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Game Thread FIESTA BOWL: tOSU 21, Texas 24 (01-05-09)

.:.Brutus.:.;1367045; said:
You guys are correct... Sorry for the wrong info or for jumping on something way too soon, however, after looking at some photos from other practices this year, it appears that the silver pants are strickly for practice use only.

Yep. They're a little heavier than gameday pants so they practice in them.
 
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Texas QB McCoy gets rematch with Ohio State

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -Colt McCoy was sitting at an awards banquet when he felt a breeze on the back of his neck.
The Texas quarterback knew exactly what was going on.
Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis was sitting behind him, blowing on his neck and whispering that he'd better get used to it because the All-American planned to be dogging McCoy all night when the 10th-ranked Buckeyes and No. 3 Longhorns meet in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 5.
"I had a few comebacks for him,'' McCoy said. "I told him he needed to thank me for starting him out on his All-American campaign the last three years. ... It was fun.''
The two had met before, in the second game of the 2006 season when No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Texas 24-7 a game that introduced McCoy to big-time college football and Laurinaitis to the rest of the country as Ohio State's next great linebacker.
McCoy was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy this season. Back then, he was a wide-eyed freshman trying to take command of the huddle that Vince Young led to a national championship in 2005.
"This is his team now,'' Texas coach Mack Brown said. "That was still Vince's team (in 2006).''
McCoy's only experience going into the game against the Buckeyes was a 56-7 season-opening win over North Texas. Against Ohio State, he was on prime-time national television in the first regular-season matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a decade. Not only were the eyes of Texas on McCoy, the whole country was watching.
What they saw was a talented young QB who still had plenty of growing up to do.
For McCoy, it was all a blur.
"I really don't remember the game,'' he said, "other than we lost.''
McCoy passed for 154 yards and a touchdown but also got hit hard several times and threw his first college interception on the first possession of the third quarter - to Laurinaitis.
McCoy jokes that it was "definitely the easiest pick of his career.''
Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis kept the offense simple that night because McCoy was so inexperienced.
"We were asking him to do very little,'' Davis said. "He's so much more in control now.''
McCoy's big mistake - the interception on a short pass across the middle - set up a Buckeyes field goal. It was just one of several big plays on the night by Laurinaitis, who had a team-high 13 tackles in a breakout performance in just his second career start.
Laurinaitis went on to win the Nagurski Award as the national defensive player of the year. The Buckeyes went undefeated in the regular season before losing to Florida in the BCS national title game.
In 2007, he won the Butkus Award as the nation's best linebacker and this season won the Lott Trophy for top defensive player. His 121 tackles and four sacks lead the Buckeyes (10-2) this season.
He's now the first Buckeyes linebacker to be named an AP All-American three times, surpassing other Ohio State greats such as A.J. Hawk and Chris Spielman, who were both two-time All-Americans.
"He's a tremendous player,'' McCoy said.
McCoy has had a record-setting career since that loss in 2006. His 9,318 yards and 83 touchdowns are Texas career records and he passed Young with 31 wins as a starter when the Longhorns beat Texas A&M 49-9 on Thanksgiving.
McCoy also led Texas (11-1) in rushing this season with 572 yards - 200 more than anyone else on the team - and 10 touchdowns. And his pass completion rate of nearly 78 percent is on pace to smash the NCAA record.
McCoy was second to Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford for the Heisman Trophy, but won the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year.
"The thing that's impressive to me is that he came in after a guy who's a legend, not only for the Longhorns but for all of college football,'' Laurinaitis said.
"I'm not going to say people are going to say people have forgotten about Vince Young, because no one will forget about Vince Young, " he said. "But people are talking so much about Colt McCoy now. He started a tradition of great quarterbacks that's going to be hard to follow.''
Laurinaitis and McCoy had a good time teasing each other on the banquet circuit about that 2006 game and who would win in the next one.
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continued

Entire article: Texas QB McCoy gets rematch with Ohio State - ncaa - SI.com
 
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DDN

5 players late to Scottsdale


By the Associated Press

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Word From Phoenix
Sound bites from Jim Tressel's media session prior to Tuesday's practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.:
Holiday travel lessons
Tressel said that at least five Buckeyes were still getting "a lesson in holiday travel" and had not made it to Scottsdale. Five he mentioned included Brandon Saine, Aaron Gant, Dane Sanzenbacher, DeVier Posey and Zach Domicone. (A group of players, including Saine, Sanzenbacher and Domicone, did make the tail end of the team's practice session).
Joe is Colt
Joe Bauserman is running the scout team offense and is thus simulating Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.
"Colt does everything well," Tressel said. "It's hard to simulate 80-percent completions, and I don't think you can under-estimate his speed and strength. If there's any better in the nation, I don't want to face them."
Cont...
 
