Nicol gets a shot

Tight end Rory Nicol will try out with the Washington Redskins this weekend in hopes of signing a free-agent contract. Nicol likely would have already signed a deal, but he was hampered by a hamstring injury he suffered while working…
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Senior sendoff spoiled for Boeckman, Buckeyes

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Perhaps more than any other player, Todd Boeckman has served as a symbol for Ohio State’s senior class. 

He celebrated Big Ten titles and struggled in big games. He earned local and national recognition and endured the pain of subpar performances. And he handled both the highs and the lows with total class. 

Despite losing the starting quarterback job to a true freshman (Terrelle Pryor) in Week 4, Boeckman still joined fellow captains James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins and Brian Robiskie to meet the media after every game. He remained a leader in the locker room, on the practice field and on the sideline, even if he could no longer be one on Saturdays.

For those reasons, no player on the field at University of Phoenix Stadium had more support than Boeckman as he reclaimed a critical role in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against Texas. The senior helped Ohio State rally in the fourth quarter and was seconds away from a perfect end to his career when Texas scored the game-winning touchdown to win 24-21. 

“To see him go in there, it proves the old adage that good things happen to good people,” Ohio State tight end Rory Nicol said. “He stayed the course all year. Yeah, he was pissed off in his mind all year long. Who wouldn’t be? He did the right thing, he did what was best for the team.

“He forgot himself.”

But Ohio State didn’t forget about Boeckman, even though Pryor made strides as the starter. The Buckeyes shook things up in bowl practice, pairing Boeckman and Pryor on the field together. 

The combination worked Monday as Boeckman completed five passes for 110 yards, including a 5-yard scoring fade to Pryor, who recorded his first touchdown grab. Boeckman helped set up Ohio State’s go-ahead score with 2:05 left with a 21-yard strike to tight end Jake Ballard on second-and-17. 

“I had no idea how much I was going to play,” Boeckman said. “They just told me to be ready at all times. I’m always looking forward to getting out there and playing with these guys. I had some fun out there today, but unfortunately, we couldn’t get the job done.

“It felt pretty good to get out there and throw the ball around a little bit. I haven’t done that in quite a while.”

Ohio State’s coaches downplayed the two-quarterback scheme leading up to the game, suggesting it would only be used sparingly. But Boeckman took the game’s first snap and found Robiskie for a 14-yard gain. 

He seemed to spark the offense in the first half, and after the unit went silent in the third quarter, his 48-yard completion to Robiskie on third-and-13 changed the game’s complexion.

“Todd is a special guy,” head coach Jim Tressel said. “Every one of us wanted to do all we could to make him a part of the plan. … He stepped in and did a good job.”

The game signaled the start of a major personnel transition for Ohio State, as the 28-member senior class departs following four Big Ten titles but a 1-3 record in bowl games. Running back Chris “Beanie” Wells and wideout Brian Hartline, both juniors, also could also be departing (both said they had not reached a decision about the NFL draft). 

“The seniors have 43 wins throughout their career here,” Boeckman said. “That’s one of the best records in Ohio State’s history. The hard part about that is the last three bowl victories, we didn’t get a win. That’s probably what people are going to remember the most. That’s tough to take.”

The near miss resonated with Pryor, who performed admirably under pressure and will face an even greater burden in 2009. 

“We made a statement, but losing to a team, it’s not good enough,” Pryor said. “You’ve got to win. We hung onto ‘em, but it doesn’t sound great. It’s not right.

“We had an OK season. We needed to finish that game off.”

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Wells’ presence boosts OSU on, off field

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

	Andy Lyons/Getty Images
	OSU running back Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells could be playing his final collegiate game at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Monday night.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It’s been 43 days since Ohio State’s last game, but running back Chris “Beanie” Wells hasn’t spent all this time preparing one of his patented pre-game pep talks.

“It ends up happening at the moment,” Wells said. “I don’t pre-write anything. I just say how I’m feeling.”

Wells’ off-the-cuff style resonates with his teammates, who look forward to hearing from their emotional leader, especially before big games like Monday’s showdown against No. 3 Texas in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Fox, 8 p.m. ET).

“Very emotional,” guard Steve Rehring said of Wells’ speeches.

“He might have been more fired up than anybody in our locker room for the [USC] game,” fullback Brandon Smith said, “and he didn’t even dress.”

Wells will be in uniform Monday night as he tries to help No. 10 Ohio State knock off Texas. Much of the focus this week has been on Ohio State’s 28 seniors, but Wells also could be playing his final collegiate game before entering the NFL draft, where he’s expected to be one of the first two running backs selected.

