-
Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
- Thread starter Clarity
- Start date
Pheasant
This space for rent.
Thanks for the update xrayrandy junior. Perhaps you could analyze the historical statistics when Iowa plays in Columbus 2 weeks after Ohio State loses at home and 6 days after a full moon.
Edit:
Fuck
Upvote
0
BGriffBuckeye
Haaaang on Sloopy, Sloopy Hang on!! O.. H.. I.. O.
I have a feelgin this is the game we break out on offense and Tedyd Ginn comes back. Good players don't stay down for long and we need some momentum going into our bye week. Tress will bring it on Saturday.
Upvote
0
holybuckeye33
Hall of Fame
Ok, so maybe I put these in the wrong thread. Would've probably fit better in the ncaa ranking thread. However, the point of the post was not to say definitely what would happen on Saturday (even though a prediction was made) but to simply show how our offense and defense units have faired against our opponents compared to the others on their schedule and to show a similar trend with Iowa.
Upvote
0
Fuck can't we have some fun? God damn it!!!
(Had to add to the F Bombs so I can keep this on topic)
Upvote
0
Hopefully the language filter is up soon...you guys are making reading in a classroom tough.
Upvote
0
Young got a chunk of his 290 yards on three passes (33-yard crossing pattern to Pittman, 36-yard crossing pass to Charles, 63-yard crossing pass Pittman)...see a pattern here? That's 132 yards on three completions, leaving 138 on the remaining 15 completions, and that includes the GW 24-yard TD pass. Other than those big passes, we held Young's passing pretty much in check.
The reason why Iowa was successful with the quick stuff was we weren't getting any pass rush later in the game because the defense was tired. Iowa scored only 10 points and had only one sustained drive in the first half, so while the defense was still somewhat fresh, they were effective. However, our offense never sustained anything and our defense flat wore out. In fact, out of 13 possessions our offense had only one drive all day of more than six plays, and that was a 13-play drive that got 68 yards but ended in no points (INT).
Play-Yards TOP QTR
5-14 02:44 (1st)
3-2 01:01 (1st)
3-2 01:43 (1st)
3-5 00:53 (2nd)
13-68 06:22 (2nd)
1--2 00:01 (2nd)
2-1 00:51 (3rd)
3-1 01:09 (3rd)
3-1 02:05 (3rd)
6-5 03:24 (3rd)
4-7 02:02 (4th)
5-3 02:30 (4th)
4-73 00:35 (4th) (TD drive by Smith)
Look at the times of those "drives". With the exception of the 13-play first-half drive and halftime itself, the defense never got a rest. We had 26:02 TOP for the game, but you take away the 6:22 of the 13-play drive, that's only 19:40 TOP out of 53:38 of the remaining game time. That's why Iowa was so successful.
Upvote
0
lvbuckeye
Silver Surfer
that made me laugh... it reminds me of my old roomate who is a music teacher... every once in a while he has 'music appreciation day' and just makes the kids shut the fuck up while he listens to Phish and downloads some tunes off the net...
good point, Mili... and thanks for reminding me how terrible the offense was that day... *pukes*
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote
0
BrewHawk
Sophmore
Gotta throw one more post in until someone gets too sensitive...
I've never seen a bigger group of cool fuckers than you fucks. I've been to a lot of fucking message boards and never have they welcomed me with such open fucking arms as you sons-a-bitches have. Wish I was headed up north to drink a fuckin beer or two with you, but unfortunately I'm stuck here in fucking Texas. Fuck Texas, fuck the longhorns, every one of them.
Thanks and everyone here have a great fucking day. I can easily say that the fact we've both been referred to as Fuckeyes makes us more brothers than adversaries.
Peace. I'm done saying fuck now, well shit I just said fuck again, dammit, son of a bitch, I can't fucking stop...fuck did it again.
Oh well. Fuck it.
I've never seen a bigger group of cool fuckers than you fucks. I've been to a lot of fucking message boards and never have they welcomed me with such open fucking arms as you sons-a-bitches have. Wish I was headed up north to drink a fuckin beer or two with you, but unfortunately I'm stuck here in fucking Texas. Fuck Texas, fuck the longhorns, every one of them.
Thanks and everyone here have a great fucking day. I can easily say that the fact we've both been referred to as Fuckeyes makes us more brothers than adversaries.
Peace. I'm done saying fuck now, well shit I just said fuck again, dammit, son of a bitch, I can't fucking stop...fuck did it again.
Oh well. Fuck it.
Upvote
0
jimotis4heisman
Banned
keep in mind we were held to less than a pedestrian .9 ypc agains iowa. thats pathetic
Upvote
0
OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="98%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Tressel, Ferentz Talk OSU-Iowa At Teleconference
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top bgColor=#ffffff>
</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>By Bucknuts.com Staff
Date: Sep 20, 2005
This Saturday's game at Ohio Stadium is shaping up to be another very important early season game for Ohio State as the No. 21-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes come to town for a game that will be crucial for each team's hopes for a Big Ten title. Both head coaches spoke about the game today at the weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference. Read on for more.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
Big Ten play begins this week for Ohio State as they host Iowa at Noon EST at the Horseshoe, and to kick off the usual Tuesday media sessions, OSU head coach Jim Tressel and Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz both fielded questions at this week's Big Ten coaches teleconference. Tressel began with some thoughts on this week's game against Iowa.
"We're anxious to get into Big Ten play," Tressel said. "I think the Big Ten is going to be a very, very tough conference this year. As you look at everybody from side to side and throughout the conference, they've had some tough ball games, they've had some great wins. I just think it's going to be a very strong league, and we start out with an awfully strong one with the university of Iowa. They're a physical football team. They have dropped a game, but they didn't have their quarterback that day. They're just an outstanding team as they've shown over the years, and we have to be ready to compete."
Both teams have plenty of question marks entering this game. Iowa (2-1) is coming off a 45-21 win over Northern Iowa after losing on the road to Iowa State. The Hawkeyes seem to be a team still searching for an overall identity.
"First of all, we're happy to get the win on Saturday... It was just a good outing for our team to get back," Ferentz said. "I thought we looked a little bit sharper. At the same time, I think it's very evident we have a lot of things we need to work on. That's a big focus for us this week. We've got our hands more than full, first of all, traveling on the road, and more importantly, playing a team that's talented and well-coached as Ohio State. So we've got a lot of work to do between now and game time. With all that being said, we're looking forward to the weekend."
For Ohio State, the problems have come on offense. The Buckeyes have struggled to score touchdowns, and Tressel was asked if the difficulties on offense were a concern at this point.
"Absolutely," Tressel said. "I think the consistency, or lack thereof -- where we are at this moment is not where you'd like to be after three games. We haven't done little things across the board. Everyone likes to discuss what we haven't done at quarterback, but we could talk a little bit about all the way down the line, where we need to get a lot better. We need to get a lot better fast, because when you start playing against the Big Ten defenses, yards and first downs and points are even more difficult. So we've got a lot of work to do and we've just got to get at it."
Tressel also suggested that some of the struggles may have come as a result of Troy Smith not yet being completely settled in after having to miss games due to suspension.
