Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John PorentasGinn Begins: The victory over Michigan State was a coming out party for wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. Ginn had shown flashes in recent games, but against the Spartans Ginn was the difference in the game, hands down. OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel gave no argument when that was suggested to him by media members after the game.
"You guys have already called it. Just look under the category that says Ginn. Teddy came up with some great plays," Tressel said.
Ginn's breakout game was a welcome shot in the arm for the OSU offense. Ginn said after the game that he had joked with his coach, OSU Wide Receivers and Kick Return game Coach Darrell Hazell, that today would be his breakout day.
"It's kind of odd because I told my coach during practice this week that I was going to try and ge three touchdowns, and hey, it happened," said Ginn.
"I was joking, but it just came out to be true," Ginn said.
What was Hazell's response?
"He said 'OK, Ted,'" said Ginn imitating a tone of incredulity that Hazell gave Ginn with his response.
Ginn's punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter, his third of the season, gave him the OSU record for most punt returns for a touchdown in a single season, and tied him for the career record.
OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel tried to describe what it is that makes Ginn so special.
"The thing that has impressed me the most about Teddy Ginn, you know how fast he was, but the way he catches the ball with his hands," said Tressel.
"To me, that's beyond what you see in a lot of very good receivers. I guess I take it for granted that he's faster than maybe anyone in college football, but he's got such great hands. That's what jumped out at me the first time we saw him on our field."
Ginn Going Forward: Ginn's breakout game against the Spartans may be a portent of greater things to come for the fleet freshman. According to Tressel, his development as an offensive threat, however, may have been slowed some this year because of the time he spent this fall working out with the defense. Because of that, he was behind in some offensive techniques, such as techniques against the strategy of jamming a receiver at the line of scrimmage, a strategy that has worked against Ginn this season.
"That was his biggest thing (getting jammed) because he missed the preseason work of being jammed and pressed and all those things," said Tressel.
"I think that was a little bit slower growth in that area. I think he's better at that now. If you're going to jam him, you better make sure you jam him or he'll be gone, but I think that will be something that many, many people will try to do to keep him from being able to get up the field quickly.'
As to Ginn, he is happy with his current role with the Buckeyes, but hasn't totally forgotten about defense either.
"Right now, I make my impact on offense because that's the only thing I've been playing," Ginn said.
"When I came in, I expected to play both sides of the ball. I didn't really know that I was going to be playing strictly offense until two weeks before the season.
"I had a preference, but now you can see what I can do. Next year is going to be a totally different year and I'll just come in and try it all over again," Ginn said.
Ginn added that he loves playing corner, but will not make a major issue of it all with the OSU coaching staff.
(what was your preference) Corner, but receiver's not bad.
"I'm going to try to (go both ways next season). I'm going to see what the coaches say, and just go with it," he said.
Lineup Shuffle: The Buckeyes had some surprise faces in the starting lineup when they took the field against the Spartans. Nick Mangold did not start due to unspecified reason, but Jim Tressel did say that the reason was not injury. Guard Doug Datish took Mangold's place at center, and T. J. Downing took over at guard for Datish. At left tackle, Rob Sims did not play due to an injury.
"I had a minor procedure on my back." Sims told the-Ozone.
Sims was replaced by freshman Steve Rehring at left tackle.
Also injured and not in action against the Spartans was freshman running back Antonio Pittman, who did not make the trip to East Lansing.
"Antonio Pittman just couldn't go hard enough," said Tressel.
"We felt that going on the road in the Big Ten we better take guys who were 100%.
"There were three or four tailbacks on the trip who were 100%, so we just chose not to bring him.
"He didn't practice full speed and he didn't practice contact, which we were hoping as the week got older it would happen, but it didn't."
Safety Nate Salley did not play because of injury, and fellow safety Donte Whitner saw action sparingly. Brandon Mitchell and Tyler Everett played most the way at safety, but late in the game, a familiar face was in a an unfamiliar position.
"I played some safety in the fourth quarter," said OSU corner Dustin Fox.
"At one point it was me and Mitchell at safety, Underwood and Ashton at corner. It was awesome, man, awesome. It's different," said Fox.
"It was new," said fellow defensive back Ashton Youboty.
"He used to play that position coming out of high school. He's practiced there a little. Not much, but enough to come in and play well."
The Run that Almost Wasn't: Maurice Hall went 51 yards for a touchdown late in the game to insure the Buckeye win. Hall's run came as the Buckeyes were trying to run time off the clock.
"The funny thing about that is that when I got in the huddle, I told him 'Don't be trying to squirm for more yards,' and he bounced it outside and took it to the house," said OSU quarterback Troy Smith.
Smith gave Hall that directive to make sure that there were no fumbles on the play, but Hall saw an opportunity and just went with the flow.
"I saw a lot of guys in the box, so I knew they were going to be playing inside run, so I decided to bounce outside and it worked out for us," said Hall.
Once Hall got the corner it was simply a footrace - which Hall won.
"I knew once I broke I had to go because I didn't want anybody to say I was getting caught. That's all I was thinking about while I was running," said Hall.
Staying in Step: The Buckeyes drew seven penalties in against the Spartans, many of them on offense at inopportune moments for things like illegal motion or false starts. Jim Tressel said that many of those penalties were not necessarily the fault of the linemen who jumped.
"Probably one of the things we have to do a better job on is sometimes when we're changing plays, cadence-wise I don't think we're as good as we should be and we had a couple of crucial motion penalties that I think were cadence oriented, but I think Troy did an excellent job," said Tressel.
Tressel said that despite the errors with cadence, Smith's play overall was good.
"He made tough yards and he's the kind of guy who those guys in the huddle believe he's going to take them down the field, and he did," said Tressel.
OSU wide receiver Santonio Holmes was also impressed with Smith's leadership, particularly in the fourth quarter when the Spartans downed a punt on the one-yard line to put the OSU offense in a real bind.
"Troy just came to the huddle and told everyone to get their stuff together, lets get off this goal line," said Holmes. "Even if we don't get too far, lets get us some good field position to punt the ball away."
The Buckeyes were able to move the ball out to the 38-yard line and Kyle Torano punted the ball to the the 21 complete the field position change.
Ball Hawk: A. J. Hawk's diving interception in the fourth quarter was nothing short of spectacular. The play caught the eye of Jim Tressel.
"That was an incredible pick," said Tressel.
"From where I was standing it looked like he landed in their bench.
"He's an amazing player. If he's not an All-American, I don't know what an All-American looks like. He's everything you would want in a football player."
(c) 2004 The O-Zone, O-Zone
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