Ohio State playing for more than just a victory

Mark Whicker

Jim Tressel has coached 282 college football games, none in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Hasn't even visited, he said Tuesday.

Seventy of his Ohio State players are from Ohio itself. All but one of the coaches went to an Ohio college, including Tressel and his brother Dick (Baldwin-Wallace, where their dad Lee coached).

Although the Buckeyes recruit nationally, they run one of the most self-sufficient programs in college football. USC tried to nudge Ted Ginn Jr. out of Cleveland, but Tressel signed him.

"Chris Wells visited here," Pete Carroll said, "and then signed with them the day he got back."

That is why the past two BCS national championship losses have been so damaging. The Buckeyes looked as uncomfortable as Ralph and Alice Kramden vacationing in the Phillippines.

Florida crushed them, 41-14. LSU flicked them aside, 38-24. A 23-1 record in those regular seasons drifted into vapor.

Ohio State was universally labeled too slow, too landlocked, as if Tressel were Woody Hayes.

So here comes Saturday, the Buckeyes back in a foreign land. And perhaps this is the overlooked vibe, underneath a week of torrential analysis.

USC needs to win this game because (A), well, it's scheduled and (B) it might lead to a national title.

Ohio State needs to win this game to reclaim its own soul.

"It's a perfect storm," Kirk Herbstreit said.

He is the former Buckeye quarterback and current ESPN analyst, and he was unmercifully realistic Tuesday.

"I can never remember the Big Ten being regarded the way it is now," he said. "In 2006 you had people arguing about whether Florida or Michigan belonged in the championship game, and Ohio State didn't take Florida seriously, and you saw what happened. Last year you had Michigan being embarrassed by Appalachian State, and Oregon running around like Michigan was wearing ankle weights. Then LSU beat Ohio State and the Big Ten had a tough bowl season.

"I was in Florida last week and you can imagine what I heard from their fans about the Big Ten when Ohio State was playing (a 26-14, throat-gripper against Ohio)," Herbstreit added. "They were saying, don't worry, you guys will be playing easy games soon enough. So this is very big for Ohio State."

Herbstreit always has been smooth, fair, prepared. If he were as outspoken on the air as he was Tuesday, he'd be one of the top opinionators on TV, regardless of sport.

He called the celebration penalty on Washington's Jake Locker "horrific," and he said Cal was a Pac-10 threat because it had lost some "egomaniacs." He also dismissed the notion that Ohio State conquers the heartland with a brigade of covered wagons and plowhorses.

"If you saw the NFL combine in Indianapolis and saw all the Ohio State athletes, you'd say, 'wow,'" Herbstreit said, knowing that eight Buckeyes have been first-round picks in the past three drafts.

"The Florida game, you noticed the difference in speed. The LSU game was decided in the trenches by a defensive line that was from another world. But it's not that Ohio State didn't have great talent on the field. What they need to do, in games like this one, is just go ahead and turn it loose."

They have plenty saved up after Saturday, when they trailed Ohio and its backup quarterback for three quarters. Neither Tressel nor the players sugarcoated that effort.

This team has 34 fourth- or fifth-year players and 18 returning starters, including a few, like linebacker James Laurinaitis and cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, that could have turned pro.

This game probably matches the two best coaches in America. Before Tressel, Ohio State was 6-6 and 8-4 and had lost five of six Michigan games. Tressel, the winner of four Division I-AA titles at Youngstown State and the BCS title for OSU in '01, has taken the Buckeyes to Carroll's heights. At this point, a Rose Bowl game would be a faint disappointment.

"Accountability, discipline, great recruiting," Herbstreit said. "Tressel made these guys play like a team again. A lot of people thought he'd be Woody Hayes, but he's absolutely on the other end of the spectrum, the way he motivates. He has a very cerebral approach."

Carroll has the glint of a coach who knows that it's Marquee Week, but then he's usually that way. "We think every game is the biggest game we've ever going to play," he said.

But Carroll isn't deaf to the sizzle. He was an assistant for Earle Bruce at Ohio State in 1979, chased the retired Hayes down the street one day to talk football, and was at the Rose Bowl when Charles White implanted the Buckeyes on USC's winning drive.

The Trojans should be comfortable Saturday, at home against the Big Ten, with 91,000 fevered friends.

The Buckeyes will be strangers, squinting into the sun, unloved and wounded and more than a little desperate. Upsets have sprung from less.

Ohio State brings a bit of the unknown to Coliseum

By Phil Collin, Staff Writer

As humbling as sound defeats in the past two national championship games might be for Ohio State, the Buckeyes harbor no Buffalo Bills insecurity issues.

This is the year they've been waiting for after stocking up on talent, convincing stars to make the NFL wait for their services and fueling their motivation with a couple of painful lessons.