"I don't think I've seen Troy yet totally in command and relaxed," Tressel said. "He really wants to do well and couldn't wait to get in and play after sitting out a couple games there when we were playing two weeks ago. This week I thought was very, very valuable in that he got 71 snaps and that he got a lot of plays on tape and a lot of things he can learn from. I just think it's just relaxing and being in command with the whole situation. To me, that's the biggest task that he has to tackle."
Smith has seen plenty of carries from the quarterback position throughout his first two games. Tressel was asked if he felt Smith needed to look to throw more this week against Iowa.
"What's most important is that the quarterback takes what the defense gives and not make up his mind before maybe which it's going to be," Tressel said. "We have to find out what happens after the ball is snapped. There is a time where 'Hey, they've got them all covered and I have to let my legs take over,' and that's fine. But as I mentioned to one of the earlier callers, having that relaxation and that calm and that command to take what they give you, to make those decisions, and sometimes it's to take off running, which is fine.
"A lot of the games I've watched over the years, the unnoticed things are that 3rd-and-7 play where there's bracket coverage and everyone was tied up, and that quarterback ran for a first down and changed the momentum of the game. So we don't discount the importance of that, but you have to do things in progression. I just think Troy needs to be a little bit better from his progression standpoint."
Iowa has faced a different set of struggles throughout their first two games. Ferentz discussed what has been disappointing so far in this team's performance.
"The first and most obvious thing is just turnovers," Ferentz said. "If we turn the football over -- and this has been true traditionally and we're not unique to anyone in football for this one -- but when we turn it over, we're asking for bad things to happen. So that would be certainly first and foremost, and we're making too many mental errors right now in all categories and haven't been consistent. It's hard to be consistent when you make mental errors, and we just haven't had the kind of consistency you like to have. I don't think we've found a rhythm at all as a football team yet.
"I think turnovers a lot of time are, first of all, you give credit to your opponent; they also have a hand in it. Then also, a lot of times it's concentration, so we need to do better there. As far as the rhythm, I think we're still developing as a football team. We've got some very experienced players playing for us who are for the most part doing a very good job, but we have a lot of new guys trying to fit their way in too. When you're doing that, you're always trying to establish your identity as a football team. I don't know how it is at other places, but I know if you look back at our teams the past three or four years, it's really been a process for us. We haven't just come out of the gate and been clicking right off the bat; it's been more of a process than anything else. Hopefully we'll bring resolution to some of our problems here in the next week or two or a couple weeks."
Last year, Ohio State traveled to Iowa City in October to take on a Hawkeye team that had started 3-2 and had not looked like the co-Big Ten champions they would eventually become. The Hawkeyes crushed the Buckeyes in a 33-6 win, one which featured a great performance from quarterback Drew Tate, who at the time was a rising star on his way to becoming Big Ten player of the year.
"I think it's probably safe to say his breakthrough game would have been the Michigan State game (one game before the Ohio State game)," Ferentz said. "We just got totally thwarted down in Arizona -- played at Arizona State, came back after that and did some good things at Michigan State, but we turned it over a bunch up there too. We came back after that ball game -- we were 2-2 at the time -- and he really had an outstanding game the next week. Since that time, he's done a lot of good things for us. Again, I think it was just a great challenge for him. What he did a year ago was amazing to me because of his lack of experience and just our lack of being a balanced attack. We had no realistic opportunity to ever establish a running game last year, so to me, that just puts more pressure as a quarterback. We had to put more on his shoulders and I thought he responded in a very admirable fashion.
"Now the big challenge probably is to make sure he doesn't feel like he has to do too much, just has to play his position but doesn't have to be the hero every play or every game. We don't want any of our guys thinking that."
Tate was able to accomplish his feat last season despite the unusual amount of injuries the Hawkeyes suffered at the running back position. By the time the Ohio State game had come around, Iowa had resorted to using a walk-on as well as a player they originally intended on redshirting to run the football. This year, the Hawkeyes are healthy at tailback and led by Albert Young, who has 298 yards on 36 carries (8.3 average) and three touchdowns.
"We're real pleased with Albert's start to the season, certainly, and we've had good feelings about him for three years now," Ferentz said. "It's exciting to have him out there on the field, but all it does is enable us to have a better chance to be more balanced. We certainly weren't able to get that done last year for obvious reasons, and I think this year, all of our running backs have really done a good job. They've been practicing well and it's probably been a bright spot on our football team."
While the win over Ohio State was a high point for the Iowa season, the game was one of the lowest points in recent years for the Buckeye football program. Ohio State improved after the Iowa game, however, and were one of the top teams in the Big Ten by the end of the year. Tressel was asked about that game and how OSU was able to improve since then.
"Like all Big Ten games, if you go in and don't play great, you're going to learn some very difficult lessons and have some harsh realities brought forward no matter who you are, whether you're a lineman, one of the receivers, one of the backs, one of the quarterbacks or one of the coaches," Tressel said. "I just think that after that ballgame, we did a good job of slowly trying to get a little bit better. I don't know that it was anything instantaneous. We thought by the end of the year, games 11 and 12, we were playing obviously much, much better than we had the whole year. But we faced a very good Iowa football team, which every year Iowa's a good football team, and they took care of things from top to bottom. It was certainly a learning thing. Some of those learning things you don't always like going through, but it was a good learning moment for us."
This year's game marks the start of the Big Ten schedule for each team. With each team having already lost one game, this week's matchup carries great significance for the postseason hopes of each team as well as with the race for the Big Ten title. Tressel was asked about the subject and agreed that a loss this week would destroy national championship hopes but said it would not mean the end of Big Ten title contention for either team.
"What I think we're going to find is that in the Big Ten, all these games are big," Tressel said. "Someone may be 7-1 and win it, you never know. I think your point about any thoughts that one would have of playing for the national championship certainly would end, but I don't know that the Big Ten world as we know it would end because I think last year, Iowa opened the Big Ten season, lost to Michigan, and ended up being the co-champions. I think you go day by day and game by game, and certainly it's a big game, but I'm sure they're over there at various other stadiums saying "Hey, that Michigan/Wisconsin game's a big one." As we begin conference play, I think it's always important to get off to a good start."
Ferentz, however, was quite frank when he was asked about his team's views of the national championship and Big Ten title.
"I don't know if you're familiar with the way we've played the first three weeks," Ferentz said. "We've been playing okay at best and certainly not okay a couple weeks ago. We really haven't played very well. We did a lot of good things, but there's a lot of things that need attention and urgency, so we're not even thinking about that. We don't do that anyway; we're a little bit more of a smaller focus kind of football team. I'm more focused on starting conference play, knowing the strength in our conference. Obviously Ohio State has every right to be thinking national title picture; they're used to that and they've earned that right We look at their football team and the challenges they present, and we've got our hands more than full just worrying about this weekend, so really that's kind of what we're focused on. We just know that it's going to be a very challenging eight-game stretch that we have in front of us. If we don't start improving a little quicker here, it's not going to be good.
"I think that's more media talk and fan talk. All I know is that if you're going to have a chance to win a title, that really becomes apparent in November if you're in the race or not. If you don't take care of business in September or October, none of that's going to matter. I'm just more in tune to what our concern areas are right now, and hopefully we can improve those real quick because again, knowing the strength of the conference, if we don't get moving here, we're going to get left behind real fast."
