Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas
Mistake-Free Football: "Mistake-free football" is a phrase OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel likes to use to describe the keys to victory, and he is adamant that mistake-free football is particularly important at the quarterback position. According to OSU wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, Tressel is getting as close to a mistake-free performance as possible from current OSU quarterback starter Troy Smith.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Troy Smith [/FONT] "Troy right now is at a very high level in terms of his understanding of the game, and it grows each and every week," said Gonzalez.
"Last year and the year before as all of us were growing mental mistakes were maybe a little bit pronounced, but this year I feel like we've reduced those a lot. His command of the game and the offense is just unbelievable. He literally does not make mistakes. It's crazy, but he really doesn't," Gonzalez said.
Tressel agrees with Gonzalez' assessment.
"Troy has always been very careful with the football. However many interceptions he has here at Ohio State, I would bet you a high percentage of them are deep throws, which we talked to the receivers about, hey, if we're going to throw deep, at least break it up, because they've got more time to play the ball and so forth, or deflected balls, flat out missed throws, Troy is very aware," Tressel said.
"One play during the Iowa game, he came off, I said, 'Troy, the post might have been open.' He said, 'No, Coach, you'll see on the film, it wasn't' And he was right. He's very aware of where people are and very careful. And he understands the importance of that turnover margin and as long as he'll continue that understanding, then we can contribute on offense," Tressel said.
Everyone is impressed with Smith, but Tressel is also impressed with backup Justin Zwick. According to Tressel, Zwick is working diligently to equal Smith in the mistake-free department.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Justin Zwick [/FONT] "The guy who has been getting virtually all the second snaps has been Justin. I think his last couple of weeks especially, he's been especially sharp. I told him it's because he only goes to class two hours a week and he's got a lot of energy and he's studying that film. He's watched more film than I have. He's done a good job," said Tressel.
Zwick, a one-time starter who has lost that job to Smith, has impressed Tressel with his work and his improvement, but even more with his attitude since losing the starting position.
"Lets face it. When you're a fifth-year guy and there's only one ball and you're not getting it, you could go any direction, and he's gone the direction of training extra and watching extra film, making sure that he's ready. I've even heard him refer to the day that Scott McMullen had to continue us on our way to have a chance to be the conference champions, so I think he's had the perfect approach to it," Tressel said.
Where Else Would They Be?: OSU running backs coach Dick Tressel describes both Antonio Pittman and Chris Wells as backs who "run behind their pads". The expression has a specific meaning when describing the style of a running back.
"It's a function of bending your knees and making sure that when you show up in somebody's face that all they see is your knees and shoulder pads," said Tressel.
Tressel said that Wells is particularly imposing when "running behind his pads".
"Your shoulder pads are out there in front of that football and your abdomen, and with his size and velocity, that's an imposing piece to the puzzle," Tressel said.
"Pittman does the same thing, it's not as imposing, but you see him knock tacklers off. He's not an easy guy to tackle. He runs behind his pads as does Mo Wells," he said.
Uncanny Knack: OSU sophomore James Laurinaitis has dazzled not only Buckeye fans but the entire nation with his uncanny knack for intercepting footballs, so much so that he has now been put on the Butkus watch list with his team-high and Big Ten-high four interceptions through five games.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]James Laurinaitis [/FONT] "This defense, although it is extremely physical, I'm not saying that it's not in any way, maybe their just more conscious of the ball and James, who has all the interceptions, is probably the best cover linebacker that I've gone against since I've been here," said OSU wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez.
That's high praise from Gonzalez, who has gone against the likes of A. J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and others in his OSU career.
"He's just very aware of what route is coming at him, what position he needs to be in, and he's got pretty good hands," said Gonzalez.
"I feel like if he's in the right position all the time he's probably doing a great job of film study. That's the only way really you can anticipate things on the field is by seeing them hundreds of times on film, so he's probably doing a great job in the classroom so to speak," Gonzalez said.
OSU secondary coach Tim Beckman agreed, saying Laurinaitis has made a study of pass defense and it shows.
"He does a great job of what we call vision and break, reading the quarterback's eyes, reading his shoulders, reading the tilt of the shoulder to tell you if it's deep or shallow, he's got a knack for it," Beckman said.
Personnel Updates: Ohio State will be relatively healthy going into the Bowling Green game, but there is one player who was not 100% late this week who was not injured last week.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Curtis Terry[/FONT] "Curtis Terry was gimping around a little bit. It was nothing that 'happened' in the game or in practice, I'll be interested in seeing how he comes along in the last 48 hours," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.
For the most part, all the other Buckeyes are healthy except those who were injured last week, including Mike D'Andrea who is out for the season and reserve quarterback Todd Boeckman.
