Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John PorentasRoad Woes: With just three weeks left in the Big Ten season, there are six Big Ten teams that do not have a road win in league play. The Buckeyes are one of those teams, though OSU does own a road win at North Carolina State in a non-conference game.
"I think there's definitely an increased difficulty in playing on the road, because at home, you feel a lot more comfortable," said OSU senior tailback Maurice Hall.
"On the road, I think before the game is what really gets you because it's not your fans. It's their fans and you have to really cope with that. On third down and short their fans are really going to be into the game," Hall said.
The Buckeyes take to the road this weekend when they travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State after the Buckeyes reeled off two home wins. Jim Tressel agrees that fans can make the difference for the home team.
"I don't think you minimize at all the advantage of playing at home," said Tressel.
"If you look at the Big Ten schedule this past weekend, Michigan is significantly behind, but they're at home and there was an energy level and they were able to come back and win.
"Purdue went to Northwestern and couldn't beat Northwestern there. Minnesota went to Indiana and couldn't beat Indiana there.
"I think you're kidding yourself if you don't think that your opponents aren't going to be energized and play better. Really, if you watch the film this week of Michigan State, they've played significantly better this week in Spartan Stadium than maybe some others, although last weekend in Michigan Stadium they played very well, but it's significantly more difficult than the last two."
"I think especially in the Big Ten, you see the environments you go into, a lot of Big Ten Schools have great facilities (stadia) and they pack them in every weekend, and all their fans are loud and crazy, and it presents a lot of distractions," said senior defensive tackle Simon Fraser.
"When you go into a hostile environment and there's a little rivalry going on you want to be able to make sure that you don't give up big plays to get their crowd into it. You want to sort of take them out. That's probably the biggest disadvantage of being on the road," Fraser said.
So what do you have to do to win on the road?
"When you go on the road you just have to execute better," said linebacker Anthony Schlegel.
"It's their house, and they've got the comfort of being at home. In order to beat them, you've got to take the fight to them."
Scalded Dogs: Michigan State is coming off a heart-breaking loss to Michigan last weekend, a road loss in which they gave up a late lead in falling to their in-state rivals. The Spartans could go in the tank after that kind of loss, or they could come out swinging against the Buckeyes. OSU thinks it will be the latter.
"I'm sure that as they looked at their schedule, they circled eight days on their calendar from the Saturday they played Michigan until the Saturday they played Ohio State as being very important days that were really going to define their team," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.
"I'm sure in the first half of those eight days they're not pleased, but they have a chance in the back half of those eight days to make up for it.
"I'm sure as they worked out all summer and all winter they had a little special zero on this time of year, so I expect them, with the way they've played, the way they've improved, the way they handled the adversity early in the year, I expect them to play better than they've ever played," Tressel said.
Senior tailback Moe Hall agreed.
"I think they're definitely sad about losing the game against Michigan because they really feel like they should have won.
"I know they're going to prepare hard for us this week because they know we're going to come in ready to play.
"They know they can't come out thinking they're just going to win because they know we're going to play hard."
A BIG Impact: The Buckeyes have been tinkering with the offensive line lately. Freshman Steve Rehring has been getting onto the field at left tackle. When that happens, starting left tackle Rob Sims moved to left guard. Right guard Mike Kne says the rotation has its advantages.
"He's (Rehring) very raw an young, but he's got the size and capabilities. I think he's going to be the offensive lineman of the future here," said Kne.
"He's 6-8, 350. He's a lot of guy to push around. God blessed him that way," Kne said.
"I know that Robbie (Sims) likes to get down there and not have to worry about the technique so much, just bruise heads with the defensive tackles and get after it a little bit," said Kne of the arrangement.
"Steve's huge," said tailback Maurice Hall of Rehring.
"Steve works hard, and Steve wants to play. He's definitely happy he's in there and Steve's been doing pretty good."
"I think it definitely helps that we've been able to move Rob to guard and put Steve at tackle because Steve's such a big guy and Rob can move, so he can also run, because Rob's a great blocker and he can run, so why not put him at guard," Hall said.
Looser is Tighter: The Buckeyes are trying to tighten up a rushing defense that has been a little loose this season. According to some of the Buckeyes that play on that defense, being a little looser may be the key to tightening up.
