PHOENIX -- Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel and Texas head coach Mack Brown held press conferences Sunday morning, which was their final media obligation before the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Monday in Glendale, Ariz. (8:20 p.m., EST; FOX).
Ohio State junior wide receiver Brian Hartline broke curfew on New Year’s Eve and then got into a verbal altercation with director of player development Stan Jefferson upon returning to the team’s hotel. There are rumblings that Hartline has been moved to the second team and will not start against the No. 3 Longhorns (11-1). Tressel didn’t get into specifics on Sunday, but he was asked about Hartline’s predicament and whether he will play for the No. 10 Buckeyes (10-2).
“As far as Brian Hartline goes, we may have some discussions as we go,” Tressel said. “But for the moment, Brian Hartline, the only thing I would say is that he is going to have a great part of this football game.”
The only other player that is facing some type of disciplinary action is true freshman defensive end Nathan Williams who was arrested for shoplifting in December at a mall near Dayton, Ohio. The rumor is he will sit out at least the first quarter. But as far as injuries are concerned, the Buckeyes appear to be in very good shape.
“Nathan will miss some playing time,” Tressel said. “But we should be in pretty good shape otherwise. Brandon Saine, I don’t know if he will be able to help. He really hasn’t worked as much as we would like. He is going to dress and so forth. Really the only guys that won’t dress and won’t be available would be guys like Curtis Terry and Lawrence Wilson, Willie Mobley, some guys that have had some season-ending injuries. J.B. Shugarts has practiced a little bit more. He will probably have a post-season surgery. He will at least be available for some backup role. Michael Adams is coming along a little bit more and is more ready to play significantly, if needed. So, I think we are in pretty good health and will be ready to go.”
Ohio State freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor has been compared to former Texas quarterback Vince Young for as long as he can remember. And with the Buckeyes and Longhorns facing off, the talk about Pryor and Young has been ramped up even more.
“Well, I think all of us during the recruiting stages and watching Terrelle, that was the first person that came to mind,” Tressel said. “Because Vince had just had that tremendous success of taking his team to the national championship and going on to do very well in the professional ranks. And I remember talking to Mack about that very thing. We were at an American Coaches board meeting and he did think that Terrelle looked similar to how Vince looked in high school. And I’m sure as he watches him now, he feels as if that is that type of young man. He works at it extremely hard. I’m sure deep down it’s one of the role models that he has for playing that position. And we certainly hope he becomes as good as Vince Young, like by Monday (laughter).”
Tressel sees a lot of similarities between the programs at Ohio State and Texas and he outlined them on Sunday.
“We are two very similar institutions,” he said. “Great research institutions and some of the greatest things in the world are being done in terms of research and education. Educating thousands of kids a year.
“And the cultures of both of our states is that we love football – it’s deeply entwined in who we are. We have that great legacy at both institutions where football has been successful for many, many times. To have the chance to put these similar groups on the big stage here, it’s a lot of fun.”
Tressel was told that Brown said he thinks there is more pressure on Texas this game and that Brown thinks Tressel will come in “loose” and won’t hold anything back. A reporter told Tressel that he wouldn’t usually use the word loose to describe the OSU coach.
“Oh, I’m loose,” Tressel said with a smile. “I think more than loose, I’m appreciative to be out here. And when you think about the opportunity for our 28 seniors, you do want to let it all hang out. This is their last opportunity and you’re not holding anything in reserve. And we’re playing against a great team – arguably the best team in the country. I don’t think we’re just going to waltz out there and play the ballgame. We’ve prepared extremely hard and this game is very important to us. But we’re not going to hold anything in reserve; that’s for sure.”
The Fiesta Bowl will likely mark the final collegiate game for OSU junior tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells. Conventional wisdom indicates that Wells wants to go out with a bang and really make a statement.
“Well, I will say this: I think Beanie is really excited,” Tressel said. “Beanie has the same emotions towards those 28 guys that the rest of us do and it’s really important for him to do the best that he can possibly do. And so, I don’t know if he’s as interested in making a statement for Beanie as he is for his teammates.”
Wells told reporters on Friday that he in still undecided, but that’s likely him just walking the company line and trying to keep the focus on the game itself. Tressel gave a very honest answer in terms of what he thinks will be best for Wells.
