbers section of the BP Game Preview, you'll see that Minnesota compiled mediocre stats for the season by pasting the patsies and getting bludgeoned by the big-boys. Their 37th ranking in this metric is a direct result of pasting the patsies.
• What is truly sad is that, as many of you know, I always eliminate I-AA competition from stats that I compile/calculate. So Minne doesn't have to count their dismal differential performance against a Division I-AA team!!!
• Against teams with a pulse, Minne has been obscenely bad. (see game preview)
• Now they're about to play a team that is 25.8% better than anyone else in the country by this metric... without a starting CB and their star TE.

BTW: Notre Dame's Rank? 37, one spot behind Minnesota.[/strike]

CONDENSED VERSION:

We gonna mess them gophers up reeeeaaaal bad.