Defense Holds On

The defense held on to the coveted Scarlet jerseys with a 52-44 win in Saturday's jersey scrimmage at Ohio Stadium.

The Ohio State defense retained possession of the coveted Scarlet practice jerseys with a 52-44 win over the offense in a sunny Saturday at Ohio Stadium.

The jersey scrimmage marks the midway point of preseason camp. The Buckeyes, ranked sixth in the Associated Press preseason poll released on Saturday, open the season against Navy Sept. 5 at Ohio Stadium.

This week was especially grueling. Dubbed Hell Week, the coaches confiscated computers, phones, television sets and other electronics so the players could concentrate on football.

"I thought it was a good week all in all," said OSU coach Jim Tressel. "Our guys were glued in and focused in. We did a lot of different things during the course of the week. We worked on a lot of different concepts. We tried to focus on some different things here today."

The scrimmage had a little bit of everything as the coaching staff used two series of plays to prepare for Navy’s option-based offense. One of those series ended with defensive back Rocco Pentello, who ran some option as a high school quarterback at nearby Westerville South, running 33 yards for a touchdown.

"I'm disappointed that Navy's offense scored, especially since it wasn't with the real Navy guys," Tressel joked. "But we set the ball in various places. It's hard to be disappointed when you are rooting for both teams. I thought there were some good things we did defensively early on."

Junior defensive end Cameron Heyward was also on his way to a big day with six tackles and two sacks before suffering a sprained ankle. The injury was not expected to be serious, though.

Sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor wore a black no-contact jersey, making it easier for the defensive players to sack him by touching him. He was 17 of 27 passing for 133 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown toss to tight end Jake Ballard.

"It's a difficult thing when you're a quarterback and you have to wear that black jersey, I don't care who you are," Tressel said. "It's not playing the game like you're used to playing it. Plus, we were playing with a lot of different combinations in there, so we weren't as rhythmic as we could be. But I think he handled a lot of situations pretty well."

The coaches employ a special scoring system that rewards the offense for touchdowns, field goals, big plays and first downs. The defense gets points for ending a series without points as well as for negative plays and turnovers.

The defense led throughout the 143-play scrimmage, including by as many as 21 points at 32-11 at one early juncture. But the offense rallied to take a brief lead at 44-42 after Pentello’s spectacular scoring run.

However, the defense slammed the door with six straight three-and-outs to end the scrimmage. It ended with one play from the offense’s own 43-yard line. Trailing by eight, he offense attempted a hook-and-ladder play. Pryor hit DeVier Posey in the left flat. He lateraled to Brandon Saine, but he slipped and went down before he could lateral the ball to Pryor.

Tressel said the scrimmage tape will help the coaching staff make some decisions on personnel and scheme.

"We have a little over half of the practices done," he said. "This will be a day today and tomorrow for our staff to take a look and make some decisions on if we need to do a little bit more of this or that. I think we will have a lot better handle after studying this film."

Backup quarterback Joe Bauserman came back from a shoulder injury earlier in the week and completed 7 of 15 passes for 53 yards. Freshman Ken Guiton was 6 of 11 passing for 11 yards.

At tailback, sophomore Boom Herron seemed sharp with 55 yards on 11 carries. Freshman Jordan Hall added 36 yards on four carries. Junior Brandon Saine added 17 yards on five carries.

Taurian Washington had six catches for 33 yards, while Posey finished with four catches for 67 yards. Ballard, Duron Carter and Ray Small each had two catches.

Besides Heyward, there were a number of standouts for the defense. They included linebacker Brian Rolle (six tackles), safety Jermale Hines (four tackles, one sack), linebacker Storm Klein (five tackles), linebacker Ross Homan (five tackles, one sack), linebacker Jonathan Newsome (four tackles), defensive end Thaddeus Gibson (five tackles, two tackles-for-loss, one sack), defensive tackle Doug Worthington (five tackles, two sacks), defensive end Nathan Williams (four tackles, one tackle-for-loss), linebacker Etienne Sabino (five tackles) and safety Orhian Johnson and corners Devon Torrence and Andre Amos (four tackles each).

The defense won despite cashing in just one turnover. A botched center exchange between Jack Mewhort and Bauserman was fumbled and Klein recovered it.

Kicker Aaron Pettrey was 3 of 5 on field goals with makes from 51, 57 and 44 yards and misses from 48 and 53 yards. Walk-on Devin Barclay made a 42-yard field goal.

Also Notable

* Several players did not play in the scrimmage due to injuries. That group included cornerback Travis Howard, tight end Jake Stoneburner, safety Zach Domicone, offensive guard Justin Boren, linebacker Austin Spitler, defensive end Lawrence Wilson and defensive end Melvin Fellows.

Tressel was asked about the status, in particular, of Spitler, Boren and Wilson. He said expected them back this week or certainly in time for the opener against Navy.

* The starting defense appeared to be Worthington, Dexter Larimore, Heyward and Gibson up front; Sabino, Rolle and Homan at linebacker with Rolle in the middle; and Chimdi Chekwa and Andre Amos at the corners and Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell at the safeties. Jermale Hines subbed in for Sabino in the nickel. Devon Torrence also worked in some with the ones at corner.

The backups on defense included Garrett Goebel, Tom Ingham, Keith Wells and Nathan Williams up front; Andrew Sweat, Klein and Dorian Bell at linebacker with Klein in the middle; and Aaron Gant and Orhian Johnson at the safeties with Donnie Evege, Torrence and C.J. Barnett all working in at the corners.

* The starting offensive line was Andy Miller at left tackle, Andrew Moses at left guard, Mike Brewster at center, Bryant Browning at right guard and Jimmy Cordle at right tackle. J.B. Shugarts worked in some with the ones at left tackle. Mike Adams, originally projected as the starter there, spent much of the day with the twos and threes.

The second-team line was Shugarts at left tackle, Corey Linsley at left guard, Mewhort at center, Connor Smith at right guard and Josh Kerr at right tackle. Linsley also got a few reps with the ones at guard.

* Once again, senior Todd Denlinger wore a black jersey and repped at both defensive tackle and tight end.

* Tressel said the players would get their electronic devices back. It was the senior class that suggested that idea to him, he said.

"Yeah, they're getting their phones back," he said. "They've learned that it's not that bad by not having a cell phone. They don't have to call everyone. They were mad at the beginning of the week and now they're happy."

* OSU will hold its open practice at Ohio Stadium Monday at 7 p.m. It is open to the public with gates opening at 6:30 p.m. Tressel will also sign copies of his book, The Winners Manual, prior to the scrimmage at the renovated William Oxley Thompson main library on campus.

* Here is video of Tressel's post-scrimmage press conference: