Game Thread Game Two: Texas 25, Ohio State 22 (final)

[ScriptOhio]

Longhorns Football version of Ohio State, from A to Z; Everything you need to know about Ohio State.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Somehow, in all their years of playing big-time college football, the Texas Longhorns and Ohio State Buckeyes have never bumped into each other on the gridiron. So, it's no wonder the two schools don't know very much about each other and their proud football traditions. But if you want to be in the know for the big game, the Showdown at the Shoe, here's a short primer on all things Buckeye, from Archie to Zwick.
— John Maher


A - Archie: Griffin remains college football's only two-time Heisman Trophy winner, taking that award in 1974 and '75. He now heads Ohio State's Alumni Association and is quite possibly the most popular Buckeye ever.
B - Brutus Buckeye: A buckeye is a brown and tan nut that resembles the eye of a buck deer. It's considered a good luck charm, but it's not the easiest thing to transform into a football mascot. The first Brutus, who debuted in 1965, was a roly-poly thing with human legs. The look has changed several times over the decades.

C - Columbus — Pronounced C'lumbus by the locals. It's home of the Bucks and the capital of Ahia, as some natives pronounce their state — except when singing school songs.

D - Defense has been the key for recent Ohio State teams and this year's version is anchored by linebackers A.J. Hawk and Bobby Carpenter.
E - Earle Bruce. Like Fred Akers at Texas, Bruce had the misfortune of following a coaching legend. Earle couldn't please fans in spite of a .755 winning percentage from 1979-87. He later worked radio broadcasts of Ohio State games.
F - Fiesta Bowl. The 31-24 national championship upset of Miami happened almost three years ago but they're still replaying it in the local airport.
G - Ginn. Receiver Ted Ginn Jr. is OSU's latest Heisman hopeful.


H - "Hang on Sloopy." Forty years after it was a No. 1 hit for the McCoys, this song is still played by the OSU band when the team needs a defensive stand.
i - Dotting the i is the biggest and most loudly cheered tradition of the self-proclaimed "The Best Damn Band in the Land" (TBDBITL). After the band spells out a script "Ohio," a sousaphone player breaks formation to dot the i.
J - John Cooper. Took over for Earle Bruce and from 1988-2000, he developed the reputation of being able to recruit better than he could coach against the Bucks' biggest rival.
K - Kirk Herbstreit. The former Ohio State quarterback (1992) not only is a host of ESPN's "College Football GameDay," he also does some local radio in Columbus.
L - Leaves. Buckeye leaves are the thingies on the Ohio State helmets. They're awarded for exceptional plays, a tradition that started in 1967.

M - Mirror Lake. The campus' beauty spot.
N - Nuuuge. Good news for Texas fans is that they won't hear this sound. Place-kicker Mike Nugent, the school's all-time leading scorer and the first kicker to be named the team's MVP, has moved on to the New York Jets. The Buckeyes will now be desperately searching for someone to pull out all those close games they play.


O - Oval. The campus' central commons area.
P - Pass. Only three things can happen when you throw one, and two of them are bad. That used to be the Buckeyes' credo in the Woody Hayes era (just like at Texas under the equally legendary Darrell Royal), but the school has since attracted a lot of quarterbacks good enough to at least kick around in the NFL for a few years.

Q - Quiet. Oddly enough, that can frequently describe the 101,000 fans at Ohio State games, who are louder only than Penn State fans. But, with a night game after a day of tailgating, Texas won't hear this unless the Longhorns jump out to a 21-0 lead.

R - Redcoats. The keepers of the gates at the stadium whose responsibilities include trying to keep out liquor.

S - Shoe. The Shoe is the nickname for Ohio Stadium, although expansion has cost it its famous horseshoe shape.
T - Tressel. Coach Jim Tressel is the guy on the sidelines in the sweater vest.

U - Up North. As in the school up north, Buckeye code for the hated Michigan Wolverines.

V - V.C. The Varsity Club, hugely popular pregame hangout.

W - Woody Wayne Woodrow Hayes, who coached the Buckeyes to 238 wins from 1951-1978.

X - X's and O's. Never an OSU strong point as they prefer to try to out-hit and out-talent people, but Tressel and his staff may put in a few wrinkles for Ginn.

Y - Years to remember. 2002 and 1968, Ohio State's most recent national championships.
Z - Zwick. Justin Zwick opened the season for the Bucks at quarterback, but whether he'll start against Texas remains to be seen as Troy Smith, the star of last year's Michigan game, will be eligible after sitting out the opener.
http://www.statesman.com/horns/content/sports/stories/longhorns/09/6BuckeyeAZ.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=54

 

[Golferdow01]

Howdy,
I think this is going to be a great game played by two of the best (not to mention excitting) teams in college football. I've been looking forward to this game since the Rose Bowl last year and can't wait to get out of class Thursday to start the long drive up to Columbus. As a UT student I am very proud of our football program and live for Saturday home games. That said, I would love to see what Ohio State football is all about and would appreciate it if you guys could recommend some good places for pre-game action. Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer.
-Hook 'em Horns

Welcome to our site.

