Here is video of OSU coach Jim Tressel's press conference Tuesday (check below for video of Tressel with Gov. Ted Strickland for a special presentation).

The Governor attended “The Senator’s” press conference on Tuesday.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland stopped by Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel’s press luncheon to promote the National Child I.D. Program. Wal-Mart made a donation of $250,000 to the cause.

However, for OSU fans, the attention this week is fully on the No. 15 Buckeyes’ game at No. 11 Penn State.

The bad news for Ohio State is that kicker Aaron Pettrey’s career is over. He had surgery to repair a torn MCL and contrary to published reports, he will not even be back in time for OSU’s bowl game. Tressel did say that Pettrey is hoping to get back for a postseason college all-star game (Texas vs. The Nation) that he’s already been selected for.

Tressel mentioned that the New Mexico State player that took out Pettrey with what looked like a dirty play on a kickoff sought Tressel out after the game and “was distraught.” Tressel does not think the play was intentional. (Some opined NMSU was getting even for OSU’s onside kick early in the second quarter. But that’s a ridiculous notion considering the game was only 7-0 at the time. If the Buckeyes were using onside kicks up 38-0, then it would be a different story.)

The good news for the Buckeyes (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) is that junior defensive tackle Dexter Larimore is expected to be available against the Nittany Lions (8-1, 4-1). That is a bit surprising considering Larimore is not even listed on OSU’s depth chart this week.

“Dexter should be ready to play,” Tressel said. “The only guys that are definitely out are the guys that have been out – (Tyler) Moeller, Aaron Gant, (Andrew) Sweat and Mike Adams. I would expect everyone else will be ready to go, Dexter included.

“So, who have we been missing lately? Dexter, he’ll be back. Justin Boren, he’ll be back. Nate Oliver, we’re still waiting. He won’t work (Tuesday). We’re still waiting for him to get back though. Those other guys will all work in practice (Tuesday).”

As for the kicking situation, junior Devin Barclay and redshirt freshman Ben Buchanan are bracketed on the first team on the depth chart.

“Devin and Ben will be the kickers,” Tressel said. “Ben was not in uniform Saturday – he was out last week. Hopefully he’ll be back. I’m told by the trainers that he’ll be able to work (Tuesday). So, between Devin and Ben, we’ve got to step up. I’m not sure any of us expected that, but that’s part of football.

“If we had a game today, Devin would be the kicker, because I haven’t seen Ben for a week. But we have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday practice (to see who steps up and earns the job).”

Barclay is the oldest member of the team at 26 and he is a former professional soccer player in the MLS. Tressel explained how Barclay arrived at OSU two years ago.

“I think Devin was involved with the Athletes in Action ministry and some of the Athletes in Action leaders that administer to the MLS teams and the various pro teams and college programs happened to bring him over,” Tressel said. “So, he got to know our guys a little bit – our kickers. And he had forged a little bit of a relationship with our guys, I think, when he was with the Crew.

“And one thing led to another and he said he wanted to go to college. I remember there was time to figure out if he could come and walk on and so forth. He may have liked the fact that we were senior-citizen friendly. We had Ryan Pretorius and they got some opportunities. So, one thing led to another and he’s done a nice job.”

Pryor has nicks, bruises, but will play

Ohio State sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor did not play in the second half of OSU’s 45-0 win over New Mexico State last week. Pryor doesn’t have any serious injuries, but he has a lot of minor bumps and bruises.

“He has ice bags everywhere,” Tressel said. “He’s got one on one of those fingers and he’s got some that go all the way down to his body with his knees and his ankles and his foot and so forth. We thought that he had been banged around enough. Even when you don’t design things for him to get banged around, he likes to make plays. He attracts a crowd. But he’ll be ready to go (Tuesday).”

Due to the slow progression of Pryor, as well as the problems on the offensive line, Tressel was asked if the Buckeyes are not as far along offensively at this stage of the season as they might have been in past years.

“We don’t do a whole bunch of comparing to the past or comparing to what we hoped we would be,” he said. “We do all our comparing on where we are. And where we are, we know we’re facing a great defense. We’ve got to make sure we eliminate anything that we can control. Like don’t get in that stadium and jump off-sides like a couple teams did early in the game against them and got up against the count. Don’t go into that stadium and turn the ball over, like we turned the ball over early in the ballgame against them a few years ago (in 2005) – not that any of these kids were here.

“But we’re working on making sure we can plan and practice and then execute what the offense’s contribution can be in what could be a very tough, tough football game.”

With Pettrey out, there is a chance OSU will be more aggressive in terms of going for touchdowns. If there is a fourth-and-two from the 35, they might go for it instead of trying a long field goal.