Ferentz was asked if there was a ban on talking about the Big Ten title within the team.
"I don't think we ban it; we just don't do that," he said. "We never really have. I think it's very obvious every team in our conference -- we have eleven of them -- every one of us wants to win the title, so to me, it's almost silly to talk about it because if you don't want to do that, why the heck are you playing? So we just don't spend much time talking about it. I just know this -- the more games you win early, the better chances you have to be in position at the end of the season, so to me, you're better off just focusing on what's in front of you."
Iowa teams, in recent years, have shown the ability to rebound from an early loss and play better as the year goes along. Ferentz discussed his team's approach to rebounding from an early loss.
"I think the bottom line is it's a long season, and even though you want to win them all, most times that doesn't happen if you look at it over 117 teams or whatever it is that plays football," he said. "Whether you win or lose, pretty much you just put that game to bed and you focus on what's in front of you. Obviously you go back and critique the things that are keeping you from being successful and try to get those straightened out, and then after that, you move on to you're next opponent. I just think you try to invest weekly as much as you possibly can into each and every game and then try to count them up at the end of the season. I think if you get too focused on the big picture -- maybe it works for other folks, but it really hasn't worked for us too well."
Each coach was also asked about the spread offense and why more teams are using more towards the spread attack.
"I think in this day and age, you've got to be able to attack with a lot of different things," Tressel said. "There are so many good guys out there that can throw and catch, and the evolution of football -- there's so many good ideas. Sometimes, things trickle down a little bit from the pros. Now, the pros don't allow their quarterback to get hit quite as much as we do in college football in our spread offenses and so forth, but I just think because people are so well-schooled on defense, you've got to give them more problems. I think if you have that as part of your package, it can give you a chance. Some of the people in our league do it very, very well."
"I just think that's football in general," Ferentz answered. "I think you're seeing more and more of it. It started back when Coach Fry came to Iowa in the late '70s; he threw it around a little bit. Then Mike White came to Illinois, and they threw it around a bunch, and I think more and more of it spread. I think right now, if you just look nationally, you are seeing a lot more of the "spread offense" then you are the old conventional two-back, two-receiver type thing. It seems that's the direction football's moving in right now."
Tressel was asked why Ohio State in particular has moved to the spread look.
"We feel like we've got some guys, we'd like to get the ball in their hands," Tressel said. "Plus, we also think that if you can prove that you can do a good job throwing it, there aren't quite as many people in the box when you are trying to run it. Then I think when you add the quarterbacks into the run package, that's another bit of pressure you can put on the opposing defenses. So you'd like to be able to do it all, and I think that's why you see so many people doing it, and specifically the guys that we've got that are capable of making things happen when we deploy that way."
Ferentz concurred with a reporter who asked if the Big Ten was no longer a power football conference.
"I think you're right on target," Ferentz said. "It depends on the teams you're looking at. Nobody in the country runs the ball as well as Minnesota. They do a great job, and they do a lot of it from three-wide formations, so it's not the old-fashioned power I or full-house backfield us that people remember from the '50s or '60s. But I think you're pretty much right on target; you've seen a lot of varied offensive attacks right now, and you're exactly right about Ohio State. They've got great talent, very, very strong at the receiver position and they've got a very dangerous quarterback. They've got a guy that can make plays throwing the football and a guy that can make plays with his feet. But it changes week-to-week, game to game. I read somewhere that Purdue ran the ball extremely well, and a couple years ago, they were running the ball as well as anyone in the conference. Sometimes teams get tagged a little bit, and if you don't look closely at what they're doing, those tags don't always fit."
Tressel was also asked a recruiting question -- one regarding his thoughts on the high school talent in the state of Ohio and why the talent is so plentiful.
"I think we're extremely fortunate to have great talent," he said. "I think culturally, youngsters grow up wanting to play this game, and so that gives those outstanding coaching staffs people who are listening closely and training in the offseason and studying video. I just think if you wrap in all of the reasons people love football in this state, all of those add to helping our high school football be very good. I think last year, if I'm not mistaken, I think there were 90 guys signed at BCS schools or something out of the state of Ohio. It's amazing, and then you look at rosters and guys, every week we have to watch someone from Ohio playing for another team, and we say 'Boy, we wish we had all those guys.'"
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top bgColor=#ffffff>
</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>By Bucknuts.com Staff
Date: Sep 20, 2005
This Saturday's game at Ohio Stadium is shaping up to be another very important early season game for Ohio State as the No. 21-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes come to town for a game that will be crucial for each team's hopes for a Big Ten title. Both head coaches spoke about the game today at the weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference. Read on for more.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
Big Ten play begins this week for Ohio State as they host Iowa at Noon EST at the Horseshoe, and to kick off the usual Tuesday media sessions, OSU head coach Jim Tressel and Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz both fielded questions at this week's Big Ten coaches teleconference. Tressel began with some thoughts on this week's game against Iowa.
"We're anxious to get into Big Ten play," Tressel said. "I think the Big Ten is going to be a very, very tough conference this year. As you look at everybody from side to side and throughout the conference, they've had some tough ball games, they've had some great wins. I just think it's going to be a very strong league, and we start out with an awfully strong one with the university of Iowa. They're a physical football team. They have dropped a game, but they didn't have their quarterback that day. They're just an outstanding team as they've shown over the years, and we have to be ready to compete."
Both teams have plenty of question marks entering this game. Iowa (2-1) is coming off a 45-21 win over Northern Iowa after losing on the road to Iowa State. The Hawkeyes seem to be a team still searching for an overall identity.
"First of all, we're happy to get the win on Saturday... It was just a good outing for our team to get back," Ferentz said. "I thought we looked a little bit sharper. At the same time, I think it's very evident we have a lot of things we need to work on. That's a big focus for us this week. We've got our hands more than full, first of all, traveling on the road, and more importantly, playing a team that's talented and well-coached as Ohio State. So we've got a lot of work to do between now and game time. With all that being said, we're looking forward to the weekend."
For Ohio State, the problems have come on offense. The Buckeyes have struggled to score touchdowns, and Tressel was asked if the difficulties on offense were a concern at this point.
"Absolutely," Tressel said. "I think the consistency, or lack thereof -- where we are at this moment is not where you'd like to be after three games. We haven't done little things across the board. Everyone likes to discuss what we haven't done at quarterback, but we could talk a little bit about all the way down the line, where we need to get a lot better. We need to get a lot better fast, because when you start playing against the Big Ten defenses, yards and first downs and points are even more difficult. So we've got a lot of work to do and we've just got to get at it."
Tressel also suggested that some of the struggles may have come as a result of Troy Smith not yet being completely settled in after having to miss games due to suspension.
"I don't think I've seen Troy yet totally in command and relaxed," Tressel said. "He really wants to do well and couldn't wait to get in and play after sitting out a couple games there when we were playing two weeks ago. This week I thought was very, very valuable in that he got 71 snaps and that he got a lot of plays on tape and a lot of things he can learn from. I just think it's just relaxing and being in command with the whole situation. To me, that's the biggest task that he has to tackle."