USC coach Pete Carroll is well aware of what OSU coach Jim Tressel has been building, having collided with him a few times on the recruiting trail.

USC's players view game tape and see as many stars for the Buckeyes as the Trojans put on the field. If you're not an All-American at Ohio State, you're on somebody's watch list. You don't have to be Kirk Herbstreit to know about this team's gifts.

With all that said, it's still easy to glance at the 2008 Buckeyes and recall Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid blurting out, "Who are these guys?"

Which Ohio State team showed up to play Ohio on Saturday? Those Buckeyes struggled almost as much as former OSU coach John Cooper did against Michigan during his reign in Columbus.

And it didn't quiet the crowd from the South that loves to point out that the element of speed is not quite up to, uh, speed against Southeastern Conference teams.

"We expected we were going to do a lot better than what we did the last couple of games," Buckeyes quarterback Todd Boeckman said. "We'll watch ourselves and improve on what we did. ... It wasn't just one person, it was the team in general."

The No. 5 Buckeyes (2-0) meet the No. 1 Trojans (1-0) on Saturday evening at the Coliseum, and no one's expecting anything but the best from Ohio State. Yet there's a nagging feeling, not only because of OSU's lackluster 26-14 victory over Ohio, but also because of some uncertainty surrounding the Buckeyes.

Running back Chris "Beanie" Wells has a mysterious foot injury, which means he'll be in the starting lineup and could scare USC with every carry. Then there's the X factor - Terrelle Pryor. The freshman quarterback has seen only limited time so far in two games, but the nation remains curious to see when he is unleashed.

Pryor, a 6-foot-6, 235-pounder from Jeannette, Pa., not only has the ability to pass, but if he takes off and scrambles, he'll remind the Trojans of, well, they know darn well who.

"He's a great running quarterback," Carroll said. "As tall as Vince Young, and I don't know if he's as fast or not, but he sure looks it. We sure thought in recruiting that he could be that type of a player. They're very fortunate to get him."

USC tried a full-court press on Pryor during recruiting, sending basketball coach Tim Floyd in for the double-team. USC hopes to be more successful in its efforts to contain him on the field.

He would certainly add a dimension to the Buckeyes, who rely on Boeckman as a prototypical pocket quarterback. And the senior doesn't even mind having the precocious rookie looming in his rear-view mirror.

"You've got to go in there and play your game and not look over your shoulder," Boeckman said. "He came in, he wanted to learn, get better, he was very critical of what he did, and he was asking me questions.

"I knew this guy wanted to get better. I knew this guy was going to be special."

Make no mistake, Pryor is expected to be special. The OSU veterans knew that, too, and wanted to make sure the player who was the centerpiece of a melodramatic recruiting saga started his career with a clear head.

"He's been accepted with open arms," senior cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. "When he first got here, it was hard for a freshman to deal with the media already making him to be this great player who hadn't taken a snap yet. As older guys, we wanted to make sure he was humble, able to take on that responsibility. We had a few talks during the summer.

"He's a guy who's thirsty to learn the game, he's humble. He leads the guys out there well on the field and is gaining respect. It wasn't easy for him to come here and gain our respect, just like any other player coming in would have to earn our respect. I think he didn't expect that, and when it came to pass, he learned to respect and that humbled him and smoothed himself out."

And eventually could be the dynamic that enables Ohio State to elude SEC criticism. Not to mention USC.

"We have to work on both schemes," USC defensive end Kyle Moore said. "You never know what they're going to throw at you. We prepare so well and coach Carroll does a great job of preparing us.

"We've had two weeks to prepare for them, so we've been working on both of them day by day. By game time we hope we'll see the same things, but if we don't, we'll be ready."

Reminded that the Trojans had a month to prepare for Young before the 2006 Rose Bowl, Moore laughed.

"Yeah, you're right, we did. Yeah, that happens," he said with a sigh. "It wasn't meant for us to win that game."

For this one, the Trojans hope they know who shows up.

To a man, Trojans should be motivated for this one

Bill Plaschke

September 10, 2008

The leader of the Ohio State program fell all over his sweater vest spouting admiration for the USC program Tuesday, Coach Jim Tressel claiming he believed that the Trojans played football "the right way."

We know better.

We know what the Buckeyes really think.

We know, because a few days ago, one of their players told us.

His name is Ray Small. He is a junior wide receiver in his third season with the program. He leads the team in receptions, and has scored a touchdown on a punt return.

He has a reputation for being a bit of a flake, but he is not some wide-eyed freshman or bitter benchwarmer.

He is an Ohio State veteran who, in a locked-down program where everyone seems to look and sound the same, is probably not speaking only for himself.

In an interview with ESPN.com last weekend, Small said he believed USC lacked class, discipline and integrity.

