Thanks to the legs of Terrelle Pryor and the stingy silver bullet defense, Ohio State carries an unblemished record into Saturday’s home contest with in-state foe Ohio University.

Although the Buckeyes are coming off a high-profile victory over the Miami Hurricanes, coach Jim Tressel said his team can’t dwell on the win.

“It was just a great atmosphere against a very good team and gives us a lot to learn from and grow from and if we’ll roll up our sleeves and go to work, we can have a good football team,” Tressel said. “If we sit back and say, ‘gosh, that was wonderful, we won in the Ohio State-Miami game and we’re satisfied,’ we’re in trouble, and that’s the reality and I think our guys will respond the right way.” 

Barnett possibly out for year

 

When it looked like the Buckeyes were approaching 100 percent health, the defense took a major hit Saturday when starting strong safety C.J. Barnett suffered a knee injury in the second half.

“C.J. was really playing well,” Tressel said. “He took advantage of an opportunity in preseason to get a lot of reps when Orhian Johnson had a calf pull and really did well and we thought played very well through the first game and three quarters. Unfortunately, I think (Tuesday) he’ll be having surgery and probably won’t have him the rest of the year.”

With the loss of Barnett, Tressel said that Johnson, Aaron Gant and Zach Domicone will be in the mix to help fill the void left by Barnett’s injury.

On the bright side, defensive end Nathan Williams returned against Miami and was able to contribute more of his services than the coaches had expected.

“We were thinking he might play 20, 22 (snaps), so he exceeded our expectations there and played well, played with a lot of burst,” Tressel said. “I’d like to think he’ll do nothing but get stronger as time goes here.”

Chekwa, Barclay earn Big Ten honors

Rising to the occasion Saturday were cornerback Chimdi Chekwa and kicker Devin Barclay, who each garnered Big Ten honors this week as defensive player of the week and co-special teams player of the week, respectively.

Pulling in two of the defense’s four interceptions, Chekwa’s solid play also earned him national defensive player of the week recognition.

“Defensively, it was Chimdi Chekwa who came up with a couple big plays and continues to lead back there and play with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and play like a senior,” Tressel said. “You know, we’ve said a million times that you can have a good team if your seniors have their career-best year and Chimdi certainly is on task to perhaps make that happen.”

For Barclay, it was his career-high five field goals that helped snag him conference accolades.

The battle of the Posey brothers

When the Bobcats come to town this weekend, No. 1 receiver DeVier Posey will face a different sort of challenge as his older brother, Ohio cornerback Julian Posey, will be the one attempting to stop him.

“I’m sure that will be interesting,” offensive lineman Justin Boren said. “It’s interesting me playing with my brother, I can’t imagine playing against him. Especially like going one-on-one the entire game.”

Tressel said the jawing back and forth will add to the intrigue.

“I think Julian and DeVier worked out a little bit against each other and they’ll be talking trash,” said Tressel. “Those guys talk trash to people they don’t even know. I can’t even imagine what they’ll be doing when they face one another.

“I told DeVier, I said, if big brother shuts you down, it’s going to be a long lifetime for you.”

Struggling in the red zone

Although the OSU offense racked up 36 points on the Hurricanes defense, 15 of them came from field goals. Having settled for field goals three times from inside the 10-yard line, Boren insisted that the offense has to be able to get in the end zone.

“When we get inside the 10-yard line, we have to score touchdowns,” Boren said. “We need to have seven points instead of three points in those types of games.”

Special teams blunders

The Canes’ speed exploited what appeared to be a glaring weakness for OSU, special teams.

After giving up both a punt and kickoff return for a touchdown, Tressel was not shy about admitting that OSU’s kick coverage has to improve.

“If you err on the line as a kickoff coverage guy, there’s a 10-yard issue, and if there’s a fast guy running through that 10-yard issue, everyone else is in trouble,” he said. “So we’ve got to understand what the fundamentals are at every stage, and that’s where I think special teams sometimes become difficult.

“So what can you do? You can do it right, just like any other play, but it’s really magnified in the special teams.”

In an attempt to help alleviate this problem, Tressel said that employing the help of return specialists Jordan Hall and Jaamal Berry on kickoffs might be one potential solution.

“This week we’ll find out who ought to be the 11 guys that get to run down or who are the guys that need to stay in front of the punt returner even when they think he might fair catch,” he said. “And those two have done a good job because they’re both good running backs. And just like anything else, when you want more, the answer to getting more is do well with the few you get.

“And those guys are doing a good job with the few opportunities they’re getting. So now they should get more responsibility.”