Smith has seen plenty of carries from the quarterback position throughout his first two games. Tressel was asked if he felt Smith needed to look to throw more this week against Iowa.
"What's most important is that the quarterback takes what the defense gives and not make up his mind before maybe which it's going to be," Tressel said. "We have to find out what happens after the ball is snapped. There is a time where 'Hey, they've got them all covered and I have to let my legs take over,' and that's fine. But as I mentioned to one of the earlier callers, having that relaxation and that calm and that command to take what they give you, to make those decisions, and sometimes it's to take off running, which is fine.
"A lot of the games I've watched over the years, the unnoticed things are that 3rd-and-7 play where there's bracket coverage and everyone was tied up, and that quarterback ran for a first down and changed the momentum of the game. So we don't discount the importance of that, but you have to do things in progression. I just think Troy needs to be a little bit better from his progression standpoint."
Iowa has faced a different set of struggles throughout their first two games. Ferentz discussed what has been disappointing so far in this team's performance.
"The first and most obvious thing is just turnovers," Ferentz said. "If we turn the football over -- and this has been true traditionally and we're not unique to anyone in football for this one -- but when we turn it over, we're asking for bad things to happen. So that would be certainly first and foremost, and we're making too many mental errors right now in all categories and haven't been consistent. It's hard to be consistent when you make mental errors, and we just haven't had the kind of consistency you like to have. I don't think we've found a rhythm at all as a football team yet.
"I think turnovers a lot of time are, first of all, you give credit to your opponent; they also have a hand in it. Then also, a lot of times it's concentration, so we need to do better there. As far as the rhythm, I think we're still developing as a football team. We've got some very experienced players playing for us who are for the most part doing a very good job, but we have a lot of new guys trying to fit their way in too. When you're doing that, you're always trying to establish your identity as a football team. I don't know how it is at other places, but I know if you look back at our teams the past three or four years, it's really been a process for us. We haven't just come out of the gate and been clicking right off the bat; it's been more of a process than anything else. Hopefully we'll bring resolution to some of our problems here in the next week or two or a couple weeks."
Last year, Ohio State traveled to Iowa City in October to take on a Hawkeye team that had started 3-2 and had not looked like the co-Big Ten champions they would eventually become. The Hawkeyes crushed the Buckeyes in a 33-6 win, one which featured a great performance from quarterback Drew Tate, who at the time was a rising star on his way to becoming Big Ten player of the year.
"I think it's probably safe to say his breakthrough game would have been the Michigan State game (one game before the Ohio State game)," Ferentz said. "We just got totally thwarted down in Arizona -- played at Arizona State, came back after that and did some good things at Michigan State, but we turned it over a bunch up there too. We came back after that ball game -- we were 2-2 at the time -- and he really had an outstanding game the next week. Since that time, he's done a lot of good things for us. Again, I think it was just a great challenge for him. What he did a year ago was amazing to me because of his lack of experience and just our lack of being a balanced attack. We had no realistic opportunity to ever establish a running game last year, so to me, that just puts more pressure as a quarterback. We had to put more on his shoulders and I thought he responded in a very admirable fashion.
"Now the big challenge probably is to make sure he doesn't feel like he has to do too much, just has to play his position but doesn't have to be the hero every play or every game. We don't want any of our guys thinking that."
Tate was able to accomplish his feat last season despite the unusual amount of injuries the Hawkeyes suffered at the running back position. By the time the Ohio State game had come around, Iowa had resorted to using a walk-on as well as a player they originally intended on redshirting to run the football. This year, the Hawkeyes are healthy at tailback and led by Albert Young, who has 298 yards on 36 carries (8.3 average) and three touchdowns.
"We're real pleased with Albert's start to the season, certainly, and we've had good feelings about him for three years now," Ferentz said. "It's exciting to have him out there on the field, but all it does is enable us to have a better chance to be more balanced. We certainly weren't able to get that done last year for obvious reasons, and I think this year, all of our running backs have really done a good job. They've been practicing well and it's probably been a bright spot on our football team."
While the win over Ohio State was a high point for the Iowa season, the game was one of the lowest points in recent years for the Buckeye football program. Ohio State improved after the Iowa game, however, and were one of the top teams in the Big Ten by the end of the year. Tressel was asked about that game and how OSU was able to improve since then.
"Like all Big Ten games, if you go in and don't play great, you're going to learn some very difficult lessons and have some harsh realities brought forward no matter who you are, whether you're a lineman, one of the receivers, one of the backs, one of the quarterbacks or one of the coaches," Tressel said. "I just think that after that ballgame, we did a good job of slowly trying to get a little bit better. I don't know that it was anything instantaneous. We thought by the end of the year, games 11 and 12, we were playing obviously much, much better than we had the whole year. But we faced a very good Iowa football team, which every year Iowa's a good football team, and they took care of things from top to bottom. It was certainly a learning thing. Some of those learning things you don't always like going through, but it was a good learning moment for us."
This year's game marks the start of the Big Ten schedule for each team. With each team having already lost one game, this week's matchup carries great significance for the postseason hopes of each team as well as with the race for the Big Ten title. Tressel was asked about the subject and agreed that a loss this week would destroy national championship hopes but said it would not mean the end of Big Ten title contention for either team.
"What I think we're going to find is that in the Big Ten, all these games are big," Tressel said. "Someone may be 7-1 and win it, you never know. I think your point about any thoughts that one would have of playing for the national championship certainly would end, but I don't know that the Big Ten world as we know it would end because I think last year, Iowa opened the Big Ten season, lost to Michigan, and ended up being the co-champions. I think you go day by day and game by game, and certainly it's a big game, but I'm sure they're over there at various other stadiums saying "Hey, that Michigan/Wisconsin game's a big one." As we begin conference play, I think it's always important to get off to a good start."
Ferentz, however, was quite frank when he was asked about his team's views of the national championship and Big Ten title.
"I don't know if you're familiar with the way we've played the first three weeks," Ferentz said. "We've been playing okay at best and certainly not okay a couple weeks ago. We really haven't played very well. We did a lot of good things, but there's a lot of things that need attention and urgency, so we're not even thinking about that. We don't do that anyway; we're a little bit more of a smaller focus kind of football team. I'm more focused on starting conference play, knowing the strength in our conference. Obviously Ohio State has every right to be thinking national title picture; they're used to that and they've earned that right We look at their football team and the challenges they present, and we've got our hands more than full just worrying about this weekend, so really that's kind of what we're focused on. We just know that it's going to be a very challenging eight-game stretch that we have in front of us. If we don't start improving a little quicker here, it's not going to be good.
"I think that's more media talk and fan talk. All I know is that if you're going to have a chance to win a title, that really becomes apparent in November if you're in the race or not. If you don't take care of business in September or October, none of that's going to matter. I'm just more in tune to what our concern areas are right now, and hopefully we can improve those real quick because again, knowing the strength of the conference, if we don't get moving here, we're going to get left behind real fast."
Ferentz was asked if there was a ban on talking about the Big Ten title within the team.