The setting and the situation will only add fuel for a player who thrives on big games and big moments. Add in the fact that Wells is as healthy as he’s been since sustaining a foot/toe injury in the season opener, and Ohio State could have a better chance that many think.

“He is a difference maker,” Ohio State senior tight end Rory Nicol said. “He does something to the morale of the team. It’s like [cornerback] Malcolm [Jenkins] always says, a little spark kindles a great fire.

“Often times, he’s that spark.”

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Fiesta Bowl Press Conference – Offense

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Press Conference Thursday, January 1, 2009 with Rory Nicol, Brian Robiskie, Brandon Smith, Beanie Wells and Offensive Coordinator Jim Bollman.

Story By The Official RSS Feed of Ohio State Football Head Coach, Jim Tressel

Embattled OSU line looks to make statement

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — At 6-foot-7 and 335 pounds, Steve Rehring is a big boy.

The Ohio State right guard can handle a little criticism.

	Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
	Alex Boone and the Ohio State offensive line will need their A-game against the Longhorns’ defensive front.

“We take the blame,” Rehring said of himself and his linemates. “If people want to blame us, that’s fine. Whatever. We do some dirty things sometimes. People don’t understand what we do down there.”

Ohio State’s front five has borne the brunt for the unit’s struggles for most of the season. Despite returning four starting linemen, the Buckeyes finished 78th nationally in total offense (339.7 yards per game) and didn’t truly find an identity until the closing stretch of the season.

The topsy-turvy season brought criticism from both outside and inside the locker room. Left tackle Alex Boone gave the line an ‘F’ for its performance in nonconference play. Rehring was a little more forgiving with his regular-season grade, giving the line a ‘B’ or ‘B-minus.’

The group needs an A-plus performance Monday night against No. 3 Texas in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Fox, 8 p.m. ET). Led by All-American Brian Orakpo, Texas leads the nation in sacks (3.7 sacks per game), while Ohio State is tied for 78th in sacks allowed (2.17 per game).

“We have a lot to prove,” Boone said. “We’ve been up and down all year. We’ve been talking about that and how we need to get better.”

Pass protection has been the biggest knock against the Buckeyes, who ranked no worse than 29th nationally in sacks allowed during the last three seasons.

“I don’t think pass blocking all goes on the offensive line,” Rehring said. “We take the blame for it, always. If you get beat, you get beat. That’s on the offensive line. But sometimes, protection-wise, we’re supposed to do this or that.

“As a collective group, we need to protect the quarterback.”

Starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor is prone to holding the ball too long at times, and he’ll need to have a quicker release against Texas, which boasts seven defenders with multiple sacks, led by Orakpo (10.5) and linebacker Sergio Kindle (9). Both Rehring and Ohio State tight end Rory Nicol likened Orakpo to former Buckeyes star Vernon Gholston, the hulking end who had 14 sacks last season.

“We need to do a good job schematically of trying to keep Texas true and contained to their schemes and not letting them just tee off, off the edges,” Nicol said. “Staying out of third-and-long situations where they get in that 30 front, they put Orakpo and the other kid on the edge and they’re coming. They’re coming to get the quarterback.”

Speed has become a sore subject for Big Ten teams in recent seasons, and the new spin on the debate is that the major differential can be found on the line of scrimmage, not with the skill players.

Rehring doesn’t buy it.

“We’ve got great defensive lines in the Big Ten,” Rehring said. “I would put our defensive line against anybody and run 40s, across the board. On the offensive line, it doesn’t matter. As long as you have good technique and do what you do, you have quick feet, it doesn’t matter how fast they are.

“As an offensive line, we’re pretty quick guys, play with good technique and we go against a great defensive line every day in practice. So we’ll see how it works out.”

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College game comes easy for prep prodigy Pryor

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — More than once after a game this season, Terrelle Pryor noted how college football isn’t all that different from the Pennsylvania high school scene he dominated as the nation’s No. 1 recruit. 

After helping Ohio State stomp Michigan State 45-7 on Oct. 18, Pryor told reporters, “It’s just like high school.” The line became Pryor’s trademark this fall as he won Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and led Ohio State to another BCS bowl appearance as the starting quarterback. 

“Liar,” Buckeyes senior tight end Rory Nicol said. “But Terrelle’s from PA [Pennsylvania], I’m from PA, too, so I’m allowed to say that. He’s a good athlete, man.”

