Ohio State vs. Michigan: Game capsule, Buckeye Periscope
Associated Press
OHIO STATE (9-2) VS. MICHIGAN (3-8)
WHEN: Today, 12:08 p.m.
WHERE: Ohio Stadium, Columbus
TV/RADIO: Channel 5; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM
RECORDS: Ohio State (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten) beat Illinois 30-20 on the road last week. Michigan (3-8, 2-5) lost 21-14 at home to Northwestern.
COACHES: Jim Tressel is 82-18 in his eighth season at Ohio State and 217-75-2 in his 23rd year as a head coach. Rich Rodriguez is 3-8 in his first season at Michigan and 108-70-2 in his 16th year as a head coach.
LINE: Ohio State by 20½.
SERIES: Michigan leads 57-41-6.
LAST MEETING: 2007, Ohio State 14-3
What’s at Stake
Not much for Michigan, which will put an end to the worst season in the program’s 129 seasons. Ohio State needs a win to share the Big Ten title, its fourth in a row. A victory would also put the Buckeyes in position for a possible Bowl Championship Series game or at worst the Capital One Bowl.
Key Matchup
Ohio State TB Chris “Beanie” Wells against the Michigan defense. The Wolverines are allowing just 128 rushing yards a game; Wells is averaging 120 by himself. A year ago he torched Michigan for 222 yards, the most ever by an Ohio State back in the series, and scored both TDs. If he runs wild again, it’ll be a long, quiet trip back to Ann Arbor, Mich.
Players to watch
MICHIGAN: Whomever starts at QB, Nick Sheridan or Steve Threet (coming off an injury), along with RBs Brandon Minor, Michael Shaw, Sam McGuffie. LBs Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton, Safeties Stevie Brown, Brandon Harrison must make Ohio State take yardage in small bites instead of with long-gainers.
OHIO STATE: QB Terrelle Pryor, WR Brian Robiskie, the entire offensive line, CB Malcolm Jenkins, LBs James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman.
Facts and Figures
• Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is 6-1 vs. Michigan and Buckeyes have won the last four games. A win would mark the first time the Buckeyes have won five in a row in the series, which dates to 1897.
• Last time the teams met at Ohio Stadium in 2006, Michigan was No. 2 and Ohio State No. 1 and they battled it out in a classic 42-39 Buckeyes win just days after the death of Michigan’s iconic coach, Bo Schembechler.
• Rich Rodriguez coaching in his first Michigan-Ohio State game has history on his side: school’s coaches are 10-1-1 in their first game against Ohio State; only first-time loser was Harry Kipke in 1929.
BUCKEYE PERISCOPE
BUCKEYES BUZZ: The relationships between Michigan and Ohio State extend far beyond the field.
Even though the schools are bitter enemies, many of the opposing players are friends. Some of the coaches have worked together, too.
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said he has known Ohio State’s Jim Tressel for several years. Both represent an apparel company, both go to Big Ten coaches meetings and both are members of the American Football Coaches Association.
Rodriguez regrets one time when he crossed paths with Ohio State’s coaches.
“Some of (Tressel’s) coaches came to visit us a few years back when I was at West Virginia,” he said. He joked, “If I knew I was going to be here, that trip wouldn’t have happened.”
Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee knows Rodriguez from the days when Gee was the president at WVU.
“Rich Rodriguez is a West Virginia guy. I knew him as a student at West Virginia,” Gee said. “He was there under (then WVU coach) Don Nehlen when I was there.”
Gee said he struggled when he came to Ohio State the first of his two times as president. He said he didn’t understand the culture of the university, and he certainly didn’t get the severity and scope of the rivalry with Michigan.
“I think that anyone coming from the outside to a place like Michigan or Ohio State needs to get a lesson 101 in terms of its history and tradition,” he said. “Certainly I found that as the president of the university in 1990.”
He said it was important for those coming in from other places to understand things such as rivalries.
“It’s the responsibility of the institution to get the very best coach. Then it’s the responsibility of the institution and the coach to really understand the nature, the value, the qualities of that particular institution,” he said. “I’m certain that that is happening at Michigan. I know it happened here. It’s an ever-learning process. Coach Rodriguez is a great coach. Michigan will be a great football team. Michigan is coming into this rivalry, they believe that they’re going to win this game on Saturday. We need to be prepared, because he’s that kind of a coach.”
LOSING THEIR MARBLES: Each of Ohio State’s 28 seniors were given a case before the season which contained 12 marbles. Each Friday, they have handed over a marble to Tressel. The last marble is blue, to signify Michigan.
Tressel’s wife, Ellen, came up with the idea as a way of impressing upon the seniors how quickly their final season passes. Apparently, they’ve gotten the message.
“Every time you give him one it is like, ‘Man, that’s one more gone,’” DL Nader Abdallah said. “It just keeps reminding you that have you have only got a certain amount of games left and you better make the most of them.”
CB Malcolm Jenkins said he had no regrets.
“Now it’s time to turn in the last one,” he said. “I will be excited because it’s my last chance to play Michigan. But I am also down because that’s my last marble. I spent my four years here very well. I can’t really take anything back.”
Punter A.J. Trapasso said he had mixed feelings.
“It’s a simple thing in reality, it’s just marbles dropping into a vase,” he said. “If you realize that five years ago I had 50 or 60 of those marbles in there and now it’s all the way down to one. It is bittersweet. I almost don’t want to give it up.”
Some tried to delay the inevitable.
“It’s tough. I like to wait until the last minute on Friday,” FB Brandon Smith said.
He said Tressel doesn’t show any sympathy, either.
“It’s ‘Fork ’em over.’ It’s so cold and harsh,” he said with a laugh.
COLUMBUS BOUND: Michigan left Ann Arbor by bus on Friday afternoon, with a traveling party of 70 players, coaches, strength staff, video coordinators and administrators. There were roughly 125 people total.
The Wolverines went directly to Ohio Stadium for a walkthrough.
NO SAINT IN ST. HENRY: According to a column by Tom Archdeacon in the Dayton Daily News, the good people of St. Henry are less than pleased with the way Tressel has handled the quarterback situation — particularly how he has treated native son Todd Boeckman.
The small town that produced Ohio State icons such as Jim Lachey and Bobby Hoying is usually swathed in scarlet and gray. But many people are angry that Tressel put in Terrelle Pryor to replace Boeckman, who led the Buckeyes to an outright Big Ten title and the national championship game a year ago, and has allowed him just a few plays since.
“Everybody here’s got a real sour taste in their mouths about this,” said Charlie Gels, who runs Gels’ IGA in St. Henry. “Coach Tressel’s notoriety has fallen by the wayside. A lot of people are really down on him for the way he’s handled this. He didn’t put any of blame on the coaching. He made Todd the fall guy.”
The tide has obviously turned.
“There was a lot of respect here for Tressel, but now a lot of people here have turned on him,” said Matt Stelzer, who runs the sports hangout and pizza place known as Fish-Mo’s. “There’s a lot of dislike for him. Some just hate him. They feel he threw Todd under the bus. … Tressel could have handled this so much better, and because he didn’t, it just doesn’t set well with people here. Since I’ve been in the bar business, I’ve never seen anything like this. Some people who come in don’t even want to watch the (Buckeyes) games now.”
Gels added: “I’ve even got this 75-year-old lady who comes into the store. She says, ‘I just don’t think (Tressel’s) the right man for the job. He’s shown me he’s not quite the guy a lot of people thought he was.’”
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Filed by Associated Press November 22nd, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 3% |
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