Bellbrook graduation 2012
Fairfield Senior 2012 graduation
Kroger Aquatic Center opens
Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2009 > September > 05
Saturday, September 5, 2009
OSU’s Coleman: “We ‘ve got to get a lot better by next week.”
COLUMBUS — Ohio State began Saturday’s season opener and ended it with perfectly diagrammed plays:
— Brandon Saine said his 47-yard reverse on the opening kick-off return had been planned since the beginning of preseason camp.
— Defensive back Kurt Coleman said the Bucks knew exactly what Navy was going to try on the Midshipmens two-point conversion attempt that was intercepted and returned for an OSU score.
But in between those blueprint bonanzas were some real problems.
The OSU defense gave up 342 yards to Navy. Safety Anderson Russell was burned on two touchdown catches. Even coach Jim Tressel was beating himself up afterward for going for it — rather than kicking a short field goal — on a 4th-and 2 situation at the Navy 15 with 6:32 left at a 29-14 lead.
Dan Herron was stuffed on the play. Navy got the ball and Midshipmen quarterback Ricky Dobbs immediately threw an 85 yard touchdown pass. On the next possession Navy scored again.
“It was a poor decision on my part,” said Tressel. “I probably let the emotion of wanting to score and wanting our guys to knock a hole in it get the best of me.
“What went through my mind (afterward)?. I was hoping the next voice on the phone wasn’t (OSU athletics director) Gene Smith because, you know, it was a poor decision.”
The day was saved when linebacker Brian Rolle intercepted Navy’s two point conversion pass and ran it back 99 yards for two points to give the Bucks the final, 31-27 margin..
Next week comes USC, which embarrassed Ohio State, 35-3, last year. The Trojans are a big step up from Navy, but the Midshipmen can’t be discounted. Their triple option is like facing a knuckle ball pitcher in baseball. You never look good against them, but then again, how many times do you face something like that in a season?
OSU safety Kurt Coleman — the senior from Northmont — admitted “We ‘ve got to get a lot better by next week.”
And yet following Saturday’s game, here are three things that are promising:
1 — Brandon Saine — He had as productive of a day as he has ever had in his OSU career and may be in for a lot of work this season. The junior tailback and kick returner from Piqua High accounted for 139 yards. He carried the ball nine times for 53 yards, had two catches for 21 yards and he returned two kick-offs for 65 yards
2 — Coleman — He’s the ballhawk leader of the defense He accounted for two Navy turnovers, once stripping receiver Mario Washington of the ball, a fumble that Ross Homan, the Bucks’ linebacker from Coldwater, recovered at the Midshipmens’ 30 yard line . Three plays later OSU scored.. On Navy’s next possession, Coleman intercepted quarterback Ricky Dobbs.
3 — Jake Ballard — This is not a misprint. The 6-foot-7 junior tight end from Springboro had three receptions. Receiving tight ends often grow cobwebs at OSU, but he is quickly becoming Terrelle Pryor’s sure-handed safety valve. Ballard led the Bucks with 51 receiving yards.
TweetOSU vs. Navy: Glenn, Spielman…and Saine are early stars
A couple of famous Ohioans were honored at halftime of Ohio State’s season opener with Navy, which the Bucks led 20-7 at the intermission.
Former astronaut and U.S. senator John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth, dotted the I with wife Annie during Script Ohio. Both wore gray gray blazers. Glenn accentuated his with a red striped tie and his wife wore a big red corsage.
Mrs.. Glenn especially got into the spirit of the day waving both hands above her head to the sold-out crowd — a season opening record 105,092 — which stood and cheered.
As soon as the band left the field, former Ohio State All American linebacker Chris Spielman, who is about to be enshrined in the college football hall of fame, was honored on the field with his wife, Stefanie — a breast cancer survivor who he pushed out there in a wheelchair. They were accompanied by their children.
Before the second half kick-off, Bucks coach Jim Tressel went our to shake hands and speak with both Stefanie and Chris.
As for the first half, several Buckeyes from the Miami Valley made significant contributions.
Tailback and kick returner Brandon Saine — from Piqua High — accounted for 113 yards — including a 47-yard return, via a reverse, on the opening kick-off. He had five rushes for 27 yards, two catches for 21 yards and another 18-yard return
Tight end Jake Ballard from Springboro — a 6-foot-7 escape valve for quarterback Terrelle Pryor — had two catches for 35 yards and linebacker Ross Holman from Coldwater recovered a Navy fumble.
Team captain Austin Spitler, the fifth-year senior linebacker out of Bellbrook, had won the starting job at middle linebacker, but spent much of the first half on the sidelines as the Bucks went with a 5-2 defense and he was deemed expendable. In the early minutes of the third quarter, he saw more playing time.
TweetSpitler on Sidelines ???
COLUMBUS — No one up in the press box is quite sure what the deal is with Austin Spitler, Ohio State’s fifth-year senior linebacker from Bellbrook. One of the team’s three permanent captains this season and pencilled in as the starting middle linebacker for Saturday’s opener with Navy he’s was relegated to the sidelines for the Midshipmen’s entire opening drive — a 15-play, 80-yard grind that resulted in a 16-yard touchdown run by Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs to tie the game, 7-7.
Ohio State played with just two linebacker must of the time and he was not one of them. He spent the whole drive pressed right up against the sideline, helmet on.
Although Spitler — who has waited four years for this opportunity — had had a calf problem, he wasn’t one of the half dozen players coach Jim Tressel mentioned, who were battling injuries that could effect their playing time Saturday.
TweetWaiting for OSU-Navy: pimp talk
COLUMBUS — Waiting for the kick-off to Ohio State’s season opener with Navy, I’ve been sitting next to John Feinstein at the pregame brunch in the press box and we found out we have something in common.
I envy him though because he came up with a far better line than I ever did in the same situation.
Feinstein — author, Washington Post columnist, NPR contributor — does color commentary for Navy football games this season, but he was recalling a 1988 basketball game he covered in Bloomington, Indiana after he’d written the book on Bob Knight and Indiana basketball: “A Season on the Brink.”
When he showed up to cover the Hoosiers, he — and Columbus Dispatch columnist Bob Hunter — were both banished from press row and sent to metal chair seats in the very top of Assembly Hall.
The same the happened to me a year or two later when I showed up to cover an OSU-Indiana game. A critical column I’d written on Knight — about the run he had had in Puerto Rico with a local cop and a fan — still stuck in his craw and I figured he orchestrated my exile.
I was sure of it in the post-game press conference when Knight walked in, slapped me on the back as he ambled past and cracked: “Like your seat?”
I mumbled something, but my retort wasn’t in the same class as was Feinstein’s.
Interviewed on national TV, Feinstein was told Bobby Knight — who hadn’t liked how he was portrayed in the book — “callls you a pimp and a whore.”
Without missing a beat, Feinstein cracked: “I wish he’d make up his mind so I knew how to dress in the morning.”
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