I would recommend the Hiney Gate to you as the "Hot Sopt" to have a few drinks and watch a live band before the game

Link to the Website for Hiney Gate

Check it out for more info

 

[gost8]

Is there going to be a sign at the tailgate that says "BuckeyePlanet tailgate" or something like that?

SIMV mentioned making a banner. My tent has a banner holder. I guess if nothing else I can make a paper one that will fit in there. Details to come.

 

[gost8]

what can i bring??? im coming down friday nite..

Just bring what you plan on eating and drinking. We will have a grill there for use.

 

[BuckeyeSoldier]

E - Earle Bruce. Like Fred Akers at Texas, Bruce had the misfortune of following a coaching legend. Earle couldn't please fans in spite of a .755 winning percentage from 1979-87. He later worked radio broadcasts of Ohio State games.

This should DEFFINATELY be Eddie!!!! retards

Q - Quiet. Oddly enough, that can frequently describe the 101,000 fans at Ohio State games, who are louder only than Penn State fans. But, with a night game after a day of tailgating, Texas won't hear this unless the Longhorns jump out to a 21-0 lead.

DO WHAT??? someone should pass this out to every single fan at that game...

R - Redcoats. The keepers of the gates at the stadium whose responsibilities include trying to keep out liquor.

I dont know what exactly yet but I am SURE we can think of a better R for christs sakes!!

X - X's and O's. Never an OSU strong point as they prefer to try to out-hit and out-talent people, but Tressel and his staff may put in a few wrinkles for Ginn.

When exactly did we supposedly become a bad Xs and Os team???

 

[ScarletInMyVeins]

Is there going to be a sign at the tailgate that says "BuckeyePlanet tailgate" or something like that?

If there isn't a sign just look for everyone wearing their BuckeyePlanet shirts. I'll definitely be wearing mine and I'm sure others will be as well. I don't think I'm gonna have a sign made. I might be able to print one on our plotter here at work if BFS can design me one in a .DWG format

 

[BB73]

R - Retire. That's what Mack Brown will have to do after losing to Ohio State and Oklahoma this year

S - Smack Talk

 

[Buckeye86]

W- We don't know what the fuck we're talking about.

 

[Def]

Longhorns Football version of Ohio State, from A to Z; Everything you need to know about Ohio State.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

...

X - X's and O's. Never an OSU strong point as they prefer to try to out-hit and out-talent people, but Tressel and his staff may put in a few wrinkles for Ginn.
http://www.statesman.com/horns/cont...9/6BuckeyeAZ.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=54

the Cooper stigma lives on. Unfortunately for UT fans he is not our coach any more and Mack Brown still is theirs

 

[Def]

Texas IMO needs to run downhill at us if they want a shot to win this ball game.

Yup, the only 2 teams I can think of that have been successful against our D a few times the last 10 years are Wisconsin and UM. Both run downhill for the most part.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

scout.com (free)

9/6/05

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="98%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Tressel Talks QBs, Texas At Teleconference

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Jim Tressel

</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>By Bucknuts.com Staff
Date: Sep 6, 2005

After quarterback Justin Zwick put on a solid performance against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, the main question on everyone's mind was whether or not Zwick or the suspended Troy Smith would start against Texas. A starter has not been revealed as of yet, but during today's Big Ten Teleconference, OSU head coach Jim Tressel revealed that both players will play this weekend. Read on for more from the teleconference.
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At today's session between OSU head coach Jim Tressel and the national media at the Big Ten teleconference, the focus was on the big game between OSU and Texas. Tressel started off with a comment on the Miami game and then shifted the focus to this weekend's game.

"We got off to a good start," Tressel said. "We played a very tough Miami of Ohio team who was extremely well-prepared and anxious to play in our stadium. Many of their players are from the state of Ohio, and this is the greatest facility in Ohio. They came in fired up to play and did a good job.

"I thought our guys kept their focus right where it needed to be. We did a lot of good things; obviously there's a lot of things we need to do much, much better, but we felt good about the football game and now we're prepared for another contest here at home with the University of Texas, and our people are excited to be a part of this on behalf of the Big Ten against the Big XII, and it will be a great evening."

Against Miami, quarterback Justin Zwick started and played well in place of a suspended Troy Smith -- well enough for Zwick to earn playing time against Texas. Tressel said that even though both will play, it will not give Ohio State a big advantage for Texas to not know the quarterback situation.