Such a good athlete that Pryor’s transition from high school to college has been smoother than many had expected, even for a freshman who came to Ohio State with unparalleled hype. Pryor has had his growing pains, but he led the Big Ten in pass efficiency (152.1) and posted an 8-1 mark as the starter.

With small-forward size and a smooth, seemingly effortless running style, Pryor at times looked like the best player on the field, just like he was at Jeannette Senior High School. 

Could it really be that easy?

“You can’t really argue with him,” senior cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. “He was just in high school last year, so he comes in, he’s doing amazing things as a freshman. It kind of is just like high school.”

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Buckeyes boost physical play in bowl practices

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

Rory Nicol and his Ohio State teammates know they can’t change the past.

They can’t change the results of the last two BCS national championship games. They can’t change the minds of critics who felt the Buckeyes looked slow and overmatched against Florida and LSU. But they can change how they prepare for their next opportunity on the national stage, which arrives Jan. 5 against Texas in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

“The one thing we believe in here is if you do the same things, generally you get the same results,” said Nicol, the Buckeyes’ senior tight end. “So we tweaked a lot of things. That doesn’t mean we changed the entire format of practice or the entire personnel, but we changed things.

“The world changes every day, every second, and we do our best to learn from our past mistakes.”

To avoid similar mistakes against Texas, Ohio State has put a greater emphasis on physical play earlier in bowl preparation this year. The Buckeyes are going “live” — full-contact hitting — for more practice periods than they did in past years.

The idea is to maintain a game feel during a lengthy layoff. Ohio State will go 44 days between its regular-season finale against Michigan and the Fiesta Bowl. That’s the longest respite for any bowl team this year.

“We’ve done a good job of getting into some live situations where the speed is back up there to that game type of speed, which can sometimes be hard to simulate at practice,” Nicol said. “We’ve got a few periods where we’re going full-go, the ones on the ones.”

Maintaining the intensity level during bowl preparation takes on an even greater importance for Ohio State this year. The Buckeyes undoubtedly played their best football in November, winning their final three regular-season games by a combined score of 117-37.

Last year, Ohio State dropped a November game to Illinois. And even in 2006, when the Buckeyes went undefeated, they struggled at Illinois on Nov. 4 and beat Michigan in a shootout Nov. 18. You could argue the team peaked in September or October of that season.

The current squad is determined to continue its momentum to the bowl game.

“We’re definitely doing some more live scrimmaging, trying to get each other better,” senior defensive tackle Nader Abdallah said. “We need more live tempo to make sure we don’t relax or anything. It’s extremely important to make sure we end on a high note. We have to finish strong.”

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Greene, Laurinaitis headline All-Big Ten teams

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

The All-Big Ten teams have been named by the league’s coaches and media members. My analysis will come later tonight.

Iowa running back Shonn Greene and Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis were selected as Big Ten Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year by both the coaches and the media. Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor was the consensus choice for Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Penn State’s Joe Paterno was the media’s pick for Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Here’s the full list.

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Full review – The Game

I’ve just finished watching The Game on DVR and it’s amazing how much different it was watching The Game in person and watching it at home. Part two of this review will go into greater detail about the weekend and the surrounding hoopla, but now, here’s my full look-back at The Game itself.

