Game Eleven: #1 tOSU 54, Northwestern 10 (11/11/06)

[Eurocat]

You are welcome. Props should go out to AstroCat who wrote it all up.

I would head out to Ryan Field at around 8am.

JMO.

Enjoy the upset (grin).



http://www.hailtopurple.com/index.html

Seriously, here's to a good game. Good luck to you but of course GO CATS!

[BB73]

Game info from the:

official.site

[BB73]

Depth chart from the Ozone, (since the link on the prior page was pdf format).

ozone

[Padraig]

Great to see Alex is expected to play and the words "minor injury" next to his name.

[BuckeyeMike80]

Looks like there is a chance of rain this weekend...

Veteran's Day: A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52.

Saturday Night: A chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 37.

[BB73]

Originally Posted by Padraig

Great to see Alex is expected to play and the words "minor injury" next to his name.

On the other hand, here are the injury updates from today's presser.

official.site

From a health standpoint, Quinn (Pitcock) played, I think, 40 plays or better and just did fine, did well, didn't have any problems.

David Patterson, knock on wood, continues to feel very good from a health standpoint and so we're pleased about that.

Kurt Coleman got a little banged right at the beginning of the game and he, I think, is on the questionable list

Alex Boone probably is another week away.

Ray Small will be back. As of Wednesday, he's allowed to go full-go. I'm trying to think of who else. Is there anyone else? I think that was it.

So again, outside of losing Mike D'Andrea for the whole year and Anderson Russell for three quarters of the year, we've been very blessed from a health standpoint. And we've had some guys miss some practice time and when Quinn missed some time and Gonzo missed a little practice time and Teddy missed a little practice time, that will kind of end as well. It just reminds you, in fact, Anthony Gonzalez said, Quinn and I were talking, he said, it really makes a difference when you don't get as many reps in practice and that's the best affirmation of practice we could ever get from anyone that, that's true. That's why we talk about practice being so important.

[osugrad21]

official Site

Football Quotes (Nov. 7, 2006)
Nov. 7, 2006
David Patterson, senior defenseman
<i>On the second half against Illinois</i>
"They are a great team. I don't think we felt a change on defense because they were going no huddle the whole game and just started going faster. Anytime you play a Big Ten team you know they are going to bring their `A' game. They thing that helps us is we have other great fifth-year seniors on our team that know from the national championship game the battle doesn't stop until the end of the game. Any team can win on any given Saturday."
<i>On playing a challenging game</i>
"We don't expect to go without any close games. It was a good test of our character because there may be a time we need to dig deep. This week in practice we will practice harder and harder to be the best by the end of the week because watching Northwestern on film they look impressive."
<i>On the OSU defense</i>
"They (Illinois) had some great play calls. They ran the option quite a bit and they executed the hook and lateral really well. We had some execution errors but those are things we can fix. It isn't anything we won't be able to fix for this week's game."
Anthony Gonzalez, junior wide receiver
<i>On experiencing a close game</i>
"The score is important because it determines who wins but I have always believed a better way to evaluate your performance is to look at each play. You want to execute flawlessly and we did not do that."
<i>On Illinois</i>
"Illinois was the first team I felt came out and played us with no fear. I think that is why they were so successful. They were fearless."
<i>On the remainder of the season</i>
"I do not anticipate Northwestern fearing us, or Michigan fearing us, or whoever we play in the bowl game fearing us. I didn't anticipate any of the teams we played previous fearing us either but I feel certain teams defeated themselves. Illinois played us hard with no fear."

<i>On team confidence</i>
"We are a pretty experienced and confident group. One bad performance isn't going to change that. It may be a set back statistically speaking, but it is never as bad as it looks. We didn't do everything great but it wasn't a complete debacle."
<i>On advice he gave Chris Wells</i>
"We all talked to him. I told him something that Ryan Franzinger told me last year when I dropped a big pass. I told him you will never be able to recover that ball or carry that particular ball ever again. You will have the chance to carry a thousand more footballs in your career and you just need to worry about those."
<i>On Chris Wells</i>
"He is a tough kid and what he is going through is just part of growing as a player. Nobody in our locker room doubts he can carry the ball or do whatever he is doing on offense. We have complete confidence in his abilities and what he can do for our offense."
<i>On the close games of Ohio State and Michigan</i>
"The thing about college football is that teams that aren't supposed to `give teams a close game' do because there is talent spread out all over the nation. There are talented coaches and players everywhere who sometimes fly under the radar. That is why you have close games when you aren't necessarily supposed to and that's how upsets happen."

[smartone]

I hope I never hate anyone or anything this much.



http://northwestern.rivals.com/showm...584393&style=1

[bucksfan79]

That is quite possibly the most drawn-out and overstated example of sour grapes that I've ever heard. Man, that guy can whine. A battle between good and evil? C'mon, this is a football game being played by a bunch of college kids. Next thing you know, Tressel might be accused of building a "death star". (Maybe that's what they're hiding underneath all this new sod on the football field???)

[MililaniBuckeye]

That doesn't border on the psychotic, it is psychotic...

[craigblitz]

I didn't anticipate any of the teams we played previous fearing us either but I feel certain teams defeated themselves...... Interesting quote posted by Gonzo. NW has nothing to lose... we better be ready for a battle.

