Saturday Morning Ohio State-Iowa Reading Room

Gameday. The 9-1 Ohio State Buckeyes play the 7-3 Iowa Hawkeyes. You need the links. Here they are:

Bill Livingston, the longtime sports columnist of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, got to Iowa City a little early this week and wrote a tribute to the man for which Kinnick Stadium is named. Excerpts:

The Iowa players will walk toward the team gate of Kinnick Stadium Saturday afternoon on their way to their meeting with Ohio State. Each Hawkeye will pause briefly near the gate to follow a team superstition and rub for good luck the bronze replica of the leather helmet that Nile Kinnick, the stadium's namesake, wore when he won the Heisman Trophy 71 years ago. ...

But Kinnick's reputation was spotless. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said few, if any, of his players know who Kinnick was. Asked about him, Tressel said, "I know he was a war hero." ...

Today, Kinnick seems to have come, not just from a different time, but almost a different civilization. It is too bad that the entrance ritual is probably the modern players' closest brush with the values he represented. In a coarsened culture and a more mercenary age, it is a touch of class.

A good column by Livingston.

What will Ohio State's offensive strategy be against the Hawkeyes. Last year the Buckeyes' passing game consisted almost entirely of the short stuff. Doug Lesmerises of the Plain-Dealer, one of the best college football writers in Big Ten country, offers this story on what the OSU offense may try. Excerpts:

(Junior center Mike) Brewster is coming off what coaches said was the best game of his career against Penn State. He'll be at the heart of the occasional chaos, forced to keep his feet and slide different ways as the Hawkeyes attack the middle. ...

The Buckeyes managed last year against the same Iowa personnel, as they ran for 229 yards and used short passes, with Terrelle Pryor completing 14 of 17 throws for 93 yards. It sounds like the Buckeyes may open up the offense more this week, moving the pocket, perhaps working a no-huddle offense and running some zone-read plays to create less of a grudge match up front.

"They're very good, very fast and quick," Pryor said. "I think what we have to do is get them tired and keep going after them. We've got to keep the ball on the offensive side and just make some long drives and get them tired."

Where have you seen that before, Iowa fans?

When Iowa hosted Wisconsin four weeks ago (where has the time gone?), the pregame storylines were almost all about Iowa's defensive line against the Badgers' offensive line. Change "Wisconsin" for "Ohio State," and here we are again as Tim May's Columbus Dispatch story suggests.

Ohio State has risen to 13th nationally in rushing offense (222.0 yards) and is 17th in total offense (455.5). That has happened even though quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeyes' leading rusher in three games, has taken a reduced load of late.

"It's something about getting into November, it seems like we get rolling, and it's really when we're called upon, because we know what the grind is like," Brewster said. "We've been playing well, but we know this is a new week, and we can't think that just because we played well last week that we're going to play well this week."

Earlier this week, the Dispatch's Buckeyes Blog had this passage about today's game:

“I'm not sure you could heighten this one any more or less,” (OSU Coach Jim) Tressel said. “All summer long and all fall long people have circled this game.

“They know what this game is all about. We know what this game is all about. So I don't expect their loss or our win the past week to have much effect on that. I expect what goes on in the game to have an effect on the emotion of the game."

What do Buckeye players and coaches think about Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi. The answers are here, courtesy of the News-Herald of Northern Ohio. Included:

"He's experienced. He's been in the big games. He knows how to run an offense under pressure. It's going to be a big challenge for our defense." OSU linebacker Ross Homan

"Basically, he's not pressing. He looks a lot more relaxed back there. He doesn't have happy feet, that's the big thing." OSU safety Jermale Hines