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Game Thread Game Three: #1 Ohio State 37, Cincinnati 7 (9/16/06)

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Canton

[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Ohio State notebook[/FONT]
Friday, September 15, 2006 LOCAL CONNECTION: The University of Cincinnati has three players on its roster from Stark County, but only one is listed in the two-deep depth chart. J.P. Simon (Massillon) is the back-up right tackle behind Digger Bujnoch. Simon (6-6, 310) played in six games last year and is on the field-goal and point-after teams. Brad Jones (McKinley) and Taylor Porter (Marlington) are redshirt freshmen.
TEXAS TIME Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel was a bit surprised that Texas Head Coach Mack Brown made an issue of the new timing rule that shortens games. Brown said he would have liked to have had more time in Saturday?s loss to Ohio State. ?That?s, perhaps, one vantage point,? Tressel said. ?I would say this. Despite however many plays there were, in the fourth quarter our guys were in great condition.?
BUCKEYES The Ohio State-Texas game was the most watched regular-season college football game in 10 years. Nielsen Media Research said 9.1 million homes tuned in. ... Tressel said he wouldn?t tell DE Jay Richardson to do anything different than he did on a controversial sack of Texas QB Colt McCoy. ?He just said he was protecting the quarterback,? Tressel said of a conversation with an official. ?It was a tough place to play, and I?m sure it was a tough place to go officiate. ... Sometimes you get it right. Sometimes you don?t. Whether they did or didn?t get it right, it?s not for me to say.? ... The Penn State game has been announced officially as a 3:30 p.m. start in Columbus next week. Ohio State will play a night game at Iowa. The Buckeyes turned down ABC?s request to make the Penn State contest a third night game. ... Saturday?s game is being broadcast by ESPN Regional but can be seen locally on WUAB-TV. ... Dantonio on playing in Ohio Stadium: ?The awe of playing in that environment, I think our players are past that.?
 
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Enquirer

UC must pick its poison
OSU's multifaceted offense might be too much to cover
BY BILL KOCH | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The raw talent is on display for everyone to see, with quarterback Troy Smith, tailback Antonio Pittman, and receivers Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez.
But what makes University of Cincinnati football coach Mark Dantonio take notice when he studies film of the Ohio State offense is what his old buddy, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel, is doing with it.
Dantonio spent 10 years of his coaching career working with or under Tressel and has never seen one of Tressel's teams displaying such a wide-open, imaginative offense.
"I think the biggest change is not so much the players but the different types of formations Coach Tressel is using," said Dantonio, whose Bearcats will face the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes on Saturday in Columbus. OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1');
The conservative, run-oriented approach Tressel is known for remains a reliable part of the Buckeyes' offense, but there are a lot more options now.
"They've really opened up a whole different dimension," Dantonio said.
In two games, Tressel and his offensive coordinator, Jim Bollman, have masterminded an offense that has produced an average of 29.5 points and 418 yards per game. And remember, one of those two games was a 24-7 victory over then No. 2-ranked Texas, the defending national champion.
UC free safety Haruki Nakamura figures to be a busy young man on Saturday trying to keep track of Ginn, who's averaging 24.4 yards on nine receptions with three touchdowns, and Gonzalez, who has 12 catches for an average of 16.2 yards and two touchdowns.
He doesn't have to be told what and his colleagues on UC's defensive unit are up against.
"They've got Ted Ginn on the outside and Anthony Gonzalez who can run down the seams, so they have speed," Nakamura said. "And they can get vertical. Coach Tressel has opened it up a lot. You can't really concentrate on one thing."
The man who makes it all work on the field is Smith, who has averaged 283 passing yards per game and has five touchdowns. But it's not only Smith's arm that poses problems; his speed makes him a running threat.
"I've always said that as a defensive coach, you need to make the game one-dimensional," Dantonio said. "Well, they've got a two-headed monster in their quarterback alone because when he's back there, they have both a running back at the quarterback position and they also have a thrower."
The UC coaching staff maintains that the Bearcats' defense is better than last year's unit, which allowed an average of 401.6 yards per game. In two games this season, UC produced a shutout over Division I-AA Troy State before allowing 357 yards last week against Pitt in a 33-15 loss.
But 16 of the Panthers' 33 points came off an interception return, a safety and a touchdown pass after a turnover gave them possession deep in UC territory.
The Bearcats were encouraged because they held Pitt to 90 rushing yards and just one third-down conversion in 11 tries. But they also surrendered touchdown passes of 80 yards and 55 yards.
That's not so encouraging as they prepare to face a devastating Ohio State offense that has evolved to the point where its scheme has become a perfect fit for its abundant talent.
"Without a question they're the most talented offense in the country," said UC defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. "But they've also upped their schematic game to the point where they're doing what they can do. It's totally different than when we played them up there (two years ago). They didn't spread you out like they do now. Now they're spreading you out and running it and spreading you out and throwing it."
 
