DaytonDailyNews.com

Buckeyes buzz

Some people still do not want to face the fact that Ohio State was beaten by Penn State, apparently.

A Columbus television reporter told coach Jim Tressel on Thursday, Oct. 30, that someone had pointed out to him that the Nittany Lions had illegally batted the ball toward their goal line on QB Terrelle Pryor's critical fourth-quarter fumble in last week's 13-6 loss.

The reporter asked about a ruling, and wondered aloud if the turnover shouldn't have counted. To his credit, Tressel didn't bite.

"There is a rule against illegally batting the ball forward. But, boy, it's hard to call that, because how do you know if it was batted or he (the defensive player) just flat missed it," he said. "Really, the officials aren't in position. There weren't like four of them waiting back there for that thing to happen."

Then again, Tressel stopped far short of saying that there was no doubt about the non-call, either.

"I couldn't bemoan the fact that that should be batting the ball, but by the letter of the law you're not allowed to advance the ball by batting it in the direction of your goal line," he said.

This isn't the first time that a fan (or even a coach) looked at a loss and fell back on a bit of revisionism. Many fans questioned a fumble in the Illinois loss last year. And that loss didn't go away, either.

Polling place

The Buckeyes moved up a spot to No. 12 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 media poll.

Just a note to those who believe Ohio State gets no respect around the nation. Consider that the Buckeyes are the highest-ranked team in the poll with two losses and are listed ahead of several schools that might have a valid claim that they play a tougher schedule and have more quality wins than do the Buckeyes: No. 13 Missouri (7-2), 14 Georgia (7-2), 15 LSU (6-2), 16 Ball State (8-0), even 8-1 BYU at No. 17.

Here's the million-dollar question: What are Ohio State's quality wins?

Back on campus

After having the weekend off, the Buckeyes returned for a team meeting on Sunday night. They'll follow a regular practice schedule this week.