Article published October 10, 2007
EVERY OPPONENT A WORTHY ONE
Kent State won't get second-class treatment from Buckeyes
By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
COLUMBUS - Consider that Ohio State is ranked No. 3 in the nation and Kent State has not received a single vote in the poll.
Consider that the Buckeyes are the two-time defending champions of the Big Ten Conference and leading the league again, and Kent State likely has played its way out of contention in the Mid-American Conference title race by the first week of October.
Consider that Ohio State has not lost to an opponent from within the state since a 7-6 loss to Oberlin in 1921, and that the last time the Golden Flashes came here, the Buckeyes handed them a sound 51-17 pounding in 2002.
And also consider that Ohio State has a rich and lengthy history and tradition, while Kent State is still searching for a starting point to begin to build some kind of positive legacy.
Add all that together, and this week's game with Kent at Ohio Stadium should provide the Buckeyes with a respite from the intensity of the Big Ten championship race, and the opportunity to rest their stars and flip on the cruise control, right?
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel not only turned down such a notion, he added that his team will attach the same meaning to this game as it does the coming meetings with Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin."What do they say - when you rest you rust," Tressel responded when asked yesterday if the approach against Kent State is football lite.
"No, we're putting a game plan together and those that deserve to be in the game and deserve to stay in the game once they're in it will play. Is it difficult playing a nonconference game in the mid-dle - yeah, because many times you can say, OK, nonconference, OK, that's over and now let's focus on the Big Ten race. But [not this year], and there's nothing we can do about it."
Tressel, who faced Kent State seven times in his 15 seasons as coach at Youngstown State, winning four of those, said he has seen enough on film to convince him that relaxing this week could put the Buckeyes in peril.
"You watch their Kentucky game, it was 14-14 at the half. You watch their Iowa State game and they came away from Ames, Iowa, with a victory," Tressel said.
"They're tough kids. You'll love watching their quarterback, you'll love watching that little running back. He's special. Defensively, they load up the box and dare you to pass and when you want to pass, they're bringing more guys than you can block."
The Ohio State players seem to have the same kind of trepidation. Sophomore receiver Brian Hartline said the Buckeyes have been keen observers the last few weeks while upsets raged throughout the college football landscape.
They have watched West Virginia and Michigan and Southern California all lose despite the odds weighing significantly in their favor.
That is a bullet the Buckeyes are intent on dodging.
"We want to treat this the same way we treat every game," Hartline said. "If we lose, we won't have the opportunity to play in the championship game. We want to go undefeated this season. When we start thinking Kent State is a second-tier team, we start hurting ourselves and that is not what we want to do."
Tressel said a less-than-full-throttle methodology would halt the progression he feels his team needs to maintain every week of the season. Last weekend's victory at Purdue has to be followed with more positive evolution.
"As we move forward, the thing we've got to make sure we do is continue at the pace we've been improving at, because as you look out ahead, that's what it's going to take," Tressel said.
"We said last week that we'd been making solid steps one step at a time, and that we understood that the Purdue step was going to be a little bit steeper step, and now we made that step and we've got to continue that momentum as we go, and that begins with practice and film preparation [for Kent State]."
Redshirt freshman defensive back Chimdi Chekwa said the mindset on the Ohio State defense, which leads the nation in points allowed per game at 7.17, is that any change in intensity will be detrimental.
"We don't let up at all defensively," Chekwa said. "We're going to take every game seriously and use each game to improve and work on our game. If we play like we're supposed to, we'll win games."
Contact Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6510.
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