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Enquirer

Herby's prep football feast

BY TOM GROESCHEN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER


ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit won't say he founded the greatest high school football event ever staged, but others are saying it for him.
Cincinnati will be one of two sites for the McDonald's Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge tonight and Saturday, featuring seven USA Today Super 25 nationally rated teams including No. 8 St. Xavier and No. 25 Colerain. UC's Nippert Stadium will have two games tonight and four Saturday, while Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium will host three Saturday. "Without question it's going to be the single biggest weekend in high school football history," Colerain coach Kerry Coombs said. "I've said that a few times and no one has disputed it. To be in it, that's just spectacular."
USA Today-rated teams in Cincinnati will be No. 2 Duncan Byrnes (S.C.); No. 3 Lakeland, Fla.; No. 5 De La Salle (Concord, Calif.); No. 8 St. Xavier and No. 25 Colerain. In Massillon, the teams will include No. 11 Hamilton High (Chandler, Ariz.) and No. 13 Lakewood St. Edward (Ohio).

OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1');*

Tom Lemming, a nationally known recruiting analyst who has worked for ESPN and College Sports TV (CSTV.com), said the Herbstreit is the most significant prep football event in his 28 years of evaluating players.
"There's never been anything bigger," Lemming said. "You'll have all these national teams and more than 100 guys ... who have committed or will play Division I (college) football. There's never been anything like it."
The event was the brainchild of Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback and now ESPN College GameDay analyst. Herbstreit, a star quarterback at Centerville High School near Dayton, hatched the "Challenge" along with some high school friends.
"We just started thinking that we're very proud of Ohio high school football, and wouldn't it be great to see our best teams play some of the traditional national powers," Herbstreit said.
Byrnes quarterback Willy Korn (committed to Clemson), rated the nation's No. 3 senior prospect by recruiting Web site Rivals.com, is among elite players in Cincinnati this weekend.
Lakeland running back Chris Rainey (committed to Florida) is among the stars on his team, the defending USA Today national poll champion.
Matt Simms, son of former NFL quarterback Phil Simms, is a Louisville recruit who will quarterback Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) against Centerville at UC on Saturday.
The 37-year-old Herbstreit, once a national prep star himself, worked with promoters and sponsors to start his event last year with a two-game show at Columbus Crew Stadium. The featured game was Colerain beating Tyler Lee (Texas) 27-12 in a battle of reigning Ohio and Texas champions.
The event expanded for 2006 and Herbstreit decided to play the games in Cincinnati and Massillon, two hotbeds of prep football.
Moeller coach Bob Crable, a former NFL linebacker (New York Jets) and an All-America player in both college (Notre Dame) and high school (Moeller), said he has not seen anything like this on the prep level. Crable was at Moeller when the Crusaders were a national power and coach Gerry Faust started bringing in opponents from New York, Texas and Pennsylvania in the late 1970s. But, those were one-game deals.
"To bring this many national games together, I'm sure it's never been done," Crable said. "We've talked about whether this is good for high school football, and I think it is. There's a danger of losing that community sense, but this is a great experience for the kids to have national attention and grow from that."
Colerain safety Eugene Clifford, the state's top-ranked senior by many scouting services, said he and his teammates are looking forward to another turn in the spotlight. Last year's Colerain-Tyler Lee game was televised nationally by ESPNU.
"I remember just coming out of the tunnel, how exciting that was," Clifford said. "We're trying to uphold the honor of Ohio against these national teams. It's very important to us."
The bragging rights are part of it, Herbstreit acknowledged in an interview with the Enquirer this week.
"That's not why we set this up, but don't get me wrong, I'll be totally keeping track of who wins," Herbstreit said, smiling. "When I travel around the country, college players have been talking about our event and saying, 'My team's going to do this,' or, 'You guys have no chance in this or that game.' They needle us a little bit and I needle back. That's all part of it."
Financially, Herbstreit and his group don't have a precedent but believe they might lose money this year.
"We're not in it for the money, but to give these kids an experience they'll always remember," Herbstreit said. "I know the values I learned in football have helped shape what I am today ... things like discipline, perseverance and teamwork."
Event president Josh Johnston, a Centerville friend of Herbstreit, said the nine Ohio schools will divide a total up-front payout of about $210,000 among themselves. That means each Ohio school will make about $20,000 plus, plus $2 per ticket for each pre-sale ticket sold by the respective schools. Payouts will vary, based on some schools' previously contracted Sept. 15-16 games being switched for Herbstreit games.
Elder athletic director Dave Dabbelt said a typical home game for the Panthers brings about $40,000 to $50,000 in revenue, but even at $20,000, Elder will be making instead of losing money this weekend. Elder had been scheduled to play at Lakewood St. Edward before the De La Salle scenario arose, and Elder would have spent between $4,000 and $5,000 to travel to the Cleveland area for the Lakewood St. Edward game.
Johnston said the Herbstreit people flew in all the out-of-state teams. The perks include police escorts for team buses, both to and from airports and hotels. The first visitor to arrive in Cincinnati was De La Salle, which took the red-eye from California late Wednesday night. It is the first time De La Salle has played east of the Mississippi River.
Lakeland coach Bill Castle is curious to see how his team reacts, in the program's first trip outside Florida in Castle's 32 years as coach.
"We've got kids who have never been on a plane before," Castle said, just before Lakeland flew Thursday to Cincinnati. "You feel like you're going into an ambush when you're playing a great team like St. Xavier in their home city. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for our kids, and we're looking forward to being there."
Herbstreit said there is a waiting list of 150 national schools who want in for next year. Colerain, Elder and St. Xavier appear set to play in the 2007 event, which is scheduled to move up to Labor Day weekend. Current USA Today No. 1 Hoover (Ala.) and No. 16 Charlotte Independence (95-game win streak) also have committed, with Independence scheduled to play Elder.
"I think nine games is about where we want to be each year," Herbstreit said. "This is something we envision going for a number of years."
TV exposure will be limited. ONN (Ohio News Network) will telecast tonight's Colerain game live, and ONN will carry the Moeller game Saturday night on tape-delay. Event organizers estimate that upwards of 40,000 tickets have been sold for the six Cincinnati games this weekend, with especially big crowds expected for the St. Xavier-Lakeland and Elder-De La Salle games Saturday.
Various radio stations and newspapers from the competing markets will be in Cincinnati this weekend, as will the Illinois-based Lemming and New Jersey-based USA Today writer Chris Lawlor. Lawlor compiles the weekly USA Today Super 25 for football and basketball.
The top-rated teams will bring varying amounts of fans to Cincinnati. Johnston estimated that Byrnes might bring between 3,000 and 5,000 fans, Lakeland about 1,500 and De La Salle about 500.
 