"I took my visit to USC, I'm like, 'How are they successful? They're not even serious about the game,' " Small said. "Before the game, they're all going crazy. Me and [defensive end] Rob Rose was on the visit and I'm looking like, 'Wow.'

"And then the coach said, 'You better get out of here. It's 'bout to get hectic.' "

He compared that to his recruiting visit to Ohio State.

"And then I come on the [Columbus] visit and before the game, it's all quiet, everybody getting taped, coaches talking, it's the total opposite," he said.

Then he gave his evaluation:

It's "a class thing. Here at Ohio State, they teach you to be a better man. There, it's just all about football."

A better man, perhaps, unless you are Ohio inmate Maurice Clarett.

Don't get me started.

I'm still furious at the Buckeyes for ruining the last two national championship games by failing to show up in either.

I'm sick of annually watching them awkwardly slog their way to the top of the polls by winning a conference that has become college football's version of the International League.

And, yeah, at the end of that 2002 national championship game against Miami? Bad call. That was not pass interference. Period.

It's not that slow, boring, overrated football bothers me. Hey, during the Pete Carroll era, I've sat through entire bowl games featuring Iowa, Michigan and Illinois.

Sumo football, I can handle.

But when those wrestlers and their fans show up with the attitude that this is the right way to play football? That this is the only way to play football?

That's another story. And when it comes to Saturday's game in the Coliseum, that's the story.

In varying forms, I've been hearing Small's comments since Tressel and Carroll were both hired eight years ago.

It's as if Ohio State folks believe they invented the game, while USC has only exploited it.

Ohio State plays football, USC entertains with it. Ohio State teaches football, USC taunts with it.

Blah, blah, blah.

This condescending attitude is so prevalent in Ohio that this summer, even former Trojan Carson Palmer, who works in Cincinnati and never criticizes anybody, couldn't help himself.

"I cannot stand the Buckeyes," he said in an interview on 570-KLAC.

The words of Palmer and Small echo the perceptions of thousands.

This game is about those perceptions.

It's more than a football clash, it's a culture clash.

It's about a Buckeye nation not used to giving respect against a Trojan nation that cannot stand to be disrespected.

"They'll come out here on Saturday and find out who we are," said defensive tackle Fili Moala.

It's about a button-down program that feels entitled against an open-collar program that eats entitlement.

"We don't care what anybody thinks," said USC safety Kevin Ellison. "We're gonna play football against them on Saturday."

Carroll refused to enter the Small scrum, saying, "He's just one kid, what does he know?"

Tressel, in his conference call with USC reporters, also downplayed it Tuesday, saying, "Obviously it wasn't a good thing, but he's a good kid."

But this will not be forgotten. The Trojans won't talk much about it, but they also won't forget it.

Just ask Nebraska defensive back Andre Jones, who ripped USC before the 2006 game, and was promptly challenged on the field by Dwayne Jarrett, who beat him for a touchdown in a 28-10 Trojans win.

Or just ask Cal receiver DeSean Jackson, who ripped USC or its players in consecutive years, and was manhandled both years, seven catches total.

The Trojans will take this personally. Ohio State will see. Small will see.

What that unnamed Trojans coach told him on his recruiting trip three years ago, it will be true again Saturday.

It's 'bout to get hectic.

On a quest to find USC's best running back

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

LOS ANGELES -- It's clear that Pete Carroll needs our help. The USC coach acts like he's content listing six tailbacks on his depth chart -- four loosely connected to the first team by an ambiguous "or" -- but that can't possibly be right.

Obviously, he's just going through a Hamlet phase -- he can't make a decision. That must be why he's running the quintessential backfield by committee.

"There's no committee," Carroll said. "We don't talk like that."

Then what should Joe McKnight, C.J. Gable, Stafon Johnson and Allen Bradford be called? A backfield by ensemble? Free-form jazz backfield? The Sybil Backfield?

Sure, the four combined for 202 yards in the 52-7 win at Virginia. Sure, Carroll's approach to coaching seems to work fairly well, with all those conference and national championships and whatever.

But there's a simple way to resolve this.

Talk to the Trojans defenders. They know who The Man really is.

They see these guys every day, and on competition Tuesdays, both sides go full-speed trying to make the other look bad.

So, Fili Moala, what do you think?

"Pick your poison," Moala said. "Do you want to get shook out of your jock strap or do you want to get run over?"

Recalling some jock strap issues during preseason camp, we're glad that Moala went with the latter.

The defensive tackle picked the 225-pound Bradford as the hardest to handle.

"He's very capable of running you clean over and just applying his will on you," Moala said. "You've got to hit Allen before he hits you."

Considering that Bradford has made up the most ground in the on-going competition, that sounds like a good pick.

Safety Kevin Ellison tips his cap to Bradford, too.

