COLUMBUS, Ohio -- No one really knows what to expect from the crowd at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday. Will it be dominated by Buckeyes fans? Or will the Rockets be represented?
Almost all of the tickets have been sold through Ticketmaster. Any remaining will be sold at the gate.
A Toledo spokesman was asked about the makeup of the crowd: "I think people will be surprised. I'm going to say 50-50. I hope our fans remember to wear blue."
Usually, Ohio State fans overrun the ticket offices for nearby games. That was the case when the Buckeyes played Northwestern in 1991 at Municipal Stadium - a Big Ten game played at a neutral site. Probably 90 percent of that crowd was backing the Buckeyes.
Coach Jim Tressel said he wasn't sure what to expect.
"I don't know how the ticket allocation went. I would expect a lot of scarlet and gray and I would expect a lot of blue and gold," he said.
INCOMING: The Buckeyes left Columbus at 11 a.m. in four buses, making a brief stop at the stadium before traveling on to their downtown Cleveland hotel.
WEATHER FORECAST: Tressel joked that he had a "weather coach."
"It's supposed to be a perfect day," he said of game day. "My weather coach told me (he predicted) a zero chance of rain, wind coming out of the East-Northeast at 9 mph."
Asked how accurate the unnamed "weather coach" was, Tressel said, "He's not very good."
ANOTHER PREDICTION: Ohio State QBs coach Nick Siciliano, talking about Terrelle Pryor's future: "It would not shock me if we bounced back and Terrelle bounced back and just kept climbing up the mountain each week through the season. I wouldn't count him out yet by any stretch of the imagination."
TWO THUMBS UP: The Toledo squad watched a movie on Friday night: "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
PRYOR REPORT CARD: Since reporters seldom get to speak with Pryor, Siciliano was peppered with questions. Here is a summary: Pryor's doing a great job passing, he's doing a great job running, he's doing a great job handling the pressure, he's doing a great job learning the offense and recognizing defenses. Basically, things couldn't be much better and Pryor is making terrific process.
"(Pryor's) ultimate goal is to be a finished product when he leaves here. He knows he's not going to be here and be a Dan Marino right now. But he wants to work towards that," Siciliano said. "Along the same lines, he's willing to do whatever we need to do to win. That's the one thing that I can't stress enough. He just wants to win. He'll tell you, 'If it takes me carrying it 35 times to win, let's do it. Whatever it takes."'
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