The Ohio State Buckeyes collected four interceptions against Miami last Saturday, and ESPN's Adam Rittenberg writes how winning the turnover battle is becoming a growing tradition for the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes improved to plus-7 in turnover margin for the season. "The coaches do a good job of telling us that when the ball is in the air," linebacker Brian...
Ohio State's Jim Tressel The Ohio State Buckeyes collected four interceptions against Miami last Saturday, and ESPN's Adam Rittenberg writes how winning the turnover battle is becoming a growing tradition for the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes improved to plus-7 in turnover margin for the season.
"The coaches do a good job of telling us that when the ball is in the air," linebacker Brian Rolle said, "it's just as much ours as it is theirs."
This isn't exactly a new formula for Ohio State. The Buckeyes tied for third nationally in takeways with 35 last year, as fumble recoveries and interceptions became the hallmarks for a unit that boasted only one first-team All-Big Ten performer (safety Kurt Coleman). Twelve different players recorded interceptions in 2009, and five had two or more picks.
Ohio State is annually one of the nation's stingiest defenses, writes Rittenberg, but the takeaway trend is a fairly recent phenomenon. The Buckeyes had only 12 takeaways in 2005 (114th nationally) and 19 in 2007 (93rd nationally).
OSU had 29 takeaways in 2008 (20th nationally), but last year's unit took things to another level, and the trend is continuing.
"That's always an emphasis," defensive tackle John Simon said. "It's just huge to [force] a turnover. It's a big momentum shifter, and then our offense can keep the momentum."
Two days later
The Miami Hurricanes are still licking their wounds following their defeat to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Miami Herald reporter Bill Van Smith writes how all week the team looked forward to the challenge of playing No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday.
There is a huge difference between being 2-0, jumping into the Top 10 and coming off a victory over the No. 2 team in the nation, and being 1-1 and facing two more tough road games.
UM coach Randy Shannon knows his message to the team has to be simple: Don't look back; look forward.
On the loss to the Buckeyes, Shannon said, ``There's lots of things we see on film that we can get better at. Like I said before, we will be a better football team after this game. If you look at it from the stat sheet, it's probably equal in first downs, total yards and time of possession and things like that, but two things that were glaring in this game were turnovers and penalties.''
Former Buckeyes in the NFL
Here's a look at what some of the former Buckeyes did in their NFL games on Sunday. In The Columbus Dispatch:
Ted Ginn Jr., WR, San Francisco : Caught one pass for 19 yards, returned two punts for 27 yards and three kickoffs for 54 yards in a loss to Seattle.
Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Indianapolis: Caught one pass for 12 yards in a 34-24 loss to Houston.
James Laurinaitis, LB, St. Louis : Made five solo tackles in the loss to Arizona.
Donte Whitner, S, Buffalo : Recorded four solo tackles and five assists in a loss to Miami.