But then he goes with C.J. Gable, whose 73 yards on nine carries topped the Virginia stat sheet.

"All our backs got something different," Ellison said.

Fine. So, let's break the tie. Kyle Moore: Bradford or Gable?

"Joe [McKnight] gives me a little problem because he's so elusive," Moore said.

McKnight had 60 yards on six carries against Virginia, his 10 yards-per-tote average leading the Trojans, and he also caught four passes for 24 yards.

Hmm. These guys must have gotten together and talked in order to ruin this survey.

Perhaps Ohio State coach Jim Tressel can help. He first described the list of backs thusly: "On and on and on."

But then, probably just to spite our survey, he threw in the name of fullback Stanley Havili.

"What I love about them is you never hear of them complaining that they need the ball more," Tressel said.

Well, how could he hear that? He's Ohio State's coach. And he claims to never read the papers. Still, he's got a point. There have only been the merest whispers of complaint since these guys arrived over the past three seasons.

How can that be? These guys are competitive. They all were hyped high school recruits. How can they not complain, at least just a little behind the scenes? For example, how does it feel to be Allen Bradford, after an impressive spring and preseason, sitting on the sidelines watching McKnight or Gable or Johnson pilfering balls that he should be carrying? Surely that makes him want to lash out.

"I get real anxious," Bradford said. "I'll be on the sideline seeing Joe, Stafon and C.J. get carries and it just makes me want to go out there and work harder."

"Work harder"? That's not the colorful, controversial sort of comment we were looking for.

The Four Horsemen of the Apportion give each other plenty of grief, Bradford said, but they understand the system. Each has a package of plays that accentuates their strengths.

Yes, Bradford admitted, there are moments in running backs meetings when he wants to hoot down discussions of his backfield mates plays. But not during the serious business of a game.

"If it's your number, then we go," he said. "If not, then you've just got to wait until your number is called."

It appears, to be serious for a moment, that the buy-in for the approach operates well for a number of reasons. The players trust the system because they keep winning. They also feel like even without 20 touches a game, they will be able to showcase their skills enough to impress NFL scouts. And building an unselfish, team-first reputation probably won't hurt them at the next level, either.

Carroll seems to find it amusing that reporters are so obsessed with his backfield. He just doesn't see anything terribly complicated about it.

"We try to find niches for them within our scheme," he said. "It has nothing to do with anything else other than we're trying to win."

USC No. 1 again as ECU in AP poll for first time in nine years

NEW YORK -- East Carolina can't play the underdog role anymore.

After opening the season by upsetting two ranked teams, the Pirates earned themselves a place in the AP Top 25 for the first time in nine years.

East Carolina was No. 14 in the media poll released Sunday. Southern California remained No. 1 and Georgia was No. 2. Ohio State's sluggish 26-14 victory against Ohio, without star tailback Chris Wells, on Saturday cost the Buckeyes two spots in the rankings. They fell to No. 5 behind No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Florida.

The Buckeyes will have a chance to move back up when they visit USC on Saturday.

USC received 33 of a possible 65 first-place votes and 1,577 points. Georgia got 23 first-place votes and 1,525 points. Oklahoma (two), Florida (four), Ohio State (one), No. 6 Missouri (one) and No. 7 LSU (one) also received first-place votes. The Buckeyes had 15 first-place votes last week.

Texas, Auburn and Wisconsin round out the top 10.

East Carolina's latest big win was its third straight against a ranked opponent, dating to last season's Hawaii Bowl victory against Boise State, and probably the Pirates' most impressive.

East Carolina manhandled previously No. 8 West Virginia 24-3, shutting down Pat White and the Mountaineers' speedy spread offense. That came a week after the Pirates took out Virginia Tech.

West Virginia dropped all the way to No. 25.

The last time East Carolina was on a roll like this was 1999, when the Pirates were ranked most of the season before falling out on the final poll of the season. East Carolina hasn't been ranked this highly since 1991, when the Pirates finished the season at No. 9.

The Pirates now shift to being the favorite instead of the underdog. They open Conference USA play at Tulane this week, then travel to rebuilding North Carolina State. Their next home game is against Houston before they have a week off.

The second 10 starts with Alabama, followed by Texas Tech, Kansas, and the Pirates.

Arizona State is No. 15 and Pac-10 rival Oregon is 16th. Penn State moved up two spots to No. 17 after blowing out Oregon State 45-14, and BYU slipped three places to No. 18 after needing a blocked PAT -- and the help of a controversial penalty -- in the final seconds to preserve a 28-27 victory against Washington.

No. 19 South Florida and No. 20 Wake Forest held their spots after dramatic victories.

The final five were Fresno State, Utah, California, Illinois and West Virginia.

Cal moved into the rankings for the first time since last season after a 66-3 victory against Washington State.