"I think it doesn't give us a great advantage," Tressel said. "We're going to play both, and we will do that. They both deserve to play. They both had excellent spring practices and excellent preseasons. I thought Justin played well; he needs to play even better on Saturday. I thought there were times last season when Troy played well, but he needs to play even better Saturday. I don't know if it's an advantage that we have two different guys coming at you, but that's who we are right now."

Tressel added that he does not see any players hoping for one quarterback over the other.

"I really don't," he said. "They're both in the same class, so the same guys have been here the same length of time with them. They're both good kids. All they both want to do is help our team win. They both prepare accordingly. I don't sense anything from that standpoint."

Ohio State unveiled a passing-oriented attack against Miami (Ohio). Tressel stated that the influence behind this offense is to play to the team's strengths.

"I think you have to figure out what your players are capable of and build your head coach around it," he said. "I've been a head coach for 20 years, and I've had all kinds of different (approaches). I've run predominantly option football at times. I've run predominantly dropback pass, I've run predominantly power offenses. I think this day and age, with as good as defenses are and how well-schooled players are, I think you have be able to be very diverse, and so you want to be that.

"I think we have to feature talents that our guys have. Teddy has talents that we need to utilize, so does Santonio, and Tony Gonzalez, and Troy and Justin and Antonio and all the rest. Our personality, if you went way back, has been many faceted over the course of 20 years."
Tressel was asked how the number of times Ginn touches the ball in a game is determined.

"What we try to do is work hard on our distribution," Tressel said. "Teddy Ginn is a guy that we've got to have touch the ball as much as possible. I don't know if we'll ever limit ourselves. We also want Santonio Holmes to have his hands on the ball; we want Antonio Pittman to be carrying the ball; Tony Gonzalez is a guy; we like it when our quarterbacks run. So we work hard on distribution and making sure we attack across a broad front. But no question about it, we need Teddy Ginn to have his touches."

It is rare in this day and age of college football to see a non-conference series that matches up two high-profile programs like Ohio State and Texas, but Ohio State's schedules will be similar in the future. Tressel discussed the team's scheduling philosophy.

"What we are philosophically going to do, if we can pull it off, is we are going to have a home-and-home with a team of great interest to our fans and our state, like Texas," Tressel said. "We've got Southern Cal coming on home-and-home in I think '09 and '10; we've got Miami (Fla.) coming '11 and '12 home and home. Philosophically we would like to do that, and then every other year have eight home games, and the years where we travel to the intersectional rivalry, have seven. That's our goal. We fund 36 sports, which I think is the largest in the country. I know our budget that we have to raise is the largest in the country, and we think we can still do that by every other year having seven home games and in the good years financially having eight."

As for the first version of OSU/Texas, Tressel thinks the game will be something the participants will remember for a lifetime.

"I think it's going to be very exciting," Tressel said. "I think it gives college football a great jump start into the '05 season. We're two huge universities that have alumni all over the world. We have the good fortune that a lot of people know who we are and who the Longhorns are, and I think it's a great thing for college football. It's a great thing for our two leagues. It's a great thing for both of our alumni. It's a tough football game for all of us to be playing so early, but who knows -- maybe our kids and coaches turned it up a notch in their preparation in the summertime preseason so that we can see if we can compete.

"There's pros and cons (to playing in a game like this)," Tressel added. "Obviously, it's a difficult ballgame, but I don't care who you play -- you always run the risk of not doing as well as you'd like to do, and that's a con I guess. I think the pro is it is it helps you get ready for a very difficult conference schedule. I think maybe the biggest pro to it at all is this will be something -- these two games, Ohio State and Texas, and then down in Austin, Ohio State and Texas -- will be something that our players and coaches will remember for a lifetime. Those will be things -- they'll cherish those memories. Memories are a big part of what is good about this game I think, and this will be a special memory for both groups."

While this will be the first time the two storied programs meet on the field, it will not be the first time the two head coaches have had contact.
"Mack Brown I know very well," Tressel said. "There are some guys, as you're coming up in coaching, that you study, because you see that they do things well and they're successful and they just have something about them.

I can remember when he was back in North Carolina, sitting at the national convention listening to his presentation and then having a chance to interact with him a little bit because I really enjoyed some of the things that he was talking about and he thought those could help our program. And of course when he went to Texas and the great success he's had, I've had a chance to be with him. Off-and-on, not a whole bunch because we live a long way apart, but he's a fine guy and obviously does a great job, and he's got a great, great job going on."

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[smith288]

Great thread (even the trolls made it humorous)

 

[Dryden]

Kick ass ... Nate Salley knows why this game is really important!!!

"I love night games, because there is so much energy in the Shoe. I have been looking forward to this since my freshman year because Texas had the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation and we were second, so this will decide which one is better."