"I don't think we ban it; we just don't do that," he said. "We never really have. I think it's very obvious every team in our conference -- we have eleven of them -- every one of us wants to win the title, so to me, it's almost silly to talk about it because if you don't want to do that, why the heck are you playing? So we just don't spend much time talking about it. I just know this -- the more games you win early, the better chances you have to be in position at the end of the season, so to me, you're better off just focusing on what's in front of you."
Iowa teams, in recent years, have shown the ability to rebound from an early loss and play better as the year goes along. Ferentz discussed his team's approach to rebounding from an early loss.
"I think the bottom line is it's a long season, and even though you want to win them all, most times that doesn't happen if you look at it over 117 teams or whatever it is that plays football," he said. "Whether you win or lose, pretty much you just put that game to bed and you focus on what's in front of you. Obviously you go back and critique the things that are keeping you from being successful and try to get those straightened out, and then after that, you move on to you're next opponent. I just think you try to invest weekly as much as you possibly can into each and every game and then try to count them up at the end of the season. I think if you get too focused on the big picture -- maybe it works for other folks, but it really hasn't worked for us too well."
Each coach was also asked about the spread offense and why more teams are using more towards the spread attack.
"I think in this day and age, you've got to be able to attack with a lot of different things," Tressel said. "There are so many good guys out there that can throw and catch, and the evolution of football -- there's so many good ideas. Sometimes, things trickle down a little bit from the pros. Now, the pros don't allow their quarterback to get hit quite as much as we do in college football in our spread offenses and so forth, but I just think because people are so well-schooled on defense, you've got to give them more problems. I think if you have that as part of your package, it can give you a chance. Some of the people in our league do it very, very well."
"I just think that's football in general," Ferentz answered. "I think you're seeing more and more of it. It started back when Coach Fry came to Iowa in the late '70s; he threw it around a little bit. Then Mike White came to Illinois, and they threw it around a bunch, and I think more and more of it spread. I think right now, if you just look nationally, you are seeing a lot more of the "spread offense" then you are the old conventional two-back, two-receiver type thing. It seems that's the direction football's moving in right now."
Tressel was asked why Ohio State in particular has moved to the spread look.
"We feel like we've got some guys, we'd like to get the ball in their hands," Tressel said. "Plus, we also think that if you can prove that you can do a good job throwing it, there aren't quite as many people in the box when you are trying to run it. Then I think when you add the quarterbacks into the run package, that's another bit of pressure you can put on the opposing defenses. So you'd like to be able to do it all, and I think that's why you see so many people doing it, and specifically the guys that we've got that are capable of making things happen when we deploy that way."
Ferentz concurred with a reporter who asked if the Big Ten was no longer a power football conference.
"I think you're right on target," Ferentz said. "It depends on the teams you're looking at. Nobody in the country runs the ball as well as Minnesota. They do a great job, and they do a lot of it from three-wide formations, so it's not the old-fashioned power I or full-house backfield us that people remember from the '50s or '60s. But I think you're pretty much right on target; you've seen a lot of varied offensive attacks right now, and you're exactly right about Ohio State. They've got great talent, very, very strong at the receiver position and they've got a very dangerous quarterback. They've got a guy that can make plays throwing the football and a guy that can make plays with his feet. But it changes week-to-week, game to game. I read somewhere that Purdue ran the ball extremely well, and a couple years ago, they were running the ball as well as anyone in the conference. Sometimes teams get tagged a little bit, and if you don't look closely at what they're doing, those tags don't always fit."
Tressel was also asked a recruiting question -- one regarding his thoughts on the high school talent in the state of Ohio and why the talent is so plentiful.
"I think we're extremely fortunate to have great talent," he said. "I think culturally, youngsters grow up wanting to play this game, and so that gives those outstanding coaching staffs people who are listening closely and training in the offseason and studying video. I just think if you wrap in all of the reasons people love football in this state, all of those add to helping our high school football be very good. I think last year, if I'm not mistaken, I think there were 90 guys signed at BCS schools or something out of the state of Ohio. It's amazing, and then you look at rosters and guys, every week we have to watch someone from Ohio playing for another team, and we say 'Boy, we wish we had all those guys.'"
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Upvote
0
OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="98%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Tressel, Players Reflect on SDSU; Look Ahead
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top bgColor=#ffffff>
Jim Tressel
</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>By Dave Biddle
Date: Sep 20, 2005
We have more from today's media sessions, this segment from the weekly press luncheon. Jim Tressel and a few Buckeye players continued to discuss the state of the offense as well as give their thoughts on this week's OSU opponent, the Iowa Hawkeyes. We have a complete wrap-up posted here.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
At his weekly Tuesday press luncheon, Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel reviewed the offense’s shaky performance in the 27-6 win over San Diego State and looked ahead to Saturday’s Big Ten opener against visiting Iowa (noon, ABC).
“We had a victory over San Diego State, which gave us a lot of opportunity, I think, to learn and study and so forth,” Tressel said. “There was, I think, a decent amount of good news and maybe some not so good things that we better get good here before we play again.
“From the defensive standpoint, after that first play, we held them to 100 yards or less. We had eight three and outs and the defense played hard and I thought controlled the tempo of the game and dominated the line of scrimmage and really was a no contest once our guys got going.
“Offensively, I thought there were some things we did well that were real positive, one is having 82 plays, which at this point in the season, every opportunity you get to learn about yourself and get better and test people, Jim Bollman made a commitment as he went into the game that he was going to play a lot of different offensive linemen early in the game. I think it was the third series, he had nearly a brand new line in there and a lot of guys got a lot more snaps than they've been getting. Troy Smith had, I think, 71 snaps, which is a great opportunity for him. Justin (Zwick) still got to throw 10 balls, which came in nine for 10, so I think on the numbers of plays, opportunities, it was a real positive thing. I think on the drive lengths it was real good. We had five drives of eight or more plays with an eight play and an eight play and a nine play and an 11 play and a 13 play, and those types of drives I think help you get a little continuity and give you experience, and that was a positive thing.
“I think on the downside, despite having good, long drives and so forth, we weren't as consistent as we need to be. We didn't do all the things you really should do when you get a chance to have those kinds of drives and have that type of field position, you need to score more than 40 points. And obviously seven of our points, the defense gave us on the half yard line. Seven points we didn't get, we gave to them as we fumbled going into the end zone, so a little bit of a wash there. But in my opinion, that should have been a game that we should have been more consistent and scored more points than we did.”
Tressel and his staff were so disappointed in the play of the offense that they decided not to hand out offensive awards this week.
“I mentioned our lack of consistency on offense,” Tressel said. “Interestingly enough, that resulted in the fact that the offensive staff didn't feel that we had a player of the week because there was really no grade consistent enough to say, ‘Hey, this person was the player of the week.’ Nor did we have an offensive lineman of the week. And again, it was a lack of consistency, not that anyone did horribly, but no one did out of this world and so our offensive guys didn't really think that it would be a good thing to reward less than excellence.”
But the same was not true on the defensive side of the ball.
“Defensively, Bobby Carpenter, with all the disruption he did as an end and the plays he made as a linebacker, just had an outstanding production game, was the defensive player of the week,” Tressel said. “The attack force player of the week was Mike Kudla, who really had his way with those offensive tackles for San Diego State and just really dominated his edge of the defense.”