“Devin or Ben aren’t going to be your 57-yard kind of guys,” Tressel said. “Not that that has everything to do with it. That means if you’re kicking a 57-yarder, the ball is on the 40 and we don’t want to give Penn State the ball on the 40. So, it wouldn’t be all about Devin, because if Aaron was the kicker, I can’t promise you we’d try a 57-yarder (or even a 53-yarder against USC that could have iced the game) with the percent-chance that we would give Penn State the ball on the 40.

“So, it might change it a little bit. We’ll just have to see how Devin and Ben are looking, as well as the conditions and the wind and the footing and all those different things. But yeah, it does (change your thinking). We were comfortable with Aaron from anywhere (except maybe 53-yarders against USC). We’ve seen him hit 63, 64-yard field goals in practice. And not just standing there alone, kicking with the rush coming and everything.

“So, these guys aren’t quite there.”

There is a chance that Barclay and Buchanan could rotate on field goal and extra-point attempts against PSU. Or, one could handle all placekicking duties and the other could handle the kickoff responsibilities.

And there is always the chance that one kicker locks down all the jobs.

“If it unfolds in practice that one looks significantly better in practice, then absolutely,” Tressel said. “We’re not going to be afraid to put either one of them in there and we’re not trying to save anyone’s redshirt or anything like that. Or one’s been in the game a lot more than the other. Ben’s been in a game and did a good job filling in for Jon Thoma (as the punter against Toledo) when Jon was out with the flu. So, that could happen (both kickers could play).”

Tressel was also asked about Ohio State possibly “getting over the hump” and winning a “big game” for the first time since Michigan in 2006. (Penn State was ranked No. 25 when OSU won in Happy Valley in 2007.)

“You don’t really say anything about getting over any hump,” Tressel said. “You talk about playing Penn State and what’s it going to take to beat Penn State. I don’t think you go back and say Penn State is ranked 11^th and we’ve had five games against teams ranked five and better and we didn’t do these things. We say, ‘Here’s what we’ve got to do against Penn State. Here’s what we have to do.’ I would be surprised if our guys have any notions like the one you suggest.”

Big Ten Teleconference Wrap-up

Ohio State is coming off a very one-sided 45-0 win over New Mexico State, but with a huge game on the horizon this weekend at No. 11-ranked Penn State, the Buckeyes didn't have much time to celebrate their win.

"Obviously the moment that game ended, the attention turned to getting ready for a great matchup with Penn State and getting the chance to go on the road," head coach Jim Tressel said at today's Big Ten teleconference. "There are a lot of special atmospheres in our conference, the Horseshoe being one of them and certainly Beaver Stadium is an electric place to play and a fun place. I know our guys look forward to it. They love the good, hard, clean play. They love the noise, they love the excitement, and we know we're playing against a great team."

Some observers have questioned whether or not Penn State is worthy of their ranking, given that they don't have any wins over any major opponents. But Tressel says that not much has changed between this year's team and the 2008 Penn State team, which beat Ohio State in Columbus and went to the Rose Bowl.

"When I watch them on defense, it's like you just switched some numbers and you see the same thing," Tressel said. "You see great power and strength up front, linebacker play as smart as it can be, secondary play that's not very complicated, but they're where they're supposed to be. Offensively, you see a veteran, veteran quarterback -- he's taken a whole bunch of snaps -- a great running backs in (Evan) Royster, and the change of pace tailback there in Staphon Green. The young receivers I think have come along -- the (Derek) Moye kid is huge, and (Graham) Zug and Powell have played extremely well. Plus, Penn State historically has always done a good job of getting their tight ends involved in the game. The people that might question their validity or whatever, I think they're just looking for something to talk about because I think Penn State's for real."

Tressel was asked about what steps his team takes in order to win big games in November.

"I know that when I used to work for Earle Bruce here at Ohio State, he always used to say that September is for pretenders and November is for the contenders," Tressel said. "You always have the goal of being a contender, and you hope to enter the month of November with a chance left of at your goals and so forth. But really we hope that we're teaching every day. We hope we're evaluating the same every day, whether we're winning or we're not winning. We hope that there's progress and learning going on at all times. If indeed that's the case, then logically you should be better at the end of the year. Obviously, you have opponents who are doing the same, and we happen to have a great opponent this week that does those same things. They work hard, they learn, they know they want to be champions. So the competition has a lot to do with it as well, but we just keep working to get better."

One of the biggest storylines of this year's game is the return of Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor to Pennsylvania. Much of the conversation focused around Pryor, who was removed at halftime of the game against New Mexico State.

Tressel confirmed that Pryor has no lingering injury issues from the game.