 

[exhawg]

The only way that Texas will beat OSU is if Young can run and throw the ball well similar to what Tate at Iowa did last year. If Young can't throw the ball accurately this game will play out similar to our past 2 bowl games.

The only way that OSU will lose this game is if the QB tries to do too much by himself. This is more likely to happen with Smith rather than Zwick or Boeckman since they are less likely to try to run if their first read isn't open like Smith tends to do. The QB must be able to hit the short passes to our receivers and let them make plays.

IMO after the game Texas will repeat what most other teams have said after they played OSU over the past few year. "We shot ourselves in the foot", "We beat ourselves.", etc.

 

[texasfight06]

I've made predictions before (probably on the Texas thread) but I forget them. I think the first half will be close. 7-7, 10-10, 13-10 - something like that. I don't know who will be winning. But all the points will be from long plays. A long gain by Holmes will set up a touchdown. A long gain by Young will set up a field goal. That kind of stuff. A ton of defense. Both teams will go 3-and-out several times.

Second half will start out looking the same, until about halfway through the third quarter, when Ohio State's depth at receivers finally beats out Texas' defensive backs. Texas' D-Line will become a non-factor, as Zwith (or Smick) completes 5-7 consecutive short passes and OSU marches down the field, and OSU gets a 10+ play, 65+ yard drive for a touchdown, to take the lead by about 7 points. Texas gets a long drive of its own, but only gets a field goal. The teams trade punts a couple of times, when Ohio State catches a break with about 7:00 left in the game (still up by about 7), when they get an interception (nice diving catch by Salley). three minutes later, they score a touchdown. Texas is forced to go for it on fourth down, and fails (Young was SO close to getting it, too). Ohio State gets a field goal to win by about 17. 34-17. Or something like that. The game will be closer than the final score indicates.

Which thread am I on? TX-OSU Game predictions, Game Two, Realistic Predictions? 40 Acres spouting of nonsense and getting three pages of shut the F up responses?

Anyway, I read through these posts, most of them, the long ones I skimmed, so I apologize for any redundancy, or missing the obvious, etc.

I don't think Melton is extraordinarily fast, but he is a short yardage back, he is not supposed to be breaking free, that was ULL, he will only be expected to get 2-3 yards, anything else slow or not is bonus, and he is still hard to bring down.

Our DBs are very solid, I don't think that DBs v. DBs has a significant winner, and that doesn't matter anyway, as you guys will be relying on your WRs more than we will, so you guys get the edge in any DB-WR vs. WR-DB argument. we have a lot of experience, and three guys named Griffin (not that it matters, just odd), and Huff will probably be playing corner this weekend. Its actually too bad that they moved Kelson to LB, I would like to have in the secondary for this game.

As I posted on another thread, Bobino, Kelson and Killibrew did good jobs covering the flats. Our Defenisve has definite speed, and our CBs will be able to match up one on one against Holmes and Ginn. (I AM NOT SAYING THEY WILL SHUT THEM DOWN, I just think that they can match up with them, and we can switch our coverages and doubles to prevent game planning for the single coverage.) In my opinion, our DBs didn't look weak at all last week, and made several great plays, and two massive hits that I recall. I watched some of Zwick, and I don't think that he will put up a lot of points against UT. On to Smith, he had his best game (? not certain, but seems like that's what you guys keep talking about) against scUM, and you guys also established how poor their D is. My point is, I don't see you guys putting up a lot of points against our defense. I think you will have to do it through the air, and if Zwick/Smith can have enough time to hit your WRs, you will get your big yardage through those plays. I haven't seen much from your running game to worry about it, although I know you guys have talent, and I think UT will be able to stop them.

Our offense, same thing goes. Your Defense is incredible. I don't think that UT is capable of scoring that much against a defense of your caliber. I just do not see any of these blowout predictions coming true.

I think the crowd plays a small difference, maybe to start the game, but we also know that Vince doesn't get 40 Acres to suck his balls because of the audibles he makes before the snap, he wows people with his ability to change the play after the snap. It should be interesting to see how he handles your LBs. Our line will take care of one of them, and the other will have to make a choice, and usually key Vince. Now if Vince goes to his other option, we have a chance of breaking some plays.

Vince can throw good enough, so that if you do stack the box, he can exploit it just enough to gain yards, but he probably won't be hitting any deep streaking receivers on Saturday. Its almost as if your running game has a lot of success, you guys pull away, and if our passing game has a lot of success, we pull away, otherwise, its a dogfight.

I stick with my last prediction, 18-17 (UT scoring three TDs and missing three XPs.) You guys will get one last chance, and your kicker will show you what it means to lose Nugent. However, I wouldn't bet anything more than bpCash that this last second Field goal falls on the other side of the crossbar.