• Prior to kickoff, I spent a lot of time looking for Sam McGuffie.  Word was that he had asked for a transfer, so I was shocked to see him in uniform.  But his warm-up ritual was quite different than the rest of the team.  He kept going to the UM bench, didn’t particpate in a few of the drills, and didn’t look particularly useful.  I texted a friend and said that he would not be a part of the main action today (and he wasn’t).  I don’t think his lack of play was due to injury….you don’t let injured guys return kicks, which McGuffie did (and got whacked for his effort).  Rumor has it this kid lost his will to play, and it showed heavily.
• A mere 5 or 6 minutes into the game, there was a big dust-up on the Michigan sideline.  TV cameras caught some of it, but they didn’t focus in on the drag-down fight that happened just behind the coaches.  I don’t know who it was, but a player and a coach were literally shoving each other for a few seconds before others broke it up.  Between that and the screaming match with Rodriquez, I saw a team that ripped apart at the seams.  Expect mass transfers and finger-pointing in the next few months leading through recruiting season.
• After Ohio State’s first TD, the ball kept blowing off the kicking tee, despite a lack of wind in the stadium (5 MPH at worst).  ABC’s announcers questioned why it kept falling off, but nobody had the real answer…it wasn’t windy, it’s just that Michigan sucks.
• McGuffie getting sandwiched on that kick return was one of the most brutal hits I’ve seen in The Game since Chris Spielman had 71 tackles and 13 sacks in the 1986 game alone.  Late in the 4th quarter of that game, Spielman went into the stands and beat up the QBs family.
• LeBron in Cleats threw a perfect pass to Brian Hartline for our second score.  The guy next to me wondered if he was watching a replay of Smith-to-Gonzo.  I have to agree.  These two could be a very dangerous combo next season.
• On the kickoff return with a 14-0 lead, Ohio State players were imposing their will on blockers.  You could literally see the desire leave Wolverine players, getting shoved away from the pile, leaving the field with their heads down.
• Early in the second quarter, Beanie Wells took a hit to his leg on a near-hurdle of a Michigan defender.  We’re used to seeing Wells get up slowly, much like Jim Brown used to do, but this time looked scarier.  He stood up and waved off Boom Herron, entering the game as a replacement.  The crowd went nuts.  Wells took the next snap and picked up 6 yards and a first down.  It was that exact moment that I knew Wells will not return for his senior season.  That play showed me that he knew it was his final game in the Shoe.  He wanted it badly and refused to come out.
• Was it just me, or did our defense reduce Michigan to running the same two plays over and over again?  Sometimes Sheridan kept the ball, sometimes it went to the RB, but it almost always was the same two plays.
• I really wanted us to go for it on 4th-and-2 from the 35, and I’m glad Tressel tried it…but unfortunately, it gave Michigan something they never saw much of.  Decent field position.  Brian Robiskie almost pulled it in, despite getting interfered with by Morgan Trent.
• Speaking of Trent, did he only play that one down, because he was invisible all day?  Maybe he played, we just couldn’t see him because he’s just too fast for the human eye to see.  MGoBlog says he can run the 40 in 2.08 seconds or something like that.  Yeah.  Right.
• Midway through the second quarter, Michigan finally gets their first 1st-down.  When the other team has 14 more points than you have first downs, things ain’t goin’ your way.
• Brandon Minor sprints towards the end zone, and Bob Griese has a hissy fit that the ball was at the 1-yard line when his foot slips out at the 2.  It was close, but Griese overplays his hand and kinda over-discusses it.  Three plays later, Minor gets hit at the two and goes out of bounds.  Watch that play again, when his body goes out of bounds, the ball is in his outside hand, and goes out at the 2.  Griese doesn’t complain when they spot it at the 1.
• I was really impressed with the defense all day.  Michigan had eight plays in the red zone on the afternoon, and only scored 7 points on a 4th-and-1 squeaker.
• Going into halftime, Brad Nessler actually said the following;
  

  “If you take away Beanie Wells’ TD run and you take away Terrelle Pryor’s TD pass, Ohio State hasn’t done anything.”

You know, Brad, if you take away all the plays Ohio State scored on, then they wouldn’t score.  Dammit, Michigan was only 6 plays away from a complete shutout!