Other awards went to Roy Hall (Jack Tatum hit of the week), Josh Huston (special teams), Anderson Russell (scout team special teams), Trev Robinson (scout team defense) and Rob Schoenhoft (scout team offense).
Tressel then gave his scouting report on the Hawkeyes.
“As you look at Iowa, you look at quality,” he said. “You look at excellent teaching. You look at physical play. They tackle so well. I just love watching their film because they tackle. They have great leverage, great team defense.
“Offensively, you'll see that their run game is much improved over a year ago where they had all those injuries at the running back position. Drew Tate continues to grow. Obviously they've lost a game, but it was a game that they didn't have their quarterback, their leader, their playmaker (for most of the game after suffering a concussion).”
Despite the blowout loss last year, Tressel is not concerned about seeking revenge.
“I don't know if revenge is the right approach,” he said. “I think remembrance of how good you better be because you have to play a lot better than the last time you played them. If revenge becomes a factor, I'm afraid you lose sight of what it is that you're trying to square away. It's our performance that we need to square away, but all of us have lived with our lack of performance that day, whether it was coaching performance or playing performance, and you would hope anytime you have shortcomings that that serves as added incentive to do better.”
Tressel was asked if he’s frustrated with the lack of production from OSU’s offense through three games.
“Well, I guess frustration on where we are doesn't jump up as much as what we try to do, constantly sit as a staff and say, ‘OK, what are the things that we can help our guys be successful with?’ And then secondly is we better have an understanding of these defenses we're getting ready to face. We have to have great execution, great precision, give ourselves a good chance to take advantage of opportunities when they're there. But I don't know if I'd use the word frustration because I don't know what good frustration does. If you're frustrated and work better at it and harder at it, then maybe frustration is good, but our people work pretty hard and I feel good about that.”
Tressel was asked if he’s comfortable running the spread offense and if he ever ran a similar offense while at Youngstown State.
“Well, one or two years at Youngstown State we were an empty group; that just happened to be what we were good at,” he said. “One year we were a split back pass team. I don't know if we've ever been a three-by-one or a two-by-two team like we are right now. And Coach Bollman keeps reminding me that it's OK to pass it on third and two, which the old-fashioned part of me says, ‘How can we pass on third and two? Woody would be killing me.’ But I think it's an evolution and a transition for everybody.”
At the heart of the problem offensively is the lack of a running game. Pretty much the same story as the last two years.
“Not as consistent as we need it,” Tressel said of the rushing offense. “I think if you get to the point where you have a consistent running game and then all of a sudden when you have three by one, they can't have four by three and two over one, but I don't know that we've been consistent enough to take people out of guessing which we're going to be doing and that type of thing. When all of that comes together, when we can become a consistent run team … and I didn't think we did as good a job as we should have back side blocking last week. A bunch of threes could have been sevens, some fours could have been six or eights. If we'd have just been a little bit better back side, those types of things, and all of a sudden, you're going to have to … kind of like what happened in our game with Texas, there was a point where they were running it well enough with both our back and the quarterback, we had to bring an extra guy in the box and all of a sudden that opens up the world in the back end and you need to get to that balance to really be good and that's where we need to get.”
Tressel gave a quick rundown of OSU’s players that are hampered with injuries.
“Marcus (Freeman) won't be back,” he said. “Rory Nicol and Jim Cordle won't. Trev will be out for a couple weeks. Curt Lukens won't be able to play. (Devon Lyons has) had an ankle since the start of the season. We've got to let him heal. To his credit, he went on a gimpy ankle for, gosh, four weeks. It's probably not the best thing for him or us.”
The Players’ Take
Sophomore wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez is as frustrated as anyone about the lack of offensive production. But he’s a realist. He knows that the season is young and the Buckeyes have plenty of time to prove they can be an effective offensive football team.
“I think we’re just trying to find our way,” Gonzalez said. “It is only the fourth game of the year. It is taking a little bit of time, but we all realize that come Big Ten time, we all have to step it up a lot. I feel confident that we will.”
Gonzalez was not taken aback that there was not an offensive player of the week, nor an offensive lineman of the week.
“It didn’t surprise me very much at all,” he said. “I personally didn’t think we played very well and the score kind of showed that, given the opportunities and the fact that the defense was so outstanding. You look at the score and we didn’t do that much. So, it didn’t surprise me very much at all.”
Gonzalez was asked if it’s a relief that OSU finally settled on one quarterback last week.
“Well, for me, honestly, since forever, it really hasn’t mattered to me,” he said. “I have the same rhythm and the same thought process no matter who’s in the football game. But it is nice, I suppose, to have one guy that you can sort of develop a chemistry with.”
One thing that separates Smith from Zwick is the velocity in which Smith throws the ball. Sometimes he puts too much mustard on his passes.
“Yeah, he throws a hard ball sometimes,” Gonzalez said. “But I love the way he throws, personally. I know Coach Tressel mentioned that sometimes he would like to see a little more touch. But if you watch him throw that deep ball, it’s a thing of beauty. That thing is the tightest spiral you have ever seen.”
But Gonzalez would like to see Smith tone it down a little bit on the quick slants.
“Yeah, catch it or wear it on your shirt, I guess,” Gonzalez said with a laugh.
Smith is a natural leader and players seem to respond to him, but he doesn’t go overboard in terms of chewing people out in the huddle.
“Well, he has a fiery personality when get to the sidelines, or when we get to the locker room, things of that nature,” Gonzalez said. “But when we’re actually on the field, he’s a pretty calm guy.”
Gonzalez was asked if he think Smith was pressing a bit against SDSU, it being his first start since his now-legendary performance in the 2004 Michigan game.
“As far as him pressing, I don’t know that he’s pressing necessarily,” Gonzalez said. “He’s trying to make plays, as we all are. Sometimes the defense gets the better of you and that might have happened a little bit more than we would all have liked against San Diego State, but that wasn’t just Troy, it was all of us.”
As the Buckeyes prepare for Iowa, they can’t help but think of last year’s 33-7 drubbing in Iowa City.
“Well, last year, I remember leaving very disappointed,” Gonzalez said. “And that was the first game that I ever really got into and that was my first catch, but I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life. Despite the fact that I should have been feeling great about myself, we were just so terrible that it certainly is a motivating factor this year, for me anyway, just to go out and show people across the country that the 33-7 game was not us.”
Ted Ginn Jr. received most of the publicity coming into the season, but another OSU receiver is stepping up with a big season. This might be the final season in a Buckeye uniform for junior Santonio Holmes and he is making the most out of it.
“I think he’s the best receiver in the country,” Gonzalez said of Holmes. “He’s an exceptional route runner, he’s got great hands and he always seems to make plays. And you watch him and you think, ‘Man, it looks so easy when he does it. Why can’t everybody do that?’ But he just has a knack for making plays.”
* Junior defensive lineman David Patterson is playing a key role this year, switching back and forth from tackle to end.
Patterson is excited to being Big Ten play. He wants to help OSU grab its first outright conference championship since 1984.
