Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John PorentasScoreboard: Football fans love stats, but when you really get down to it, there is only one stat that counts, and that's scoring. When it comes to those stats, the Buckeyes have been outstanding this season.
OSU currently leads the Big Ten and is third in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just nine points per game. Wisconsin is second-best in the Big Ten at 12.7 points per game, Michigan third at 13.9.
On offense, the Buckeyes are second in the Big Ten at 33.6 points per game, just behind league-leading Wisconsin who is averaging 33.9 points per contest. Purdue is third at 33.1, Michigan fourth at 31.1.
Dipsey-Doo: Ohio State has not been known for a lot of trick plays under OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel, but against the Spartans OSU showed some very creative play calling, some of which worked, and some of which didn't.
One the first play of OSU's first possession of the second half, Tressel called a reverse to Anthony Gonzalez that went for 29 yards from the OSU 49 to the MSU 24. Tressel called another reverse on the very next play, this one to Ted Ginn, that went for 16 more yards to set up a first-and-goal at the eight-yard line. Tressel was asked after the game if he had every called consecutive reverses before in a football game.
"Probably never," said Tressel.
"They were playing heavy in the box, dropping safeties into the box and they were really making it difficult for us to get enough helmets to be consistent running the football. Whenever people are overdoing in one place you can hurt them in others. We talked at half time that maybe we could hurt them with reverses," Tressel said.
The play calling sequence apparently caught the fancy of the OSU offensive huddle.
Kirk Barton "I can't say what Troy said in the huddle. It was pretty funny" said OSU offensive lineman Kirk Barton.
"I can't say because there was a couple of swear words. We've never done that in practice or in walk through or anything and then they call it. After we run a reverse it's probably the last play they expect us to call on them and it worked. Coach is giving opposing coaches something to look at on film, just giving opposing coaches a bit more of a headache at night," Barton said.
Perhaps the most creative single play of the day was a reverse to Ginn that was a designed pass play. That play, however, didn't work out so well. For starters, the primary target of the pass was covered.
"He was looking for Gonzo and it wasn't open. Then he started running around," said Tressel.
Ginn started left, reversed his field, then went right and finally threw a pass toward tight end Rory Nicol, but the ball fell incomplete.
"I was hoping Rory would catch it and take it to the house," said Barton.
"I like to see it when Rory scores because he's an offensive lineman and it makes us all happy."
Slump?: Some people have been wondering if Ted Ginn Jr. has been slumping as a returner. They haven't been watching. While Ginn had not broken a punt return for a touchdown until Saturday, he hasn't really been shut down either. As a matter of fact,
Ted Ginn Ginn now leads the Big Ten in punt returns, averaging 13.3 yards per return. He also has the lone punt return for touchdown in the Big Ten this year and the longest in the Big Ten this year. Michigan's Steve Breaston has more punt return yards (228) than Ginn (186), but Breaston has 22 return attempts, Ginn just 14. OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel was pleased to see Ginn break off a big one against Michigan State.
"We haven't had too many kicked straight at him and that guy kicked the heck out of that ball. It probably landed 48 yards or better, and when you give Teddy some space he's as good as it gets," said Tressel. "That may have been one of the first times he got space in between the hash marks and he's going to go with it."
Redemption: OSU freshman tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells got off to an inauspicious start in the game when he fumbled the ball in a short-yardage situation on OSU's first possession. Wells made no excuses after the game.
Chris Wells "I was being irresponsible. I wasn't holding onto the football. That's it," said Wells.
The play put the OSU defense in a hole, but they bailed out the Buckeyes with a defensive stand that did not allow the Spartans to get on the board when James Laurinaitis got a sack to end the threat.
"That was the first time we did that for a long time, put them in a predicament like that and they sacked them to the point where they can't kick a field goal," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.
"That drive was probably minus yards total. You talk about relief for the offense, the the offense took over and I think we may have gone and score. You talk about the tables being turned, that was huge."
Though he fumbled, OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel got Wells right back into the game at the first opportunity.
"He's our short-yardage back per se," said Tressel. . I don't know exactly what happened on that fumble. We can't have those, we survived that one, but we needed him to go in there and get back on the horse that threw him because we're going to need him.
Wells was relieved for the confidence from his head coach after his miscue.
"I'm so grateful. It showed how much confidence they had in me to throw me back into the game even after I fumbled," Wells said.
"I get discouraged anytime I have a fumble. Troy told me to not worry about it, to get back out there and play football, that it's a long game."
Improvement: An OSU defense that started the season just a little bit on the shaky side is continuing to get better, at times making a pretty good MSU offense look rather inept. The Buckeyes are getting better at linebacker and in the defensive backfield, and the defensive line has gone from good to even better. Despite the absence of starter David Patterson against Michigan State, the defensive line dominated, but it did have a little help from a change in defensive scheme that allowed Quinn Pitcock to have a big day.
Quinn Pitcock "We put him on the nose a little bit on the dime type things and he's hard to block by yourself," said Tressel.
"I don't know exactly if we had it such that the had to block him solely by themselves, but if you try to block him by yourself, you're in trouble, then to have to snap the ball along with it. Quinn is a great player. He and David between the two of them I don't know how many people could have a better tandem inside.
"If you can get a person one-on-one it's always a lot easier than if you have to play against two guys," Pitcock commented.
One of the biggest moments for the defense against the Spartans was their stop after the fumble by Wells on OSU's first possession.
"We were sitting there getting ready and they fumbled. We practice situations like that, sudden changes, and we went out there and I think we did a good job. The penalty helped a little bit, but I think we did a good job of making plays right there," said linebacker Marcus Freeman.
The series ended with a sack of Drew Stanton to take MSU out of field goal range.
"We were in control the whole game," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "But that first sack turned momentum around."
Prey:? The Buckeyes have been number one in the nation since the preseason polls came out. That makes them a rich prize for any team that can upset them. The Buckeyes, however, see it a bit differently.
"I think we're the hunted, but we're still hunting ourselves," said defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock
Troy Smith "We're not the hunted," agreed quarterback Troy Smith.
"We come out every day and play with the same mentality, lets dominate, dominate, dominate," Smith said.
For his part, MSU Head Coach John L. Smith has seen all he wants to see of the number one ranked Buckeyes.
"Thank goodness we don't have to play number one again," Smith said.
Cool: OSU quarterback Troy Smith continues to remain the leading contender for the Heisman trophy. Smith had a Heisman moment in the MSU game when he completed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiske with a would-be tackler at his ankles and after escaping a fierce rush. OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel said that Smith's calm under duress, particularly in the red zone, is of the traits that makes Smith what he is.
"His awareness of the whole picture is outstanding," said Tressel.
"Troy's got a lot of poise. In the red zone the whole deal is that it has a little more pressure to it, because the DBs don't have to back up, everyone is closer to you in the red zone and there's usually more blitzing going on and he's just got poise.
"It doesn't bother him. All this stuff flying around him, he's still got his eyes up and his feet under him and reading what's going on. He has a lot of confidence in his receivers, and he just has an ability to remain calm in a fiery situation."
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