Buckeyes Still Tinkering With 'Wildcat'

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- What's brewing today with the 2009 Ohio State Buckeyes ...

BUCKEYES BUZZ: The plays weren't all that effective, but Ohio State showed some innovation in its offense in the dramatic 27-24 overtime victory over Iowa by running the ball several times on direct snaps to running back Dan "Boom" Herron. The "wildcat" formation is all the rage in the NFL thanks to the Miami Dolphins, who have embraced the no-quarterback, direct snap set.

Coach Jim Tressel said Monday that his staff proposed the wildcat several weeks ago.

"I think the first discussion of it came up when (QB) Terrelle (Pryor) was a little banged and our tailbacks were a little healthy," he said. "We look at it as if we've got four different runners."

Tressel said that Pryor, even though he wasn't getting his hands on the ball - at least, not in the current incarnation of the wildcat - had embraced the new set.

"He's hoping for us to throw it to him," Tressel said. "You know how that is. He thinks he's a great route runner.

TICKET BOOTH: Here's all you need to know about Rose Bowl tickets.

- The game is Friday, Jan. 1, 2010, at 2 p.m. Pacific time.

- Ohio State will receive approximately 25,000 tickets if the opponent is from the Pac-10 Conference. If the Buckeyes end up playing someone from another conference, the Ohio State allotment jumps to 33,000 tickets.

- We don't know the opponent yet. And probably won't for at least another two weeks. Oregon is the front-runner, but the Ducks have two big games yet to play that might prove to be potholes on the road to Pasadena.

- Information about tickets will be e-mailed to season-ticket holders later this week.

- Online orders will begin on Monday, Nov. 24.

- Tickets and parking passes will be available for sale.

- All bowl ticket orders must be placed online.

- All bowl tickets will be overnight-mailed on Dec. 17-18.

CONFUSED BOSS: Bruce Springsteen performed in Cleveland last Wednesday night. Then on Friday night, he appeared at the Palace at Auburn Hills.

During the show, "The Boss" made small talk with the audience. The only problem was, he forgot he was in Michigan. He said, "Hello, Ohio!" and also made several other remarks about the Buckeye state.

Ohio State LB Austin Spitler laughed when he learned of Springsteen's faux pas.

"He thought he was in Ohio?" he said with a laugh. "I guess that would fire them up a little bit. I'm sure the crowd wasn't too happy about that. They left with something to talk about for the week, I guess. That's an awkward situation."

BCS RANKINGS: A lot can happen in the last three or four weeks of the regular season and championship games in the Football Bowl Subdivision, although no one really expects the perfect storm that resulted in Ohio State climbing from No. 8 to No. 1 in just a short time late in the 2007 season.

Still, the Buckeyes are No. 10 in the latest BCS rankings released late Sunday night.

Here's the top 10: Florida, Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Pitt and Ohio State.

Ohio State moved up one spot with the dramatic win over Iowa.

In the BCS rankings, the Buckeyes are eighth in both the Harris Interactive and USA Today human polls and 11th in the computers.

TRESSELESE: A verbatim transcript of a Tressel quote from Monday's news conference, when asked why Michigan's defense has given up so many points this season: "There's usually two reasons that you give up points. One is if your offense puts you in poor field position or if you give up big plays. Most defenses don't give up extensive long drives time after time and that type of thing and there was a stretch in the middle of their season where they had more turnovers than certainly they could afford and then there was a stretch in there where they gave up some big plays. But the interesting thing about watching Ohio State-Michigan film, getting ready for the Ohio State-Michigan game, is you're not really watching who you're going to play and it's - maybe the schemes you are, but the people play a notch above so we'll study the schemes extremely hard. We go into the game assuming everyone's going to be in their gap and everyone's going to be in their zone and everyone's going to be covering their man and we're going to have to earn every inch. So I think you have to be a little bit careful. Very seldom do you go into this game and study the statistics sheet. That's just not the way it works."

TEAM AWARDS: Each week the Ohio State coaching staff reviews the films and dishes out awards for the top players. There were several honorees from Saturday's 27-24 overtime win over Iowa that clinched a Rose Bowl berth and assured the Buckeyes of at least a share of the Big Ten title.

LB Ross Homan, with an interception and eight tackles, is the defensive player of the week. TBs Dan Herron and Brandon Saine, who combined for 200 rushing yards and three scores, are the offensive players of the week. K Devin Barclay is the player of the week on the special units after booting a career-longest 39-yard field goal that clinched the win.

The Jim Parker OL of the week was Jim Cordle. LB Austin Spitler was singled out for his play among the front seven on defense.

The scout team picks were OL Chris Malone, DL Keith Wells and LB Jordan Whiting.

BIG PLAYERS, BIG TEN: The conference's players of the week included Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien (5 TD passes in a 45-24 win over Michigan); Penn State LB Navorro Bowman (12 tackles, two for minus yards and a sack, and a 73-yard interception return for a go-ahead TD in a win against Indiana); and Michigan State K Brett Swenson (4 for 4 on FGs, including a 21-yard game-winner in a 40-37 win at Purdue).