“Yeah, it’s really special when you open up the Big Ten because you know every game is going to be a battle,” he said. “Those guys are going to bring it as hard as anyone. When you’re the Big Ten, there’s so much tradition between these schools and when you’re playing in those games you’re playing for all the Buckeyes in the past. It’s just a special feeling when you being Big Ten competition.”
Patterson says the key to beating the Hawkeyes is containing Drew Tate.
“The key against Drew Tate is everyone doing their job,” he said. “Guys can’t run by the quarterback. You have to realize who you are playing. When you have a scrambling quarterback back there and you’re rushing, you really have to know who you’re playing. I was calling him a little Mike Vick when I was watching him on film because he’s so elusive like that. Like when we were getting ready for (Texas’) Vince Young, you just have to know and be aware of who is back there. Sometimes you might have to change up your moves because you know you have to keep him in the pocket.”
But Patterson didn’t just compare Tate to Mike Vick, did he?
“I mean, he’s a great player,” Patterson said. “I think he was Big Ten Player of the Year last year. So, I know he’s a great player and we will really have to be on our ‘A’ game to stop him.”
* Senior defensive end Mike Kudla is having a solid season and knows that Saturday’s game against Iowa is a big one.
“There are several factors,” Kudla said. “It is the start of the Big Ten and definitely because of what happened last year. It's another huge test. With the Big Ten, we will see a lot of running teams and a lot of right-up-in-your-face type stuff.”
Kudla was asked what went wrong last year in Iowa City and how the Buckeyes were able to rebound from that loss.
“We just had a breakdown in all factors: special teams, offense and defense,” he said. “It's just one of those things that is hard to explain. It was a low point for us, but it also kind of rebounded our season. We came back and (Tressel) said, `We can go up or we can go down from here.' The seniors kind of looked at us and said, `We want to change this around and make the best of this season.' We responded to that.”
As for this year’s game, Kudla says revenge won’t be a big factor. He just wants to emerge with a victory.
“It's not so much of a revenge thing,” he said. “They're a good team and we have to go
out and do our thing. If we think that it's about revenge or this and that, it will take away from our game plan and what we're trying to do.”
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top bgColor=#ffffff>
Jim Tressel
</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>By Dave Biddle
Date: Sep 20, 2005
We have more from today's media sessions, this segment from the weekly press luncheon. Jim Tressel and a few Buckeye players continued to discuss the state of the offense as well as give their thoughts on this week's OSU opponent, the Iowa Hawkeyes. We have a complete wrap-up posted here.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
At his weekly Tuesday press luncheon, Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel reviewed the offense’s shaky performance in the 27-6 win over San Diego State and looked ahead to Saturday’s Big Ten opener against visiting Iowa (noon, ABC).
“We had a victory over San Diego State, which gave us a lot of opportunity, I think, to learn and study and so forth,” Tressel said. “There was, I think, a decent amount of good news and maybe some not so good things that we better get good here before we play again.
“From the defensive standpoint, after that first play, we held them to 100 yards or less. We had eight three and outs and the defense played hard and I thought controlled the tempo of the game and dominated the line of scrimmage and really was a no contest once our guys got going.
“Offensively, I thought there were some things we did well that were real positive, one is having 82 plays, which at this point in the season, every opportunity you get to learn about yourself and get better and test people, Jim Bollman made a commitment as he went into the game that he was going to play a lot of different offensive linemen early in the game. I think it was the third series, he had nearly a brand new line in there and a lot of guys got a lot more snaps than they've been getting. Troy Smith had, I think, 71 snaps, which is a great opportunity for him. Justin (Zwick) still got to throw 10 balls, which came in nine for 10, so I think on the numbers of plays, opportunities, it was a real positive thing. I think on the drive lengths it was real good. We had five drives of eight or more plays with an eight play and an eight play and a nine play and an 11 play and a 13 play, and those types of drives I think help you get a little continuity and give you experience, and that was a positive thing.
“I think on the downside, despite having good, long drives and so forth, we weren't as consistent as we need to be. We didn't do all the things you really should do when you get a chance to have those kinds of drives and have that type of field position, you need to score more than 40 points. And obviously seven of our points, the defense gave us on the half yard line. Seven points we didn't get, we gave to them as we fumbled going into the end zone, so a little bit of a wash there. But in my opinion, that should have been a game that we should have been more consistent and scored more points than we did.”
Tressel and his staff were so disappointed in the play of the offense that they decided not to hand out offensive awards this week.
“I mentioned our lack of consistency on offense,” Tressel said. “Interestingly enough, that resulted in the fact that the offensive staff didn't feel that we had a player of the week because there was really no grade consistent enough to say, ‘Hey, this person was the player of the week.’ Nor did we have an offensive lineman of the week. And again, it was a lack of consistency, not that anyone did horribly, but no one did out of this world and so our offensive guys didn't really think that it would be a good thing to reward less than excellence.”
But the same was not true on the defensive side of the ball.
“Defensively, Bobby Carpenter, with all the disruption he did as an end and the plays he made as a linebacker, just had an outstanding production game, was the defensive player of the week,” Tressel said. “The attack force player of the week was Mike Kudla, who really had his way with those offensive tackles for San Diego State and just really dominated his edge of the defense.”
Other awards went to Roy Hall (Jack Tatum hit of the week), Josh Huston (special teams), Anderson Russell (scout team special teams), Trev Robinson (scout team defense) and Rob Schoenhoft (scout team offense).
Tressel then gave his scouting report on the Hawkeyes.
“As you look at Iowa, you look at quality,” he said. “You look at excellent teaching. You look at physical play. They tackle so well. I just love watching their film because they tackle. They have great leverage, great team defense.
“Offensively, you'll see that their run game is much improved over a year ago where they had all those injuries at the running back position. Drew Tate continues to grow. Obviously they've lost a game, but it was a game that they didn't have their quarterback, their leader, their playmaker (for most of the game after suffering a concussion).”
Despite the blowout loss last year, Tressel is not concerned about seeking revenge.
“I don't know if revenge is the right approach,” he said. “I think remembrance of how good you better be because you have to play a lot better than the last time you played them. If revenge becomes a factor, I'm afraid you lose sight of what it is that you're trying to square away. It's our performance that we need to square away, but all of us have lived with our lack of performance that day, whether it was coaching performance or playing performance, and you would hope anytime you have shortcomings that that serves as added incentive to do better.”
Tressel was asked if he’s frustrated with the lack of production from OSU’s offense through three games.
“Well, I guess frustration on where we are doesn't jump up as much as what we try to do, constantly sit as a staff and say, ‘OK, what are the things that we can help our guys be successful with?’ And then secondly is we better have an understanding of these defenses we're getting ready to face. We have to have great execution, great precision, give ourselves a good chance to take advantage of opportunities when they're there. But I don't know if I'd use the word frustration because I don't know what good frustration does. If you're frustrated and work better at it and harder at it, then maybe frustration is good, but our people work pretty hard and I feel good about that.”
Tressel was asked if he’s comfortable running the spread offense and if he ever ran a similar offense while at Youngstown State.