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Dispatch

Cincinnati hopes Wess develops
Sophomore QB from Whitehall works way up depth chart

Friday, September 15, 2006

Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

20060915-Pc-E11-0700.jpg
</IMG> AL BEHRMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS Starting quarterback Dustin Grutza could be hearing footsteps, possibly David Wess?, if the Bearcats offense doesn?t start moving.


CINCINNATI ? Cincinnati has a Troy Smith type to impersonate the Ohio State quarterback in practice this week.
As far as having a reasonable facsimile of Smith to play against the Buckeyes on Saturday, well, that?s a work in progress, and it was hard for UC coach Mark Dantonio to imagine this week that David Wess would progress enough in a few days to merit snaps in Ohio Stadium.
"I don?t think it?s fair to him to put him in a game right now," Dantonio said of Wess, a sophomore from Whitehall who is the third quarterback on the Bearcats? depth chart, behind sophomore Dustin Grutza and senior Nick Davila. "It?s not inconceivable (he could play), but there would have to be a lot of adjustment in terms of what we do offensively."
Dantonio, in his third season as Bearcats coach, has seen what dual-threat quarterbacks like Smith have done, and that?s why he moved the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Wess, a free safety last season, to quarterback for the final two days of spring drills after trying him at running back and receiver.
"There are so many pressures a defense will give you now, if you have a guy that can run and throw equally (well) ? that gives you an advantage," Dantonio said.
"David is that type of guy. We put him back at quarterback with the idea that it may take a year. It may never happen, because there?s quite an adjustment from high school football to college football. But he is athletic and he can throw the football.
"He just has to learn to manage the game, getting into and out of different checks and making decisions. It took Troy 2 1 /2 years. So it may take (Wess) another year."
Wess had signed to play quarterback at Minnesota but did not qualify academically. After playing safety last season, he has one season left after this one, unless he can gain a fifth by being 80 percent of the way to graduation after his fourth.
Wess is taking it day by day, "just continuing to stay focused and grasping the offense more," he said.
"I really think our offense has a chance to start getting the ball moving and picking up things a lot faster. I believe that we will. But if that doesn?t happen, then I believe decisions will have to be made by the coaches ? and whatever they decide to do will be the best decision for this team."
The Bearcats didn?t score against Pittsburgh last week until 2:41 remained in the third quarter and they trailed 23-0. They lost 33-15.
Regardless of how well or how quickly Wess progresses, Dantonio seems inclined to keep moving toward that style of quarterback. He already has received a commitment for 2007 from Pickerington Central quarterback Chazz Anderson, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound run-pass threat.
Anderson said he was recruited as an "athlete" by most schools, including Purdue and Indiana. That was the same label attached to Smith when he was the final player to sign with Ohio State in 2002. Now look at him.
"Troy was on the bubble. We almost didn?t take him," said Dantonio, then OSU?s defensive coordinator. "But we said, ?Hey, he?s a good athlete and he can play a variety of positions.?
"That?s what we have to have happen here. We have to find impact players. We?ve got to get one of those guys who can change the complexion of the game totally by himself."
[email protected]
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Top-ranked Buckeyes in tip-top shape
By JON SPENCER
For The Advocate