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DDN

Buckeyes are aware of lack of respect


By Rusty Miller
Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

COLUMBUS ? Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is aware of all the snickering taking place behind his back, directed at his team's miserable failures in recent big games.
It seems many college football fans and media observers consider the Buckeyes a bunch of overrated chokers who cannot compete with the nation's best teams. They've come to that conclusion because the Buckeyes have played poorly in four nationally televised games over the past three seasons.
But Tressel doesn't feel any personal pressure to deliver a win when the Buckeyes take on Texas in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 5.
"If we do, that will be wonderful. It won't change my life," he said during the team's bowl preparations. "If we don't, that will be disappointing, but it won't change my life. You might write some bad things about me, but I'll get over it. So, no, I don't feel a pressure."
The players are well aware that most of America has little respect for them.
"We're always a great program and we have great talent," safety Kurt Coleman said of the public perception of the Buckeyes. "The last two years, we haven't shown up the way we needed to. I think this year it's a whole new team, we're out there playing Texas on the 5th and it'll be a great game. I think we'll be able to change the perception then."
Cont...
 
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CPD

Tressel sympathetic to Browns, but not interested; and other Fiesta observations

by Doug Lesmerises/Plain Dealer Reporter Tuesday December 30, 2008, 11:51 PM


large_osutressel.jpg
Aaron J. Latham/Associated PressOSU head coach Jim Tressel faces the media prior to the Buckeyes' Fiesta Bowl workout Tuesday in Scottsdale, Ariz.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Thoughts from the desert, where a chipper Jim Tressel prepared for Ohio State's practice at Pinnacle High School on Tuesday by pretending to duck behind bushes to hide from reporters. 1. Tressel looked like a man not longing for the NFL: He popped out in sunglasses and shorts and gave a little civics lesson on the development of the greater Phoenix area, the desert oasis that has become his bowl getaway.
Two years ago, Tressel answered numerous questions about his coaching future after a Plain Dealer story suggested he'd have interest in coaching the Browns. With the job actually available, Tressel said no in a way that seems even more believable than in 2006.
He's now a man who before the season had his Ohio State contract reworked so that it pays him $3.5 million per year and includes a teaching position reserved for when he hangs up his whistle.
Sure, he might want to be tested by football at its highest level, especially for the team he grew up rooting for. But as he pointed toward the Arizona mountains and sipped coffee on the same day the Denver Broncos became the fourth NFL team to fire its coach since the end of the season, he looked like a guy happy in college.

"No, I'm not an NFL guy," Tressel said. "I don't know that much about their world and all the nuances that you have to do there, so I wouldn't be a good fit."
Sorry for Romeo Crennel, he'll watch the Browns' next moves only as a fan, though an admittedly interested one.

Cont...
 
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Blade
Something to think about Tressel hopes
Texas will ponder Pryor, Boeckman combo
By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
The Ohio State Buckeyes held football practice yesterday morning, not outdoors in Columbus against the backdrop of a slate gray sky, and not on the artificial surface at their indoor facility at the Woody Hayes Center. The Buckeyes put on the helmets and pads and gathered at Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, just north of the Loop 101 beltway, and a place where the dark outline of the mountains and a clear desert sky wrap the locale in an appropriate Southwest setting. The eyes of the media and the public were kept away from just what specifics the Buckeyes were working on in that practice, which is part of the preparation for Monday's Fiesta Bowl game against No. 3 Texas. However, coach Jim Tressel confirmed upon his arrival in Arizona that his 10th-ranked Ohio State team has put in some innovative offensive sets that call for starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor and backup Todd Boeckman to be on the field at the same time.

"It's true, and I never mind seeing the truth," Tressel said. The possible combinations could include Boeckman lining up at quarterback with Pryor at wide receiver, or in the slot. Pryor could take the ball on a reverse and run or pass, be part of a double-pass, or be used simply as a decoy while the play develops in another direction. Tressel half-heartedly acknowledged that just the discussion of Ohio State formations involving both Pryor and Boeckman could give the Texas coaching staff more preparatory work to do before the Jan. 5 game.
Cont...
 