• Heading into halftime, Tressel second-guessed himself on the 4th-down call.  It wasn’t about execution for this guy, instead it was his own fault.  The guy is pure class through-and-through
• During halftime, K.C. Lopata came out to practice FG kicking while the OSU Marching Band was still performing.  He set the ball down at the 15, and had to quickly move out of the way while part of the brass section maneuvered into the spot where he wanted to kick from.  Immediate jeers poured down on him for his encroachment.  He got a kick off shortly after that, and missed it wide left.  Fans refused to return the ball, and he was left standing there for a few extra minutes.  The rest of halftime became a comedy of Lopata being mocked while missing more than 50% of his kicks, all from short range.  He gave up after shanking a 30-yarder and the north stands howled with laughter.  I wonder which was worse for Lopata, that severe humiliation during practice, missing a tying kick against Toledo, or being blocked twice against Appalachian State.  It doesn’t matter to me, as I’m happy enough to be bringing all three up again.
• After just four plays in the third quarter, Bob Griese announced that “Rich Rodriquez did a goob job at halftime of firing these guys up for the second half.”  I’ll let you ponder the wisdom of that remark, as you have already seen what happened for the rest of the game.
• Chimdi Chekwa made an outstanding tackle at the 38-yard-line on a second-and-8 play.  Griese proclaimed that Chekwa “saved a 40-yard run” with the tackle, because he just knew that Michigan would have taken it down the field without it.  No mention of how the Michigan receiver would have gone for 40 yards from only 38 yards out, but Griese never lets logic get in the way of some Wolverine lovin’.
• To start the third quarter, Rodriquez called 5 straight rushing plays that gained 37 yards.  Seeing the success of the running game, he decided to change it.  Then he had Nick Sheridan throw it twice in a row for 1 total yard.  From my vantage point, Rich Rod is the most underpaid coach ever.  Give him a raise an a contract extension NOW!
• Two plays, 91 yards, and neither ball carrier got touched by a single Michigan defender (Beanie ran out of bounds, Boom ran into the end zone).  Tell me again who had a better halftime adjustment?
• After each point scored, proud members of the United States military has a tradition of doing pushups near the north end zone, one for each point.  For the whole day, our soldiers each did 147 pushups.  Somewhere in an Army recruiting station, a kid is hoping to be stationed in Ann Arbor so he doesn’t have to work so hard on Saturdays.
• We didn’t notice it at the stadium, but it is now interesting to see how Sheridan literally crawled to the sideline after getting smacked once again.  And here I was thinking that Mike Barwis made these guys the strongest team in the history of the planet.  Sheridan CRAWLED off the field.  Yeah, that’s gonna be on his highlight reel for The Rivalry.
• Was that Ray Small on the punt return, or did Ted Ginn Jr return from Miami for the day?  Damn, that was impressive.  After years of seeing Troy Smith do it, why does Michigan still think our ball carrier will run out of bounds and wind up making a feeble attempt to stop a juke move back to the inside?
• First play on the ensuing drive, I LOVED watching Tressel send in a pass play.  He was going for the jugular, and he got it.  That play sealed the win with 4 minutes to play in the third quarter.
• That catch was vintage Robiskie.  The DB was pulling on his uniform on the way down, and Robo went and got a reception that nobody else could have grabbed.
• I know that Steven Threet didn’t make the trip and Sheridan needed a wheelbarrow to get off the field, but I was shocked to see Justin Feagin on the field.  Somebody help me with this one, but did he just blow his chance at calling this a redshirt year by taking snaps in a game that was already won?  Feagin’s another 3-and-out victim and looked just as lost as the rest of the backfield for Michigan this day.
• Holy crap, did Tressel just call a deep pass play with a 21-point lead?  Robo was one-half step away from hauling in another bomb.
• Pryor dodges three tacklers (well, two tacklers, but one of them missed twice), runs right, then left, and lofts a pass to a wide-open Dane Sanzenbacher, and all Griese says about it is “he threw a duck”.  Unbelieveable.
• 1st and goal from the 2, Pryor throws to the inside of Rory Nicol instead of the outside.  It nearly gets picked off on a bounce, and Jake Ballard also has a shot at grabbing the deflection.  Speaking of that play, when was the last time we had two tight ends in the same area on the same pass play….and the pass got THROWN that way?
• Ohio State scores to go up 34-7 with the extra point coming, and Brad Nessler says Ohio State is “starting to pull away”.  Starting?
• Bravo to Todd Boeckman.  That was a storybook ending to a kid’s career at Ohio State.  he handled it all with dignity and grace that is rarely seen in sports these days.  He deserved that final TD pass, and I hope he got the game ball for his effort.
• Unfortunately, Griese couldn’t handle Boeckman’s benching with the same dignity and grace.  Griese spent the better part of 20 minutes bitching about how TB got benched in favor of Pryor.  At one point, he complained about Boeckman getting pulled for having “one bad game against USC”, but then went on to say that we would have beaten PSU if Boeckman was the QB.  Never mind that Pryor threw for 225 yards that day…that one fumble was clearly the deciding point.  If Boeckman got the shaft for “one bad game”, then why does Pryor deserve to get benched for one bad play in Bobo’s brain?
• If you have the game on tape, watch it again at 8:42 of the 4th quarter….did Griese just groan and say “ohhhhh Jesus” under his breath after Saine got tackled?
• I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced otherwise…that was a safety in the south end zone with 7 minutes left.  he got stopped before he crossed the plane.  Oh, well.  I’ll take the 35-point win.
• For the record, yes we were screaming for Ohio State to go for two points on the conversion following Boeckman’s TD.

One final thought on The Game, Version 2008…..look back to where these two teams were two years ago.  #1 vs. #2.  The most epic battle in the history of The Game, won by Ohio State.  The final score that day?

Ohio State 42
Michigan 39

The final score this year?

Ohio State 42
Michigan 7

We’re just as good as we were then. Michigan is 32 points worse than they were.