COLUMBUS -- If the Ohio State Buckeyes thought their thrashing of Texas bought them some extra time between squat sets this week, they underestimated Eric Lichter.

Or "Hannibal the Cannibal," one of the nicer things they call him behind his back.

"Rather than make them softer with congratulations ... 'hey, great win'... we set a more intense tone this week," said Lichter, OSU's new director of football performance. "We're pretty healthy as a team, so we've turned it up a notch. Our job is to make sure at least the lifting portion of their workout is every bit as intense as it was for Texas and maybe even tougher because we've got to send the message about getting better every day."

If the top-ranked Buckeyes take Cincinnati too lightly in Saturday's noon home game, they won't be able to blame Lichter. His tough love approach is one of the reasons Ohio State hired him away from the Speed Strength Systems Training Centers he co-founded near Cleveland.
Lichter attracted more than 35 NFL and NBA players to his centers, compiling an impressive client list that included LeBron James and ex-Buckeyes LeCharles Bentley (Browns) and Nate Clements (Bills).

Killer workouts this summer including a lot of uphill running. That's part of the reason the Buckeyes looked like they were running downhill against Texas.

"Speed-wise, he's like a guru," quarterback Troy Smith said. "There's not much you could sneak by him without him knowing it, from a physiological sense. Not only did we do a lot of running on hills, which is resistance training in itself, but there were a lot of obstacle courses on the hills.

"(The workouts) definitely helped against Texas. Not only that, but the staff did a great job of making sure X amount of guys played in the first half so the starters were able to compete with no drop-off in ability in the second half."

Revealing remarkable depth, Ohio State used 52 players in the first quarter alone and scored its first touchdown behind the backup offensive line. To combat the heat and humidity, the Buckeyes spent the entire week prior to the game focusing on hydration and nutrition. They guzzled water and Gatorade until they squished when they walked and ate four to five meals a day to keep up their sodium and potassium levels.

During the game, the players were able to plug themselves into a new shirt from Nike that blew 45-degree air into chambers sewn into the front and back of the tight-fitting top.

Bizarre? How about the high altitude tent Lichter recommended to wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez. He has slept and studied in it for over a year, believing it increases endurance.

After Gonzalez caught 8 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown against Texas, Lichter might want to see about buying the $5,000 hypoxic tents in bulk, maybe at a Boys Scout rate.

"We'll go to the edge of the earth to find an advantage for our athletes within the rules," Lichter said.

His title is not just some fancy name for strength and conditioning coach. His influence extends beyond iron plates and stationary bikes to diet and nutrition.

"It's not just getting in the weight room, it's not just getting out there running," Lichter, 31, said. "It's about teaching guys about rest and recovery. We're doing a lot of unique things."

Lichter would not elaborate, preferring to wait until early next year when he and speed coordinator Butch Reynolds can show off the new two-story training palace that will be part of the renovated Woody Hayes Athletic Center. For now they work out of a makeshift office next to the temporary workout room on the Buckeyes' indoor practice field.

"It's great to know that as hard as we pushed the players over the summer, it was worth it," Lichter said, reflecting on the win in Texas. "Now we have even more of a buy-in from the guys to continue to work at a level that is harder to maintain during the season.

"You scale things back a ton, because the physical workload in the weight room has been replaced with practice and games. But you can't lose that intensity."
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http://zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/BF/20060915/SPORTS04/609150340/1057/SPORTS
 
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Sept. 14, 2006

The Big Ten Conference announced that 38 television stations will carry Saturday's Cincinnati at Ohio State football game. ESPN Plus will regionally syndicate to the following stations. The game will air locally in Columbus on WBNS 10TV.

You can watch Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez and the rest of the Buckeyes take on the Bearcats in the following markets.


