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Home > Blogs > Buckeyes Beat > Archives > 2008 > October > 21
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Tressel coaching at 90?
The question on the Big Ten teleconference was obviously a play on Joe Paterno’s age. A reporter wanted to know what 55-year-old Jim Tressel thought he would be doing in 25 years, which would match him with Penn State’s 81-year-old Joe Paterno as an 80-something college football coach.
“Maybe sitting in the press box at Ohio Stadium watching the game,” Tressel said. “I’m trying to get through this week. Lord willing, I’ll be around in 25 years.”
Paterno has spent his time lately in the PSU press box because of injuries that make it difficult to walk the sideline. It’s a big change in his 43rd season as Penn State’s head coach.
Tressel is in his eighth season with the Buckeyes, which means if he coaches Ohio State for as many season as Paterno has led the Nittany Lions, Tressel would be talking about an opponent on a teleconference at age 90.
Can you imagine, Ohio State fans? Hasn’t it already seemed like an eternity since a much darker-haired Tressel gave his famous speech at the OSU basketball halftime?
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Beanie will have to learn to deal with pain
Beanie Wells complained of some discomfort in his troublesome right foot after a 31-carry, 140-yard performance against Michigan State last week, but coach Jim Tressel doesn’t think the lingering soreness is any cause for alarm.
Asked whether Wells would be 100-percent healthy for the Penn State game, Tressel said on the Big Ten teleconference Tuesday: “I think he’s at the top end. I don’t know what 100 percent means. He’s an extraordinary guy and gets sore like any back who carries 30 times.
“He’s a power-type guy, but I think he’s as good as he’s going to get for a running back.”
For being such a brute when he carries the ball, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Wells seems to come up lame as often as a brittle 175-pound back. We’ve all watched him limp to the bench over the last three years, looking as if he might be sidelined for good, only to see him return to the huddle the next play.
No one would dare call Wells soft, at least not to his face, but whenever health questions arise, Tressel seems to be trying to get a message across to his star, one that perhaps hasn’t been fully embraced yet: For a workhorse running back, pain is a constant companion.
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Let’s see which head Corso wears
For the second time this season, Ohio State will be featured on ESPN’s College GameDay. This time, though, it will be on the Buckeyes’ campus.
GameDay will be in Columbus this weekend for Ohio State’s big-time Big Ten game against Penn State. That’s both a nod to the game’s importance and, presumably, the national perception warming to the Buckeyes.
It wasn’t long ago that athletic director Andy Geiger told ESPN and GameDay wouldn’t be welcome in Columbus because of the way the network covered the Maurice Clarett story. Earlier this year, the group was on hand for the Buckeyes’ game against USC in California, which didn’t turn out well.
Now Chris, Lee and Kirk will broadcast with an Ohio Stadium backdrop. Could this mean that the country is becoming more comfortable with paying attention to Ohio State again? And that the Big Ten isn’t the joke it was when the season began?
Or, it could just be that the ESPN folks didn’t think the weekend schedule produced any better games.
It’ll take more than a win against Penn State to get the Buckeyes back into the national embrace, of course. But winning with ESPN’s orange bus-traveling crew on site with greater national attention couldn’t hurt.