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Pryor To Be Tested By School He Jilted

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State tight end Rory Nicol didn’t think there was anything special about rivalries – until the opening kickoff of his first game against Michigan.

"I was a freshman and Ernest Shazor knocked me into, probably, the third week of my junior year," he said, wincing at the thought.

Nicol’s story may provide some insight as Ohio State’s touted freshman quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, prepares for his first game against Michigan. A native of Jeannette, Pa., Pryor isn’t steeped in the traditions and the enmity of the series. Yet.

After the Buckeyes’ 30-20 win last week at Illinois, Pryor said of the Wolverines: "I just think of them as every other team. They’re just another team to me until I get into this rivalry."

For most players, the ferocity of the hitting and the stifling pressure set this game apart from all others. Almost everyone on both sides talks about the weight of the hopes of former players, the pad-cracking hits and the vitriol of the opposing fans.

"The first time I experienced it, it blew my mind," said Ohio State kicker Ryan Pretorius, a native of South Africa who grew up 8,700 miles away from the rivalry and didn’t even play in that first game.

Adding kindling to the blaze, Pryor the nation’s No. 1 quarterback recruit last spring, chose Ohio State over Michigan.

"It’s in the past," said Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, also participating in the rivalry for the first time. "Once he got signed and he goes to another school, my focus is on the guy that’s playing for us. And you have to do that. I don’t think you can (do) hypotheticals and what-ifs. You have to say this is what reality is, and this is what we do."

The callow 18-year-old Pryor has had a profound impact on the 10th-ranked Buckeyes (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten). They have won seven of eight games since he took over as the starter. They need to beat Michigan (3-8. 2-5) to clinch a tie for the Big Ten title.

Pryor was not permitted to speak with reporters this week, but head coach Jim Tressel said he has the utmost confidence that his big (6-foot-6, 235 pounds), speedy freshman is ready to be thrown, literally, to the Wolves.

"I’m confident Terrelle can handle it," he said.

His teammates feel the same way.

"He’s had people talk every week about how he was going to face some new challenge," wide receiver Brian Robiskie said. "I can remember his first start, his first Big Ten start, his first road game. Every time it was something new and people kept trying to throw stuff at him. He just does such a good job of preparing through the week and tuning everything out, that none of that really matters. He understands, like everyone else, that this is the biggest game on our schedule."

But few believe you really get a feel for the rivalry until you’ve experienced it.

"Any athlete worth his salt is always confident, but when you’re a freshman, everything is new," Michigan quarterback Rick Leach said. "You can hear about the rivalry and read about it, but there’s nothing like being in the game."

Pryor’s signing marked him as a celebrity in this football-mad state even before he had attended a college class.

Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee bemoans the pressure that that puts on a kid – at the same time he readily admitted that he was calling the coaching staff last spring to check on its progress in signing Pryor.

"What we have here is the development of a hero complex in America," Gee said. "That is the fact that these are 18- or 19-year-olds and all of a sudden they’re put on the front pages of every major American newspaper. Think about the pressure it puts on him. I’ve been very impressed with him, but it also says something about the process."

Pryor, who leads the Big Ten in pass efficiency, has had good games and bad. He has shown an amazing knack for avoiding a closing pocket and turning negative yards into big gains. But he has also had difficulty throwing the ball with authority more than 10 or 15 yards. At other times, he’s taken sacks instead of throwing the ball away.

He has said that playing college football is "easy."

"I just think as you’re growing up and playing football, it’s just a game," he said a week ago. "Football is more simple than everyone thinks. You have four downs to get a first down and every down until fourth down you have to get at least three yards or more. If you do that and you move the chains and don’t turn over the ball you get a victory."

Michigan’s players are aware that Pryor could have been a teammate instead of an adversary. They have mostly said all the right things about going up against him.

"He’s got awesome athleticism when he gets out of the pocket, so you have to contain him," linebacker Obi Ezeh said. Then he added, "When he’s back there in the pocket, he’s just another quarterback."

Ohio State’s players don’t find anything ordinary about Pryor.

"He’s made a ton of plays for us and that’s really the important thing," Nicol said. "You don’t want to think about him in maize and blue, either."

Regardless of what colors he’s wearing, he’s in for a wild ride. Some rookies to the game handle it extremely well, others are traumatized by it.

"Going into your first (Michigan-Ohio State) game, you have no idea what to expect," Leach said. "People can talk to you about it until they’re blue in the face, but you won’t know in your heart and mind what it’s like to be in this game until you get one under your belt."

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