Mike Adams

Head coach Jim Tressel said a person close to him recently described Ohio State’s November stretch as, “Tough, tougher and toughest” and that this Saturday’s game at Michigan qualifies as the toughest.

The Buckeyes (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten) have already knocked off Penn State on the road and Iowa at home this month, and they will try for the trifecta against their rival Wolverines (5-6, 1-6) in Ann Arbor on Saturday (noon, ABC).

“We’ve battled through the tough and the tougher and now we’re excited about the toughest,” Tressel, who is 7-1 against Michigan, said. “There’s just a special feeling about this week.”

Many would argue that Penn State and Iowa were the more-difficult match-ups for Ohio State, but Tressel knows fully well his team is about to face a Michigan outfit that will be playing for its proverbial life. If the Wolverines win, it will save their season and they will be bowl eligible. If they lose, the heat will be turned up even more on head coach Rich Rodriguez and they will be home for the holidays for the second consecutive year.

Michigan’s offense has been effective at times this year, but its defense has been borderline atrocious.

“There’s usually two reasons why you give up points,” Tressel said regarding UM’s defense. “One is if your offense puts you in bad field position, or if you give up big plays. Most defenses don’t give up extensive long drives time after time and that type of thing. There was a stretch in the middle of their season when they had more turnovers than certainly they could afford. And then there was a stretch in there when they gave up big plays.

“But the interesting thing about watching film and getting ready for the Ohio State-Michigan game, you’re not really watching who you’re going to play. Maybe the schemes you are, but the people play a notch above.

“So, we’ll study the schemes extremely hard. We go into the game assuming everybody is going to be in their gap and everybody is going to be in their zone and everybody is going to be covering their man and we’re going to have to earn every inch. So, I think you have to be a little bit careful. Very seldom to you go into this game and study the statistics sheet; that’s just not the way it works.”

Ohio State’s running game struggled in the early part of the season, but junior tailback Brandon Saine, sophomore tailback Boom Herron and sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor – the team’s leading rusher – have been productive in recent weeks.

Tressel indicated there are a lot of reasons why OSU’s running game has improved in recent weeks.

“I think when you do have the ability to practice with all of your guys, it helps,” he said. “When Boom Herron is healthy, he and Brandon give us a good duo there. We’re very comfortable if Jordan Hall is in the game from a running back standpoint.

“I think our offensive line – because they have been healthy recently and have been able to work together – is coming along.

“I think (true freshman fullback) Zach Boren has been a good addition and as you watch him grow through the ladder half of his freshman year, he has a greater understanding of what needs to be done and loves doing it.

“So, hopefully we’re moving in a direction where we can be a good football team throwing, running and all the rest.”

Ohio State has mixed in some “Wildcat” looks in recent weeks (or as senior offensive lineman Jim Cordle calls it, the “Buckwild”) where the tailback takes a direct snap and Tressel explained why that was added to OSU’s playbook.

“I think the first discussion of it came up when Terrelle was a little banged up and our tailbacks were a little healthy,” he said. “All of a sudden you had three guys at tailback. There was a time in the season when you didn’t want to do that because Terrelle was healthier than a couple of the backs. We look at is as we’ve got four different runners (three tailbacks and Pryor). When we’ve used it, the running backs have been healthier than Terrelle. I’d like to think we’ll go into Saturday and all four will be healthy.”

This is an especially big week for Ohio State junior left guard Justin Boren who transferred from Michigan soon after the arrival of Rodriguez. This will be Boren’s first time going up against his former team and there is no doubt that the Michigan fans consider him a traitor and will be giving him the business all afternoon.

“How will this week be different for him? Justin is the kind of guy that focuses hard on what he has to do,” Tressel said. “He was fighting a couple weeks there when he was banged up and when you don’t practice you just don’t perform like you would like to. Fortunately, he’s healthy and I thought played one of his better games Saturday (against Iowa), I really did.

“I’m sure he will be excited. I’m sure it will be difficult in some ways because he has great feelings for both teams that are going to be on the field. He has a lot of great memories up in the Big House with his dad (Mike, who was an All-American linebacker for Michigan) and himself and all the rest. But his focus will be on what he can do to help his team.”

Fifth-year senior Jon Thoma is having one of the worst seasons in recent memory for an Ohio State punter and he reached a low point against Iowa last week. Tressel places a lot of importance on the punt – calling it the “most important play in football” due to the amount of yardage that is exchanged. Thoma is averaging just 37.4 yards per punt this season and Tressel was asked if he’s concerned about the situation.

“We’ve done a pretty fair job coverage-wise and punt placement-wise,” Tressel said. “I’m a little bit disappointed with our length this past weekend. But all you have to do is go two weeks back (in the Penn State game) and a well-placed, well-covered punt set the stage for the beginning of a field position victory.

“So, we didn’t have our best punting day Saturday (against Iowa) to answer that as directly as I can. We need a better one this Saturday.

