Head Coach Jim Tressel spoke with the media on the Big Ten
Teleconference this week. He discussed Penn State,
offensive line play, and getting fundamental during the off week.
By Steve Patterson
Bye Week
With no one
to prepare for on Saturday this week, Ohio State
will be working on fundamentals Wednesday and Thursday at practice with a focus
on consistency. “I think whenever you have a setback typically you go back and
examine how well you are doing in your fundamentals,” Coach Tressel stated
during the teleconference. “That’s hard to do in the course of a season because
you go from one week to another facing a different defensive concept. And so
you have to do different things against different styles of defenses and so you
lose a little bit of that individual fundamental time. I think whenever you go
back and look at your film it’s typically fundamental errors versus anything
else.” He said about evaluating the Penn
State film from last weekend.
Fundamental Days
The staff
is hoping to find what they do best during the off week to finish off the
season with three additional wins and a trip to the Rose Bowl. They will need Penn State
to make it to the National Championship game for their opportunity this year. “So,
we’ll have a chance on Wednesday to have a big fundamental day and the same
thing on Thursday. A couple good examination days of what it is we feel we can
do best. And then Friday we’ll move into a bit of a game-plan type of thing.
And again, conceptually you have to go back and say, ‘OK, what are the
offensive things that this style of defense lends itself to?’ But we’ll have
two good fundamental days.”
Consistency &
Injury
Consistency
is always something Coach Tressel mentions when he discusses play this year.
But with the injuries on the offensive line every week, get good protection and
a solid running attack have been difficult. “Well, we haven’t had the
consistency of play that we had hoped,” he explained. “I think Alex Boone has
consistently been solid. Bryant Browning is a newcomer and he’s playing a
difficult position at right tackle and Penn State
has got outstanding ends and he had his hands full from that standpoint. I
think Mike Brewster has been a pleasant surprise that he’s been able to step in
and help us. And Jimmy Cordle is probably doing about as well as guard as he
did at center last year, which was solid. Steve Rehring, obviously, getting
injured and Ben Person getting injured and perhaps not playing up or beyond
where they have played in the past hasn’t helped us.”
“I just think the inconsistency that we’ve had
across the board offensively – not just up front – has lent itself to not being
ecstatic about our offensive performance.” If the offense can get healthy, they
should be able to finish the season strong with three easier opponents
remaining on the schedule.