"As a team we've talked about needing to let loose more and have more fun," said defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock.
"I think the last two games we've definitely started to letting loose, having more fun and not being worried about making mistakes. It has helped us make plays. It was just more of maturing a little bit," Pitcock said.
"Not as many people were taking chances to make plays," Pitcock explained.
"Everybody was more worried about being in their gaps or worried about being where they were supposed to be, which it perfectly fine, but you've got to take it to the next level.
"I think a lot of us are starting to take it to the next level and taking a chance to make a play. I think definitely that was to be expected because we were so young.
"It's something you learn over time because you're doing the right thing but there's still more," said Pitcock.
Linebacker Anthony Schlegel agreed.
"I think as people get more comfortable they're going to be looser. I think when we were losing, that doesn't happen here very often, people got a little uptight, they didn't want to make mistakes, and mistakes happened because of that," Schlegel said.
"Our thing at linebacker is if we see a gap and we shoot it, you better make that play, because that's not really how we were supposed to be fitting, so you better make it.
"Guys are willing to take that risk sometimes when they see something, and that all comes from watching film and being students of the game and knowing that in certain situations if this happens, I can go shoot my gun and I'm going to make that play," Schlegel said.
According to Pitcock, the concept even applies to the OSU coaching staff.
"I think our defensive coordinator Coach Snyder was being more cautious, now he's calling more blitzes, things like that. I think he's starting to get that attitude of lets go, lets go after them. I think it's a combination of everybody trying to go after them and make plays," Pitcock said.
Torano's Appeal: When the 2004 season began punting was a major concern, but Kyle Torano has come on to do a very adequate job as the Buckeye punter. Turano is averaging 42.9 yards per kick through five Big Ten games and 42.4 yards per kick in all games.
Those numbers are good, but not good enough for Torano.
"It's great that no one is saying anything bad about me, but right now I'm currently fourth in the Big Ten, and I'm not really happy with how I'm doing unless I'm on top," said Torano.
"This week I'm going to against the Michigan State punter and he's leading the Big Ten in average, so this is probably my biggest challenge in a punter vs. punter matchup."
Torano also revealed that though he has already been in college five years, he will appeal to the NCAA for an additional year of eligibility on the grounds that he entered college with an injury that prevented him from playing his first year.
"I tore my quad muscle on my right leg between my senior year in high school and my first year in college. I've got that all documented," Torano who said the appeal would be filed in the near future.
Walking Wounded: The Buckeyes will enter the game with MSU with a number of key injuries. Quarterback Justin Zwick remains out, and the Buckeyes are very thin at tight end where both Marcel Frost and Rory Nicol are hobbled by injury. Defensively, safeties Nate Salley and Donte Whitner both are ailing.
"I'd say the guy that has the least chance of playing is probably Nicol," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.
To shore up the tight end position, R. J. Coleman has been moved to tight end. Coleman came to OSU as a tight end out of high school, but has grown into a guard at 6-5, 295. Coleman has been practicing at guard, but is now back at tight end.
"I don't know if it was (tight ends coach) John Peterson or (offensive line coach) Jim Bollman early last week said, you know, R. J. Coleman is doing some great things in practice, scout team, with the first and second units. We need to find an increased role, and those guys said, let's move him to tight end, you know, with having some injuries," Tressel said.
On Tuesday, Tressel said that Whitner and Salley and had a good chance of playing this weekend, but on Wednesday did not sound quite so optimistic.
"We've got a number of guys, who, it's that time of year. We'll see how they practice," said Tressel.
Tressel said that Zwick has not been able to practice as much as he would like, but would make the trip to East Lansing.
"Justin didn't do everything. For sure he'll make the trip. I'm not sure he'll be able to step in and help," said Tressel.
No NCAA Implications: Tressel also announced this week that formerly suspended tailback Lydell Ross was practicing this week and would be available to play this weekend.
Ross was suspended over an incident involving forged tokens at a Columbus area night club. There had been whispers that there may have been NCAA implications in the situation, for instance if the tokens had been given to Ross by a booster, but the fact that Ross will play this weekend implies that Tressel is satisfied there are no NCAA implications in the situation.
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