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Dispatch
OSU football notebook: Flights delay some players' arrivals

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 3:00 AM
By Tim May


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- It took awhile, but all Ohio State players were present and accounted for last night except for one. Reserve safety and special teams performer Aaron Gant was still en route, a team spokesperson said. Otherwise, running back Brandon Saine, receivers Dane Sanzenbacher and DeVier Posey and safety Zach Domicone finally arrived by mid-afternoon.
"They are getting some lessons in holiday travel," coach Jim Tressel said.
NCAA rules allow schools to give their players the equivalent of one-way unrestricted coach fare to a bowl site. The players then make their reservations and pocket the difference.
But it also can lead to flight trouble during the holiday season, especially in the Midwest. Tressel was asked whether he would prefer that the whole team arrive by charter, like he, the coaching staff and support staff did Monday.
"The ideal thing is to go home piecemeal, but we're in school (by then)," said Tressel, referring to the fact the team must return home by charter in the early hours of Jan. 6 so the players can make that day's classes.
On the other hand, "I'd rather play later," he said, referring to the fact that all of the top bowls are played Jan. 1 or later. This is the latest date for a Fiesta Bowl. "It works out."
Cont...
 
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Dispatch
Colt takes the reins
McCoy is no longer the wide-eyed freshman quarterback who was rattled by Ohio State in Texas' 24-7 loss in 2006
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 3:20 AM
By Bill Rabinowitz


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
1231_texas_mccoy_sp_12-31-08_C1_KRCCR60.jpg
Donna McWilliam | Associated Press
Colt McCoy has completed a mind-boggling 77.6 percent of his passes this season.



When Ohio State played Texas early in the 2006 season, the Longhorns quarterback lived down to his name: Colt. Not yet fully formed, Colt McCoy played like the redshirt freshman he was in the Buckeyes' 24-7 victory in Austin, Texas. He threw for only 154 yards in his second game after succeeding Vince Young.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the quarterback's name remains an apt one, but this time the surname is what's applicable. He has transformed himself into the real McCoy.
The McCoy who will be the focal point of Ohio State's defense in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday
bares little resemblance to the one it saw two years ago. He came to Austin weighing 179 pounds. He's now a buff 210-pounder. That's only the most obvious change since the last time the Buckeyes saw him.
"I think I'm a lot more mature all-around," McCoy said. "You gain more experience the more you play. Being able to have started for three years, I feel I'm a different player, for sure."
McCoy progressed rapidly after the Ohio State game.
"It was only the second game I had started in my career," he said. "I was pretty nervous. They were the No. 1 team. That's about as much as I can remember.
"You learn a lot from that loss. Being able to bounce back from that and to play well the rest of the year was a blessing."
McCoy finished the 2006 season with 29 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions. But the next season he seemed to regress. His touchdown passes dropped to 22 and his interceptions rose to 18.
Cont...
 
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Dispatch
After '06 win, everyone knew who No. 33 was

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 3:21 AM
By Tim May


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Before Sept. 9, 2006, only a handful of No. 33 Ohio State jerseys could be found in the stands during games, and four probably were being worn by Joe, Julie, Joey and Jessica Laurinaitis. There was some interest in the new sophomore starting middle linebacker, James Laurinaitis, son of Joe and Julie, brother of Joey and Jessica. But it had more to do with the fact that his dad had been a pro wrestler, Road Warrior Animal, than it did about James being the next great Buckeyes linebacker.
But on that night in Austin, Texas, things changed. James Laurinaitis, with 13 tackles and an interception, wreaked havoc on the Longhorns and freshman quarterback Colt McCoy, who was making just his second start. Ohio State won 24-7 in a game that launched Laurinaitis' No. 33 jersey into a must-have for thousands of Buckeyes fans.
"I remember the first time I got on campus as a freshman and I saw A.J. Hawk's (No. 47 being worn by hordes), and I remember thinking, 'Man, I really hope they have my jersey someday,' " Laurinaitis said. "Then my sophomore year, after that Texas game, they decided to start putting the '33' out there.
"When I saw the first one I thought it was an old Pete Johnson jersey. Then I said, 'Wait, that's the new style. No way.' I called my dad right away."
James Laurinaitis had arrived, and he just kept on coming the next three years as he became a three-time All-American and winner of the Nagurski (2006), Butkus (2007) and Lott (2008) awards. His jersey remains a fan
favorite.
Cont...
 
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EngineerHorn;1367117; said:
Thank goodness for the articles. Don't know how much more uniform discussion I can stomach. :bicker:

I was thinking the same thing. Was kinda hoping X-RayRandy would pop on and give some kind of statistical comparisons of the diffrent " Range of Motion " exercises the Texas DL verses tOSU OL, use in pregame warmups to get that certain edge.
 
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