[craigblitz]

OMG, who let that dude out of his jacket... Whack-O. Someone should ask him about the NW soccer team... ahah. What world is he living in that he doesn't think there are issues with his team as well.

[rocketman]

OSU cheats, players are dumb, Tressel eats babies, blah, blah, blah.

*Yawn*

Funny how Northwestern, ND, and any MAC school fans always bring this up when playing us. I wonder why Texas fans didn't feel the need to bring up grades and cheating, among other so called indiscretions by Ohio State. Oh wait, cause Texas actually WINS games.

[Muck]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

That doesn't border on the psychotic, it is psychotic...

I haven't checked the link yet but I'll bet a year's salary it's EvanstonCat and his annual ridiculous and inane ranting.

Dude is still trying to come to terms with being touched by his father as a child and is one twinky enema away from being institutionalized...that's a "bad touch" in case anyone was wondering.

[osugrad21]

ABJ

Tressel admits poor choices

He indicates play calls relied too much on run

By Marla Ridenour

Beacon Journal sportswriter

COLUMBUS - If fans and critics are going to take shots at top-ranked Ohio State's woefulsecond-half offense Saturday at Illinois, coach Jim Tressel also wants to face the firing squad.
In a rare moment in his six-year tenure, Tressel second-guessed his play-calling in the 17-10 victory over the Illini. A ghastly second half produced no points and 29 yards on 30 plays, but the Buckeyes still managed to extend the nation's longest winning streak to 17 games.
``I'm not sure we were as balanced with our attack as we could have been, and we didn't execute on early downs,'' Tressel said Tuesday. ``Then we got behind in the count, and we let them come storming the castle pretty good. One thing leads to another, and all of a sudden your momentum has changed.''
Pressed on what he meant by balance, Tressel cited the run-pass ratio and conceded he referred to play selection.
Tressel may be a little too hard on himself. The Buckeyes ran 30 plays after intermission: 20 runs and 10 passes (including two sacks). Three of those runs came after OSU receiver Brian Robiskie recovered an onside kick with 1:40 remaining and the team was trying to kill the clock.
Those 20 runs netted 35 yards. Quarterback Troy Smith completed 3-of-8 passes for 9 yards in the second half. Only once in the final two quarters did OSU throw on first down -- a pass to running back Antonio Pittman for a 3-yard loss. And that came on a three-and-out fourth-quarter series that included three straight passes.
Junior slot receiver Anthony Gonzalez said no one in the huddle wondered why Tressel kept running Pittman up the middle. Six of seven second-half drives started with a run by Pittman, who finished with a career-high 32 carries for 58 yards. This season, Tressel has called running plays 59 percent of the time.
``Whatever's called, you just run,'' Gonzalez said. ``It's not like if a run play goes in, you're sitting in the huddle, `Why aren't we throwing the ball?' That never happens. Coach Tressel felt like we needed to be running the ball at that point.''
For the first time this season, Tressel did not name an offensive player of the week or offensive lineman of the week. He would not blame the line's woes on the absence of sophomore left tackle Alex Boone, who sat out after undergoing a ``procedure'' and was replaced by senior Tim Schafer.
Tressel said Boone is probably a week away from playing, meaning he will also miss Saturday's game at Northwestern.
Asked how much Boone's absence contributed to the line's woes, Tressel said: ``Probably one-fifth, and I don't mean to be a smart aleck. Tim Schafer graded out very similar to the rest of the group. Sure, you'd like to have all of your personnel, but if anyone thinks they were the difference, they're missing the point of this game.''
Tressel and Gonzalez gave more credit to the Illinois defense.
``I remember thinking a few hours after the game, `That was the first team I feel like played with no fear and gave us everything they had,' '' Gonzalez said.
In Tressel's grand plan of peaking for the Nov. 18 game against No. 2 Michigan, this would appear to be a huge setback.
``Maybe statistically speaking,'' Gonzalez said. ``After watching the film, yeah, we didn't move the ball, but it's not like it was a complete debacle and nobody was doing anything right. There were a lot of good things being done, it's just they didn't manifest themselves in the form of yards and production.''
Gonzalez shot down the notion that the Buckeyes got complacent with a 17-0 halftime lead or were overconfident against a team that is now 2-8.
``Our confidence wasn't at a level where `We're unstoppable, nobody can touch us,' '' Gonzalez said. ``That's a dangerous level. It is what it is. It's over now, thank God.
``It's just another game we happened to not play well in. That will happen with all teams in 12 or 13 games. One along the way is not going to be the smoothest ride.''
Award candidates
? Senior defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock was named one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award, given to the country's top offensive or defensive lineman. He was joined by Michigan's LaMarr Woodley, Texas' Justin Blalock and Penn State's Paul Posluszny. It will be presented Dec. 6 in Houston.
? Fifth-year senior cornerback Antonio Smith is one of 11 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation's top defensive back. The list also includes Michigan's Leon Hall, Texas' Aaron Ross and Notre Dame's Tom Zbikowski. The trophy will be awarded Dec. 7 on ESPN.
? Sophomore linebacker James Laurinaitis will find out Thursday if he's a finalist for the Butkus Award. He's tied for 15th in the nation with five interceptions.