"He had ice bags everywhere -- feet, ankles, knees, finger -- so we thought that the best thing to do was we had that game well in hand and really felt that Joe Bauserman needed to get some work," Tressel said. "But Terrelle's doing fine. He's excited obviously to get back to the Big Ten arena."

Pryor has received his fair share of criticism this year due to inconsistent play. Tressel was asked about how well Pryor has handled the naysayers.

"I think he's handled it very well," Tressel said. "It kind of goes along with what he's endured throughout his sporting career. He was always very highly decorated and recognized, and with that goes a lot of expectations in a lot of different ways. Whenever things go one way or the other, some people are happy and some aren't happy. I think he's done a nice job of keeping his focus on the task at hand. He's one of the most compassionate, caring young people I've ever been around, and he really doesn't like to disappoint people, so when that does happen for whatever reason, he really feels bad about it. We work very hard on just getting ready for the next play or the next day or whatever's coming up next, but he's doing just fine."

Pryor's low point so far this year was the loss at Purdue. Tressel was asked what Pryor has done since then to improve himself mechanically.

"I don't think it was just from that game," Tressel said. "Now, that was a little bit more experience that he got and a little bit more data for him to have as he evaluated what he needs to do, but he's been working very, very hard long before that to continue to improve. So he, whether it be from his preparation or film study to his footwork drills in practice to his practice habits or whatever it happens to be, he has never shied away from doing the things you need to do to grow as a quarterback."

Tressel was also asked if Pryor has experienced some growing pains due to the loss of several key skill position players from last season.

"I don't know if I was worried about it," Tressel said. "I think you work on what you can control, and what he could control was continuing to grow in his understanding and technique and so forth. Then the things around him were going to be what they are. Absolutely we lost a lot of the guys around him -- I think three offensive linemen, starting tight end, both wideouts, star tailback, starting fullback -- but I didn't go into the spring or preseason worrying about that. We worried about each of those positions becoming as good as they could and Terrelle working hard to become as good he could, then see how you match up against your opponents. But nothing's easy, whether you have veterans around you or young people who are working into the system, but experience is everything.

"This week, we're facing Daryll Clark out of Penn State, who I think this is like his sixth year out of high school. He's had a bunch of snaps, a bunch of different things, and you can see he leads our league in passing efficiency. You can see he's in command of the football game. You can't flip a switch and get to that level; I'm sure in Daryll's year two he probably wasn't there, and I think Terrelle's a little bit ahead of the curve."

Pryor almost has two seasons under his belt now after playing as a true freshman in 2008. Tressel discussed what kind of benefits Pryor received from playing early.

"There's no price tag you can put on experience," Tressel said. "Anytime you get thrust into different situations -- as you mentioned, 2008 was a different situation than 2009. The value of experience is tremendous; just ask Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, on and on and on. Those guys when they were 19, 20 years old were at one level, and now they're at the next level because they got to play. Tom Brady was sitting there as a backup, and all of a sudden (Drew) Bledsoe gets hurt or something, and here we are ten years later.

"So there's great value in the experience that Terrelle gained. Is there a downside? I suppose the downside is we don't get as many years to work with the young man, but if a young man gets four years of playing, that's going to serve him well and allow him to develop."

With all the criticism, some of the advice coming from Pryor's teammates has included shaking off his criticism and moving on to the next play. Tressel was asked if it was easier said than done for a young player like Pryor to do that, especially given the expectations he had coming into college.

"I think it's not so much of what others thought he would do, but I think it's a difficult thing because Terrelle wants to do what the the team needs, and he wants so badly to play his role and make a difference for his team," Tressel said. "If he doesn't do it on this particular play... the hardest thing to do is when you feel like you have a little regret that you didn't do something as well as you could have, you have to put that behind you. You have to have a very short memory and move to the next one. That's hard for a young person, especially one that cares so much."

Appropriately enough, Tressel was also asked if he's ever had a player that he's been asked more questions about than Terrelle Pryor.

"That's a good question," Tressel said. "Probably the quarterback in general you answer the most questions about, and perhaps a star running back. We certainly answered a whole lot of questions about Maurice Clarett for instance when he was here and young and doing very well. But those are probably the two positions you answer the most questions about because the bulk of the people have a comprehension for what they do, or at least they feel they do, so therefore they can ask questions. Very seldom do you get questions about specific offensive linemen or defensive linemen, that type of thing. But Terrelle's a fun guy to ask questions about. He got thrust into the situation early. He was on a good football team and had to take over for a captain, which is difficult in its own right and get thrown in the fire from an X's and O's standpoint, then he had to retool this year with a whole new group of people around him. So there are a whole lot of questions in and around Terrelle, and I think he's done a good job of handling the whole thing."

Below is video of a special presentation including Coach Tressel and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.