DaytonDailyNews.com

What's brewing today with

the Ohio State Buckeyes:

Buckeyes buzz

Head coach Jim Tressel came to his weekly news conference wearing a bright red sport coat, a white shirt and a rather loud — for him — Ohio State tie.

He wanted to underscore that fans should wear scarlet to the 8 p.m. showdown with No. 3 Penn State on Saturday, Oct. 25, in Columbus. He also said there's a chance of showers, so fans should bring along scarlet ponchos.

One of the points Tressel made later was that he has never discussed Bowl Championship Series rankings or polls or his team's prospects at making it back to a third national championship game in a row.

"We've never discussed the BCS standings," he said. "It's way premature. We didn't even discuss them last year after we were done with the regular season because there were games to play. ... So far we've earned seven wins and a chance to play in a big game on Saturday night and see what we can do there."

Injury report

Tailback Dan Herron (concussion) will play this weekend. Early reports are that cornerback Chimdi Chekwa is back from getting his bell rung and will be available as well. Tight end Rory Nicol (ankle) and linebacker and Bellbrook graduate Austin Spitler (concussion) played against Michigan State and figure to be even healthier against Penn State. Lawrence Wilson (knee) along with offensive linemen J.B. Shugarts (shoulder) and Mike Adams (foot) may be out for the rest of the season. Tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells was sore after carrying 31 times last Saturday, but is expected to be full go.

You've got a friend

A lot of people are wondering what Jeannette, Pa., native quarterback Terrelle Pryor thinks about playing a school from his home state this weekend.

Nicol is from Beaver, Pa. A reporter joked to Nicol that maybe he was that highly touted Pennsylvania native who Joe Paterno couldn't sign?

"Yeah. That's me," he cracked. Then he quickly added, "No, I think that's that other guy."