“(Michigan’s) punting game is extraordinary. Their kid (Zoltan Mesko) leads the league and he’s extraordinary. And if you lose field position every time, you’re in for some problems. So, we need to … as I say, in your final regular season game, the goal is to be the best at everything that we do. The punt, kickoff coverage, offense, defense, everything we’ve got. We certainly want to be better this weekend than we were last in our net punt.”

Injury update

The Buckeyes head into “The Game” relatively healthy, especially at this late stage of the season. In fact, the team expects to get sophomore left tackle Mike Adams back this week and he will likely play in a reserve role.

“Mike Adams probably could have played (against Iowa),” Tressel said. “We thought Jimmy Cordle did a great job against a great player. That No. 94 (defensive end Adrian Clayborn) for Iowa is a great player. We thought Jimmy fought like crazy. Didn’t win every battle, but we thought he fought like crazy and did a heck of a job.

“We just didn’t see at the moment that we should have changed that because he was trying to get a feel for all the great things that (Clayborn) does. But Mike could have played.

“J.B. Shugarts played a little bit more than I thought he might. You never know how those foot injuries and all that are going to go. Especially early in the week when you’re looking at him like, ‘I’m not sure if he’s going to be ready to go.’ Later in the week, ‘Yeah, he’s looking pretty good, but we’re not doing much, so how do you know?’ So, we decided on the third series that we were going to have him go in. That way Marcus Hall would have gotten his nose bloodied a little bit and then we’ll have J.B. go in and we’ll see if he can hold up. And he went in and actually did a pretty decent job in there. So, I would expect him to be even better this week.

“Dexter Larimore played seven, eight, nine, 10 plays, I’m not really sure. You’d hope he’s even better this week. But one thing is getting healthy; the other thing is being ready to get in the fray. We could sure use Dexter being at his top level.”

Tressel talked more about Hall, the true freshman right tackle out of Cleveland Glenville who received his first career start last week.

“Marcus Hall is going to be a very good player,” Tressel said. “Our coaches really think for a young guy, he’s an excellent pass protector and that’s usually the last thing that comes along. They say he’s got a heck of a good punch and so forth.”

But the coach thinks that Shugarts will start the Michigan game and Hall will be used as a reserve.

“I would think that because Shugarts had about 50 plays (against Iowa) would lead you think that he would probably (start the Michigan game),” Tressel said. “But this is Monday and we haven’t been out there yet. But if the game was today, I would suspect it to be Shugarts.”

Still no ‘winning performance’ for Pryor

Pryor had a steady performance against Iowa, finishing 14-of-17 passing for 93 yards. He also rushed eight time for 29 yards. However, even against a good defense, it wasn’t enough to earn him his first “winning performance” at OSU.

“He graded out really good,” Tressel said. “The number was 78 or something. It was good, very solid.

“Eighty-five (is a winning performance). Coach Sis (quarterbacks coach Nick Siciliano) is a tough one now. Those young coaches … I mean, I guess I was that way back in the day. But very, very solid. There were some things that we didn’t get done that we needed to, but he was very, very solid.”

The view from the players

OSU junior wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher on whether he’s surprised at the current state of the Michigan football program:

“A little bit, yeah. Because they’ve always been dominant. Growing up in Toledo, the Blade covers both teams, so I kind of followed both teams as a kid. But they are not a team that’s going to stay down for long and they’re a dangerous team this week.”

Cordle on Michigan being a dangerous team despite its record:

“We understand they are fighting for their lives. And for us, it’s about the Ohio State-Michigan game and trying to win the outright Big Ten championship.”

OSU senior safety Kurt Coleman on what is at stake for both teams:

“Both teams have a lot to play for. We want to go into the bowl game on a roll and they need a win to be bowl eligible. And it’s the Ohio State-Michigan game. That’s all the motivation both sides need.”

Coleman on OSU going for the outright Big Ten title:

“It’s definitely something that we want to accomplish. After Purdue, we thought we’d need to win out and we’d only win a shared Big Ten title at best. We’ve put ourselves in position to win it outright and it would be a loss if we’re not able to get it done. We want to beat Michigan and win the outright Big Ten championship.”

Coleman on the uniforms that OSU will wear on Saturday as part of a tribute to the 1954 national championship team:

“I love them. I think it’s a great look. I was telling one of our equipment guys that I wish these were our alternate uniforms every now and then.”

Senior defensive end Lawrence Wilson on Michigan’s offense:

“They’re a lot better than last year. I was just watching film of their offense and they are explosive. (True freshman quarterback Tate) Forcier plays like a veteran – I’ve been impressed with him. They actually have two good quarterbacks (including Denard Robinson) that can run and pass. And they have a stable of good running backs.”

Here is video of OSU coach Jim Tressel's press conference:

And here is a second cut from Tressel.