"Todd Boeckman jogged around a little bit but I wouldn't think that he'd be able to contribute in a game for another couple of weeks," Tressel said.
As was previously reported on the-Ozone this week, the OSU defensive staff continues to shuffle its defensive back talent a bit in an effort to offset the loss of starting safety Anderson Russell to a season-ending knee injury.
"(Jamario) O'Neal is now starter," said defensive backs coach Tim Beckman.
"Nick Patterson would be the next guy because of his experience and his knowledge and being there at safety, so he'd be the next guy to come in. Aaron Gant then is even more important now. We've kind of added a little extra for Kurt Coleman to learn a little bit of what goes on at the safety, so you're just comfortable with enough players back there that can play it. Antonio Smith has played it too. We've got some guys who have played it, but right now if the situation would come about it would be Nick," Beckman said.
Getting the Message: The Buckeyes survived a difficult September schedule without a defeat, and now the talk is that the Buckeyes should remain that way through the next six games simply because the schedule is not all that challenging up to the Michigan game. The OSU coaching staff has tried to prevent their team from stagnating by stressing the importance of continuing to stay focused on improving. OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel said that it appeared this week that his team took that message to heart.
"Practice-wise they certainly did," said Tressel.
"They worked hard, and not just the guys who are getting to play.
"What has impressed me about this group is guys like David Patterson and Quinn Pitcock coaching the heck of Doug Worthington and Ryan Williams and Rob Rose yesterday in practice, just screaming and yelling and talking about getting better. If they haven't bought into it, they sure fooled me," Tressel said.
Tressel loves what he has seen in his senior leadership this season.
"I've been very impressed," Tressel said.
"I was hoping that one of out strength ought to be that we've got 17 fifth-year guys who have a lot of maturity, a lot of discernment and wisdom and whatever words you would want to use. I would like to think they could put that to use, and I think they have.
"Everything hasn't gone perfect for us, we have had our share of good fortune, but we weren't always in perfect situations whether it be with renovations going on or weather in scrimmages or behind in a game. Those guys, at every turn that I have seen, want to be leaders and have done a good job," Tressel said.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rory Nicol [/FONT] It isn't just the seniors who have bought into the concept. Junior tight end Rory Nicol is certainly on board as well.
"We talk about being national champs and outright Big Ten champs, so we can't mess around and take a week off and plateau. We have to get better every day," Nicol said.
Nicol agrees with Tressel, that the senior leadership has really set the tone for the rest of the team and kept it focused.
"These seniors this year is what stands out to me. They're so sincere," said Nicol
"I look at a guy like David Patterson, one of the most emotional guys I've met in my life who I know would do anything for this team. Anything.
"You look at a guy Troy (Smith) or Joel Penton or Quinn (Pitcock), they want so bad to walk out of this place beating Michigan, being a national champion, and they care about all of us.
"I think our seniors last year were great leaders, were great football players, great athletes, but they might not have been as vocal as the guys we have right now. It's just a different approach.
"My class has been here three years now and I know I've bought into this team and this concept and I think pretty much everybody else has too. I think we all know there's a chance that we can be very special. When you know that it's always an incentive to go out and play hard and get better."
Keeping Composure: OSU wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez raised a few eyebrows this week when he openly criticized the officials in the Iowa game for ignoring what he thought was a flagrant personal foul committed against one of his teammates.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Anthony Gonzalez [/FONT] "Yup. There were a few plays throughout the game," said Gonzalez when asked if he thought the officials may have had a bad night in Iowa City.
"In particular, Doug Datish getting his helmet ripped off and getting punched in the face four times right in front of the ref, that was interesting to say the least," Gonzalez said.
"That was the first one, and the most obvious, because as a player you can't retaliate, because if you retaliate you're going to get flagged, so you're hoping if somebody rips your helmet off and throwing punches that maybe a flag will be thrown on that player, but in that particular instance it wasn't. That was frustrating. He got his helmet ripped off and punched three or four times in the face," Gonzalez related to reporters.
Tight end Rory Nicol was impressed at how Datish reacted.
Doug Datish
"Doug fortunately wasn't hurt and probably reacted in the best possible way he could because he didn't retaliate," said Nicol.
"It's just not called for, it's just not part of the game. You don't need it. I actually didn't see it on the field but I heard about it on the field.
"Honestly I just knew it was a physical game, a dog fight. That defensive line is going to be a special group of guys and they were physical. You just hate to see cheap shots like that, but when you hear it in the heat of the battle, you kind of think 'Well strap it up. Tighten your chin strap a little tighter and don't let your helmet come off,'" Nicol said.
Nicol admitted that he would have trouble equaling Datish's composure.
"Doug is a pretty level-headed guy as you all know. I don't know that I could have done that. I've got a little hot-headedness in me," Nicol said.
