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Tressel: OSU Put Open Week To Good Use

BuckNutty

Hear The Drummer Get Wicked
Staff member
Bookie
Tressel: OSU Put Open Week To Good Use
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Mark Rea
BuckeyeSports.com Managing Editor

Some head coaches dislike the disruption open weeks cause with their football schedules. Don’t count Jim Tressel among them.


Associated Press

Jim Tressel spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon, previewing the Northwestern game.
“I think it came a pretty good time for us,” the OSU head coach said during his weekly press luncheon. “I think we had a good setup to the Big Ten schedule this year. We had three tough nonconference games against good opponents that tested us pretty well. Then we had the start of school during an open week. Now we’re ready to begin our conference season and I think the players are excited about getting it under way.”

The Buckeyes will open their Big Ten season Saturday night in Evanston, Ill., taking on Northwestern. OSU has never lost a conference opener under Tressel and hasn’t lost one since the disastrous 1999 season when the team absorbed a 42-17 rout at the hands of Wisconsin.

“This is where our season really begins,” Tressel said. “The impact of the Big Ten season is critical. If you ask our players why they came to Ohio State, most of them will tell you that they came to play in the Big Ten. Not that our first three games weren’t important – they most certainly were in terms of telling us where we are and what we need to improve upon. But the Big Ten season is different. It has a different feel. Everything will be magnified now that the Big Ten season is upon us.”

Tressel admitted that the term “open week” was a bit misleading because he put his team through several tough practice sessions.

“We got after it pretty well last week,” he said. “We had a couple of good, hard, tough practices and then had a sort of scrimmage on Friday. Then we took Saturday off and let them rest up a little bit and came back Sunday to begin our normal game-week preparations.”

The Buckeyes used the practice sessions to work on fundamentals that had waned some after the first three games of the season. For example, the team worked on its running attack and paid special attention to holding onto the ball. In just three games, OSU has committed eight turnovers – four fumbles lost and four interceptions.

At the same time, the team spent part of its workout schedule trying to emulate Northwestern’s unusual spread offense. “We did that a little bit in our late practice on Sunday,” Tressel said. “I don’t think people give Northwestern enough credit, especially with their offense. They have a quarterback (Brett Basanez) who can make things happen and we think their running back (Noah) Herron is outstanding. That offense will be a very good test for our defense.”

OSU has enjoyed success in the past couple of years against offenses similar to Northwestern that ask the quarterback to not only deliver the ball through the air but also move it around on the ground. Tressel offered a reason for that success.

“I think you can trace that to the fact that we have made it difficult for those teams to run,” he said. “We’ve done a pretty good job with that. Our defense has made some of those teams more one-dimensional, but that’s hard to do with Northwestern because Herron is so good.

“We do have good lateral speed on defense and we’re a pretty good tackling team in the open field. But we have to do those things again Saturday night.”

The specter of a night game also could have an effect on the outcome. Northwestern will play its second consecutive evening contest – they lost a 43-17 decision to Minnesota inside the Metrodome – while the Buckeyes last played after dark last season at Wisconsin, coming home 17-10 losers.

Nevertheless, Tressel said he thinks his players like the idea of a night game.

“Fortunately, our conference doesn’t stray much from Saturday games, so this is about as unusual as it gets for us,” he said. “But I think our players will be excited about playing at night. It will be in front of a packed house on national television – just the way our guys like it.

“Playing at night does alter the routine a little bit. We’re trying to schedule a walk-through at (Dyche Stadium) during the morning and then we’ll have a little more film study time than normal. And I’m sure our guys will get together and watch some of the games that are on during the afternoon. But when it comes right down to it, game time is 8:07 (Central) and we’d better be ready to play at 8:07.”

DEPTH CHART MOVES

There have a couple of shakeups on the depth chart for Northwestern. Perhaps the most surprising slides Santonio Holmes over to the starting split end spot and the installation of Bam Childress as the starting flanker. However, Tressel said there shouldn’t be any surprise at that move.

“I think Bam has earned the right to start,” the OSU coach said. “This means so much to him and I’m excited to see how he’s handling it. He has worked extremely hard to get to this point. And besides, it’s not really that much of a difference. Bam has started for us as a third receiver.”

Childress has become the Buckeyes’ possession receiver this season, latching onto 10 balls for 125 yards. His starting role means that sophomore Roy Hall will now come off the bench at split end while freshman Ted Ginn Jr. backs up Childress at flanker and inherits his position as the slot receiver. Hall has five receptions so far this season for 61 yards and a touchdown while Ginn has three catches for nine yards.