“I think that he is feeling as if he doesn’t want to do anything to distract from this moment because it is a special moment, and he’ll not have this moment with those guys any longer,” Tressel said. “I have felt all along that with his talent and the position he plays and those kinds of things that it may end up being the best thing as we sit down and talk about that after the season, that he move along. But we haven’t had that discussion, and he has prepared with the intent of the only thing that’s important is the Fiesta Bowl. We will cross that bridge as we go.”
The bread and butter of Ohio State’s offense is its running game, while the passing game is what makes the Longhorns so dangerous. A reporter asked Tressel if the game will come down to Texas being able to stop OSU’s running game and OSU being able to stop Texas’ passing attack.
“Is it that simple as far as the outcome of the game? No,” Tressel said. “I think every play is going to have a chance to make the difference in the game. Whether it’s a punt return, or a field goal snap, or an open-field tackle on one of the great Texas receivers, or us coming up with a big catch, or us diving for the first down, that’s the beautiful part of football. There will be 175 total plays or whatever and you don’t know which one is going to be the difference-maker. And that’s why you have to play each one of them like that will be the difference.
“Now, will there be moments when we have to make sure we try and contain that great passing offense? Absolutely. But you better tackle their run game too. And you better tackle them when you kickoff to them and punt to them and all the rest.
“Yes, we need to do a good job of running the football, but we’ve also got to throw it too. Because if we don’t throw it effectively, we probably won’t be able to run it. So, the beautiful part of football is that it’s all tied together.”
Ohio State will have a new starting lineup on its offensive line for the Fiesta Bowl. Ben Person has returned from injury and will start at left guard. Steve Rehring will start at right guard. That will leave Jim Cordle coming off the bench as the Buckeyes’ sixth man, to borrow a term from basketball.
“That will be the rotation for now,” Tressel said. “Jim missed a good bit of the practices back home, but he’s done all the practices out here. Ben took all the snaps with the first team, so Ben will begin the game. But Jimmy is going to play plenty.”
Pryor has received most of the attention, but another true freshman has played a prominent role for the Buckeyes this season. Center Michael Brewster could be one of the greats before he leaves OSU.
“I think he’s evolved throughout the whole season, all the way from game four when he took over the center duties and those guys next to him helped him figure it out,” Tressel said. “I think he’s a little bit closer now where he’s to the point where he’s got a little bit more of it figured out on his own. But I’m sure he still counts on help from those veterans. And the bowl practice was very valuable for him because he lined up against our guys every day and they put pressure on you. So, this experience against a great Texas front will be another great thing for Michael Brewster as he tries to develop and become a very, very good center.”
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It’s no secret that Ohio State has been the national whipping boy following two consecutive convincing losses in the national championship game. For that reason, one could argue there is an extra burden on the Buckeyes this game to prove that they can win big games.
“Well, I suppose if it’s something that an individual is thinking about and it distracts them from thinking about what they should be, perhaps (it is an extra burden),” Tressel said. “But really as you started at the outset each team, each play is independent of another and our focus has got to be an Ohio State 2008 team playing in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl against a great Texas team. If we’re thinking about anything other than that, it is going to distract you from having the ability to handle a very difficult task. I would hope that there aren’t guys on our team that are disappointed or whatever, that they happened to make the national championship game the last two years, because that’s not too bad.”
Laid-back Brown entertains the media
If Brown was any more relaxed Sunday morning, he would have fallen asleep. Cracking jokes every few minutes, while still being extremely classy, it’s easy to see why Texas fans revere the man so much. Four years ago, he was thought of as a coach that couldn’t win the big one. But after beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl (2004 season) and then winning the national championship in 2005, Brown has reached legendary status in Austin.
Obviously, he’s been asked many questions about the similarities between Pryor and Young and he thinks the comparisons are legitimate. Young redshirted his first year at UT, but they are very similar quarterbacks.
“Yes, Terrelle to us is like a young Vince Young,” Brown said. “He’s tall, he’s strong, he’s 6-6. He was Mr. Everything in high school. He was a great basketball player. We see Vince Young as a freshman in Terrelle Pryor. He’s hard to tackle and he can throw. Because he is such a great athlete and is so strong, he does not get enough credit for his passing. He’s completing 63 percent of his passes and he’s thrown very few interceptions (4). He can dominate a game if you let him.
“And he’s got Beanie Wells and that big offensive line to take some pressure off of him. So, that’s a concern that we have and I think it will be one of the great matchups going into the game. We’ve gotten a lot of credit for being a good run defense, but we haven’t seen runners like Beanie Wells and Terrelle Pryor. If you look at our Oklahoma game, we only gave up (48) rushing yards and that’s about the only comparable offensive line and running game. So, it will be a great matchup for us.”
