Wednesday Hawkeyes Reading Room - Respect for Hawkeyes from Ohio State's coach, and Ohio sportswriters

The stakes for Saturday's Iowa-Ohio State game are, how shall I say this . . . high.

A Big Ten title-share is guaranteed the winner, as well as the league's automatic Rose Bowl berth. This is something that's understood at OSU, as Columbus Dispatch writer Tim May explains in this story.

"We talked more, quite honestly, about Iowa and about the fact that it is senior week for us, which is a big deal to us," (OSU Coach Jim) Tressel said. "I don't recall even talking about what was beyond that. And I'm not sure it needed to be talked about because everyone seemed to know that already."

Well, not everyone. Rusty Miller of Associated Press said Buckeyes tight end Jake Ballard didn't know a trip to Pasadena is riding on Saturday's game in Columbus.

"No, I had no idea," Ballard said, trying hard to not let his jaw hit the table in front of him.

Here's a recent Tweet from the Twitter feed of Dispatch writer Ken Gordon, who has seen plenty of the Buckeyes:

Opinion: With this defense, OSU could play with any team in the country. Not saying would beat any team, but would be a close game.

Gordon does more than Tweeting. He also writes, and he wrote very favorably about Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes in Tuesday's Dispatch. An excerpt:

Scoff at James Vandenberg at your own risk.

Iowa comes into Ohio Stadium on Saturday with Vandenberg at quarterback. He's a raw, redshirt freshman, an unheralded recruit -- three stars, according to Rivals.com -- from little Keokuk, Iowa.

Then again, the player Vandenberg is replacing, the injured Ricky Stanzi, was only a three-star recruit out of Mentor Lake Catholic -- east of Cleveland -- and he had the Hawkeyes off to a 9-0 start and up to No. 4 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings before a loss this past weekend.

Shonn Greene, who led the Big Ten in rushing in 2008, was only a three-star recruit. So was Pat Angerer, a senior linebacker who anchors a fierce Hawkeyes defense ranked 14th nationally.

The point is that in the 11-year tenure of coach Kirk Ferentz, players seem to leave Iowa City much more decorated than when they arrive.

I hear so much about this big, bad national media that puts Iowa down, but this is another example of someone beyond Iowa paying the Hawkeyes some pretty nice tribute. Moving on . . .

Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer has become a Hlog favorite this fall. Doug writes that Tressel was flattered by those who compared the 2009 Hawkeyes to his 2002

Ohio State team that won every game, many by narrow margins.

"To me that was a compliment," the OSU coach said. "That was talking about a team that figured out how you win. And they know how to win. You can watch them on film. Everyone's doing what they're supposed to be doing and when that happens, the ball is going to bounce your way.

"So I just kind of smiled that that is what Iowa's about -- they're well-prepared, they find a way to win. People want to call them lucky, let them call them lucky, but they're a good football team."

In the same story, Tressel didn't give quarterback Terrelle Pryor a winning grade -- whatever that is -- for his play in Ohio State's 24-7 win at Penn State last Saturday.

He hasn't received a winning grade yet in Tressel's notoriously difficult quarterback grading system.

"His decision-making grade was, I think, one of the best he's had," Tressel said. "It was in the high 80s. He needs to do some of the little things better, things like carrying out fakes and this and that, but his decision-making grade was very good."

We mentioned tight end Ballard not knowing Saturday's game was for a Rose Bowl. There may be a pattern there, given how Ballard made his Ohio Stadium debut as a freshman in 2006, as this CantonRep.com story explains:

“Coach Pete (John Peterson) told me to go in, and I was nervous,” Ballard said. “I looked next to me and Alex Boone was in a four-point stance, so I get in a four-point stance. I didn't even look. I just fired off the ball.”

A TE usually doesn't get into a four-point stance. “You can, but I haven't been in one since, so probably not,” he said.

Switching to basketball, former Hawkeye (for just one season) Ricky Davis gets raked over the coals by the Los Angeles Times' T.J. Simers. For instance:

"You're a clown," Ricky Davis is telling me before Monday night's game and he's the druggie -- suspended last season for testing positive.

It takes a lot these days to get anyone to attend a Clippers game, and the last thing they need is a reminder of the very worst kind of players the NBA has to offer.

Why would you bring such a contaminant back with youngsters such as Eric Gordon, Al Thornton and Blake Griffin in the room? As Chris Kaman said before the game, the chemistry wasn't any good last year, so why not weed out, so to speak, the guys who let everyone down a year ago and got suspended?

Maybe if he has Manny Ramirez's talent, it's different, or maybe if he has Manny Ramirez's fan appeal, but who buys a ticket to watch Ricky Davis?