The other major shakeup is at strong safety where Donte Whitner has overtaken Tyler Everett is a battle that began last spring. Whitner has been charging hard lately, registering a career-high nine tackles against Marshall and grabbing his first career interception against North Carolina State, a pick that set up Ohio State’s only touchdown in that 22-14 victory.

Also of depth chart note is the fact that sophomore Stan White Jr. has earned a second straight starting nod at fullback against Northwestern.

RUNNING GAME WOES

Tressel briefly addressed his team’s running game problems but refused to place the blame on anything specific including senior tailback Lydell Ross.

“I think Lydell has been running hard and playing tough,” Tressel said. “He’s put the ball on the ground a couple of times and he can’t do that, but overall I think Lydell has played well.”

The Buckeyes are ninth in the conference in rushing offense, averaging just 121.0 yards per game on the ground. (Interestingly, perennial power runners Michigan is 10th at 103.0 and Iowa is 11th at 85.0). But while OSU is near the bottom of the pack as a team, Ross is actually the third-best rusher in the league statistically, averaging 94.0 yards per game. Only Minnesota’s tandem of Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney has better averages than Ross.

Still, much of Ross’ average came in the season opener when he rambled for 141 yards on 17 carries. In the two games subsequent to that, he has 141 yards but those have come on 49 carries.

Many media members and fans have lobbied Tressel to give freshman tailback Tony Pittman more carries, especially since his average is 8.3 yards on nine totes. And while some have suggested that more Pittman carries could light a fire under Ross the same way Ross did three years ago for then-senior Jonathan Wells, Tressel doesn’t believe there is a problem.

“I don’t know that Lydell needs his fire lit,” the OSU coach said. “But I think there is no doubt that Tony Pittman will get some more carries as we move forward. Three years ago, Lydell played a significant role for us when Jonathan had an outstanding season. Would we like the same kind of role to be played by Tony Pittman? Absolutely we would.”

INJURY REPORT

Tressel pronounced his team relatively injury-free as they embark upon the Big Ten season. Junior defensive end Mike Kudla has recovered from the neck/shoulder injury he sustained against Marshall that kept him on the sidelines against N.C. State. Also, senior fullback Branden Joe is nearly 100 percent after an ankle sprain that caused him to miss all of the nonconference season with the exception of a few snaps against the Wolfpack.

In addition, the prognosis for Dustin Fox’s recovery from a broken right forearm is encouraging. Originally thought to be out at least a month and perhaps as long as six weeks, Fox is now projected to return for the Iowa game on Oct. 16.

Fox, who underwent surgery to have a plate inserted into the bone to promote healing, is already running and catching the football in light drills. However, he has not been cleared for contact and still is barred from putting any pressure on the arm.

LUNCHEON LEFTOVERS

**Former Ohio State running backs coach Tim Spencer will serve as the honorary captain for this week’s game at Northwestern. Spencer left the Buckeyes last spring after 10 seasons to become running backs coach with the Chicago Bears. Ironically, it was at Dyche Stadium two years ago during a night game between OSU and Northwestern that Spencer was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight when a sideline argument between Maurice Clarett and him was captured by ESPN cameras and replayed roughly a million times.

**The game will be telecast on ESPN2 with a kickoff at 9:07 Eastern. The Deuce isn’t exactly trotting out their top broadcasting team, however, as Eric Collins will have the play-by-play and former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware will provide color analysis. Jimmy Dykes will be the sideline reporter.

**In case you missed it, ABC has exercised its option for the OSU-Wisconsin game on Oct. 9. That game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. in Ohio Stadium.

http://www.ohiostate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=336257
 
Another item of note from the PC was JT's analysis of the "ShowTime" scrimmage.....

TRESSEL: Most of the guys that were playing in that scrimmage were guys that weren't necessarily in the two deep, and a guy like Troy Smith got 10 plays, and we threw the ball, 10 plays, live, full rush, the whole deal. Kirk Barton and T.J. Downing got about 10 plays. Branden Joe got about four or five. So the guys that are in the two deep didn't get a whole bunch of time and they all did fairly well. The young guys, I thought Albert Dukes and Devin Lyons really shone. I thought Marcel Frost and Rory Nicol got a lot of good work. They're in the two deep, but yet haven't had a whole lot of playing time on Saturday. Some of those young linemen, some of those young D linemen, a guy like Chad Hoobler showed up pretty good. But I don't know that anything changed as to how we're going to attack practice today based on that. It's just good for them to get learning experience full speed ahead, have some fun, as much as anything, go out and have some fun. You need to be on the scout team and those kinds of things and Friday was kind of their day to, we call it show time, it was their time to be center stage.
 
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