Brown thinks the game could come down to special teams and he’s very impressed with the job Tressel has done over the years stressing the kicking game.
“Yeah, I always worry about special teams when we’re playing a Jim Tressel-coached team because he’s as good as any,” Brown said. “They are very solid. They are averaging 15 yards per punt return and they’re doing a great job on punt coverage and holding people to 4 yards a return. In kickoff coverage, they are doing great, only allowing 17 yards a return. They’ve struggled in kickoff return some. So, it scares you do death because he’s a good coach.
“There’s probably more pressure on us in this game than them coming in with everyone expecting us to win. So, I think you’re going to see a loose Jim Tressel that goes for it and keep the chips down all game.”
Brown and Tressel have developed a pretty close friendship over the last three years and Brown discussed that on Sunday.
“We are (friends),” Brown said. “I actually didn’t know Jim before our game in 2005 and then we discussed some things leading up to the game. I was really impressed with him on film. And we have similar backgrounds with coaching dads. And before the game, we talked about us both playing in huge stadiums with passionate fan bases and a lot of TV and radio and news reports about every game and people care about what we do. There’s some good to that and there’s some other to that. But we did feel like being in the capital city and being like a pro team in town, we felt the jobs were similar and were unlike some of the programs in our league and some of the other programs that we play against. Both places are very unique and it’s a lot of fun. I think when you can coach where Darrell Royal and Woody Hayes coached, that’s pretty cool stuff.”
Brown knows that Tressel has faced a lot of criticism for the losses in big games over the last two years. However, Brown thinks that it’s ludicrous to question a coach like Tressel that’s had tremendous success in big games during his career.
“To me, Jim has been the most consistent coach in the country over the last three years at least because he’s the only guy that played for the national championship with his team two years in a row,” Brown said. “He just didn’t win the two games. But if you look at every other game except those two, he’s the only guy that has been in those games back-to-back. And in some ways it’s tougher because it’s better to finish third and win than be second and lose because people forget. They’ll say, ‘He can’t win a big game.’ But it’s hard to get to that game. So, it’s a great compliment to the program they’ve got there.
“So, for them, I’m sure this game is about making sure they can prove that they deserve to be here again and that they are going to win their last game of the year because of the tough situation for their seniors the last two years.”
Texas certainly has a legitimate gripe that it should be playing for the national championship instead of Oklahoma. The Longhorns beat the Sooners by 10 points on a neutral field and finished with the same record. Brown was asked how he prevents his players from being disappointed with being at the Fiesta Bowl.
“What we tried to do was be honest with them,” he said. “I told them if you beat (Texas) A&M and you beat them by a significant amount – which was the second-largest amount in the history of our series (49-9) – that I would stand up and say that I thought you deserved to play in the conference championship game. And that’s what I did.
“And we asked our players to keep their mouth shut and leave me to be the guy that stands up. Because I don’t want them to work to try and get attention for their team. That’s my job. That’s our sports information director’s job. And that’s what we felt like we would do.
“So, until Fox announced it around 4:10, we didn’t know what the announcement was going to be. Like everybody else, we were sitting and watching very closely. I got a call from our sports information director around 4:10 telling me the news and our first concern was that our players would see it on TV before they heard it from us and we didn’t like that. So, we tried to text all the players immediately and tell them that you didn’t get in and the bowl selection will come down and you will be going to the Fiesta Bowl. So, we called a 7 o’clock meeting that night and I told them the same thing that I’m telling you. I said, ‘Here’s what happened: There are six computers and you get more weight from winning an away game and Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State on the road and we lost to Texas Tech on the road.’”
Brown is very candid when it comes to his thoughts on the BCS.
“We don’t like the system,” he said. “We would like for there to be a change. People that vote don’t even see your games. Coaches that vote might have other itineraries. So, it’s not a good system for what we think. Some people like it and it’s better than what we had 10 years ago. But in this case, it didn’t work out for us. So, we told our guys to not say, ‘Poor me.’ We said, ‘It is what it is and we’re moving forward.’”
Brown closed out with an amusing comment about making sure his players stay out of trouble while in the Phoenix area.
“We’ve had an 11 p.m. curfew most nights,” he said. “And (running backs coach Ken) Rucker said, ‘If I smell any alcohol on anyone, you’ll have to kiss me.’ I don’t think there’s been any kisses.”