RK City State Station
3 Chicago IL WBBM
9 Atlanta GA CSS
11 Detroit MI WADL
15 Minneapolis-St. Paul MN WCCO
17 Cleveland OH WUAB
17 Cleveland OH FSN-OHIO*
18 Denver CO ALTITUDE
20 Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto CA CSN-WEST
21 St. Louis MO CHARTER - ST LOUIS
22 Pittsburgh PA WPCW
25 Indianapolis IN WTTV
31 Kansas City MO METRO SPORTS-KC
34 Milwaukee WI WMLW
39 Kalmzoo MI WXSP
48 Louisville KY WMYO
53 Wilkes Barre-Scranton PA WSWB
54 New Orleans LA COX-NO
58 Dayton OH WHIO
62 Tulsa OK COX-TULSA
66 Flint-Saginaw-Bay City MI WSMH
71 Toledo OH WTVG
73 Des Moines-Ames IA KDSM
75 Omaha NE COX2-OMAHA
82 Champaign & Sprnfld-Decatur IL WCIA
88 South Bend-Elkhart IN WHME
89 Cedar Rapids-Waterloo & Dubq IA KGAN
95 Waco-Temple-Bryan TX TW-WACO
96 Davenport-Rock Island-Moline IA KGCW
98 Johnstown-Altoona PA WWCP
103 Youngstown OH WYTV
112 Lansing MI WLAJ-DT2
113 Traverse City-Cadillac MI WFQX
116 Peoria-Bloomington IL WAOE
133 Rockford IL WTVO-DT
134 Wausau-Rhinelander WI WAOW
143 Sioux City IA KCAU
188 Lafayette IN WLFI
199 Ottumwa-Kirksville IA KYOU

* Tape Delayed
 
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3yardsandacloud;607571; said:
Sept. 14, 2006

The Big Ten Conference announced that 38 television stations will carry Saturday's Cincinnati at Ohio State football game. ESPN Plus will regionally syndicate to the following stations. The game will air locally in Columbus on WBNS 10TV.

You can watch Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez and the rest of the Buckeyes take on the Bearcats in the following markets.


RK City State Station
3 Chicago IL WBBM
9 Atlanta GA CSS
11 Detroit MI WADL
15 Minneapolis-St. Paul MN WCCO
17 Cleveland OH WUAB
17 Cleveland OH FSN-OHIO*
18 Denver CO ALTITUDE
20 Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto CA CSN-WEST
21 St. Louis MO CHARTER - ST LOUIS
22 Pittsburgh PA WPCW
25 Indianapolis IN WTTV
31 Kansas City MO METRO SPORTS-KC
34 Milwaukee WI WMLW
39 Kalmzoo MI WXSP
48 Louisville KY WMYO
53 Wilkes Barre-Scranton PA WSWB
54 New Orleans LA COX-NO
58 Dayton OH WHIO
62 Tulsa OK COX-TULSA
66 Flint-Saginaw-Bay City MI WSMH
71 Toledo OH WTVG
73 Des Moines-Ames IA KDSM
75 Omaha NE COX2-OMAHA
82 Champaign & Sprnfld-Decatur IL WCIA
88 South Bend-Elkhart IN WHME
89 Cedar Rapids-Waterloo & Dubq IA KGAN
95 Waco-Temple-Bryan TX TW-WACO
96 Davenport-Rock Island-Moline IA KGCW
98 Johnstown-Altoona PA WWCP
103 Youngstown OH WYTV
112 Lansing MI WLAJ-DT2
113 Traverse City-Cadillac MI WFQX
116 Peoria-Bloomington IL WAOE
133 Rockford IL WTVO-DT
134 Wausau-Rhinelander WI WAOW
143 Sioux City IA KCAU
188 Lafayette IN WLFI
199 Ottumwa-Kirksville IA KYOU

* Tape Delayed
Click to expand...

Wow, the game will be on in Waco. My mother will be THRILLED.
 
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Reviewed my statement about the Vegas touts reducing the odds (Cincy +30 => Cincy +17). Looks like I utilized two sources.......newspaper has Cincy + 29, but Buckeye Sports Bulletin has Cincy + 17.5.

I'll still stand by NOT taking the points (even at 30).....don't know how Bollman can keep out team from scoring - even if they don't let Boeckman throw. Our third string tailback (one of the Wells) and our third string O-line will still tear holes in the Cincy D. Do you think that Bollman will tell the QB to take a knee on every play and then kick it away?

Anyway, STILL hope we settle the game early and get out starters out of there to prevent injuries.......and get our newbies some game experience.


:gobucks3: :gobucks4: :banger:
 
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