“Well, one or two years at Youngstown State we were an empty group; that just happened to be what we were good at,” he said. “One year we were a split back pass team. I don't know if we've ever been a three-by-one or a two-by-two team like we are right now. And Coach Bollman keeps reminding me that it's OK to pass it on third and two, which the old-fashioned part of me says, ‘How can we pass on third and two? Woody would be killing me.’ But I think it's an evolution and a transition for everybody.”
At the heart of the problem offensively is the lack of a running game. Pretty much the same story as the last two years.
“Not as consistent as we need it,” Tressel said of the rushing offense. “I think if you get to the point where you have a consistent running game and then all of a sudden when you have three by one, they can't have four by three and two over one, but I don't know that we've been consistent enough to take people out of guessing which we're going to be doing and that type of thing. When all of that comes together, when we can become a consistent run team … and I didn't think we did as good a job as we should have back side blocking last week. A bunch of threes could have been sevens, some fours could have been six or eights. If we'd have just been a little bit better back side, those types of things, and all of a sudden, you're going to have to … kind of like what happened in our game with Texas, there was a point where they were running it well enough with both our back and the quarterback, we had to bring an extra guy in the box and all of a sudden that opens up the world in the back end and you need to get to that balance to really be good and that's where we need to get.”
Tressel gave a quick rundown of OSU’s players that are hampered with injuries.
“Marcus (Freeman) won't be back,” he said. “Rory Nicol and Jim Cordle won't. Trev will be out for a couple weeks. Curt Lukens won't be able to play. (Devon Lyons has) had an ankle since the start of the season. We've got to let him heal. To his credit, he went on a gimpy ankle for, gosh, four weeks. It's probably not the best thing for him or us.”
The Players’ Take
Sophomore wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez is as frustrated as anyone about the lack of offensive production. But he’s a realist. He knows that the season is young and the Buckeyes have plenty of time to prove they can be an effective offensive football team.
“I think we’re just trying to find our way,” Gonzalez said. “It is only the fourth game of the year. It is taking a little bit of time, but we all realize that come Big Ten time, we all have to step it up a lot. I feel confident that we will.”
Gonzalez was not taken aback that there was not an offensive player of the week, nor an offensive lineman of the week.
“It didn’t surprise me very much at all,” he said. “I personally didn’t think we played very well and the score kind of showed that, given the opportunities and the fact that the defense was so outstanding. You look at the score and we didn’t do that much. So, it didn’t surprise me very much at all.”
Gonzalez was asked if it’s a relief that OSU finally settled on one quarterback last week.
“Well, for me, honestly, since forever, it really hasn’t mattered to me,” he said. “I have the same rhythm and the same thought process no matter who’s in the football game. But it is nice, I suppose, to have one guy that you can sort of develop a chemistry with.”
One thing that separates Smith from Zwick is the velocity in which Smith throws the ball. Sometimes he puts too much mustard on his passes.
“Yeah, he throws a hard ball sometimes,” Gonzalez said. “But I love the way he throws, personally. I know Coach Tressel mentioned that sometimes he would like to see a little more touch. But if you watch him throw that deep ball, it’s a thing of beauty. That thing is the tightest spiral you have ever seen.”
But Gonzalez would like to see Smith tone it down a little bit on the quick slants.
“Yeah, catch it or wear it on your shirt, I guess,” Gonzalez said with a laugh.
Smith is a natural leader and players seem to respond to him, but he doesn’t go overboard in terms of chewing people out in the huddle.
“Well, he has a fiery personality when get to the sidelines, or when we get to the locker room, things of that nature,” Gonzalez said. “But when we’re actually on the field, he’s a pretty calm guy.”
Gonzalez was asked if he think Smith was pressing a bit against SDSU, it being his first start since his now-legendary performance in the 2004 Michigan game.
“As far as him pressing, I don’t know that he’s pressing necessarily,” Gonzalez said. “He’s trying to make plays, as we all are. Sometimes the defense gets the better of you and that might have happened a little bit more than we would all have liked against San Diego State, but that wasn’t just Troy, it was all of us.”
As the Buckeyes prepare for Iowa, they can’t help but think of last year’s 33-7 drubbing in Iowa City.
“Well, last year, I remember leaving very disappointed,” Gonzalez said. “And that was the first game that I ever really got into and that was my first catch, but I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life. Despite the fact that I should have been feeling great about myself, we were just so terrible that it certainly is a motivating factor this year, for me anyway, just to go out and show people across the country that the 33-7 game was not us.”
Ted Ginn Jr. received most of the publicity coming into the season, but another OSU receiver is stepping up with a big season. This might be the final season in a Buckeye uniform for junior Santonio Holmes and he is making the most out of it.
“I think he’s the best receiver in the country,” Gonzalez said of Holmes. “He’s an exceptional route runner, he’s got great hands and he always seems to make plays. And you watch him and you think, ‘Man, it looks so easy when he does it. Why can’t everybody do that?’ But he just has a knack for making plays.”
* Junior defensive lineman David Patterson is playing a key role this year, switching back and forth from tackle to end.
Patterson is excited to being Big Ten play. He wants to help OSU grab its first outright conference championship since 1984.
“Yeah, it’s really special when you open up the Big Ten because you know every game is going to be a battle,” he said. “Those guys are going to bring it as hard as anyone. When you’re the Big Ten, there’s so much tradition between these schools and when you’re playing in those games you’re playing for all the Buckeyes in the past. It’s just a special feeling when you being Big Ten competition.”
Patterson says the key to beating the Hawkeyes is containing Drew Tate.
“The key against Drew Tate is everyone doing their job,” he said. “Guys can’t run by the quarterback. You have to realize who you are playing. When you have a scrambling quarterback back there and you’re rushing, you really have to know who you’re playing. I was calling him a little Mike Vick when I was watching him on film because he’s so elusive like that. Like when we were getting ready for (Texas’) Vince Young, you just have to know and be aware of who is back there. Sometimes you might have to change up your moves because you know you have to keep him in the pocket.”
But Patterson didn’t just compare Tate to Mike Vick, did he?
“I mean, he’s a great player,” Patterson said. “I think he was Big Ten Player of the Year last year. So, I know he’s a great player and we will really have to be on our ‘A’ game to stop him.”
* Senior defensive end Mike Kudla is having a solid season and knows that Saturday’s game against Iowa is a big one.
“There are several factors,” Kudla said. “It is the start of the Big Ten and definitely because of what happened last year. It's another huge test. With the Big Ten, we will see a lot of running teams and a lot of right-up-in-your-face type stuff.”
Kudla was asked what went wrong last year in Iowa City and how the Buckeyes were able to rebound from that loss.
“We just had a breakdown in all factors: special teams, offense and defense,” he said. “It's just one of those things that is hard to explain. It was a low point for us, but it also kind of rebounded our season. We came back and (Tressel) said, `We can go up or we can go down from here.' The seniors kind of looked at us and said, `We want to change this around and make the best of this season.' We responded to that.”
As for this year’s game, Kudla says revenge won’t be a big factor. He just wants to emerge with a victory.
“It's not so much of a revenge thing,” he said. “They're a good team and we have to go
out and do our thing. If we think that it's about revenge or this and that, it will take away from our game plan and what we're trying to do.”
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Upvote
0