INSIDE SLANT

Lost in Ohio State’s fifth-straight Big Ten championship are all the injuries the Buckeyes overcame along the way.

Nearly every starter across the offensive line has missed time this season with injuries. Tailback Dan Herron missed about a month with an ankle injury and quarterback Terrelle Pryor was slowed by a nagging ankle injury.

As Ohio State enters its season finale against rival Michigan, the good news is the Rose Bowl bid is secure and all of the wounded are now healthy. Along the way, the Buckeyes implemented their own version of the popular Wildcat offense that splits Pryor out wide as a receiver and allows Herron to take the snaps.

It was born out of necessity, coach Jim Tressel said. Pryor’s ankle began bothering him about the time Herron’s was feeling better. With Pryor hurting and Herron, Brandon Saine and freshman Jordan Hall healthy, the idea just made sense.

“We look at it as if we’ve got four different runners, and at the moment we worked it, the running backs were healthier than Terrelle,” Tressel said. “The good news is I’d like to think we’ll go into Saturday and all four will be healthy.”

With so many available runners, the Buckeyes have rushed for at least 200 yards in four consecutive games and seven times this season—tied for most in the Tressel era.

They are facing a wounded Michigan team that ranks 10th in the league in rushing. Michigan has lost four straight and six of seven and needs a victory to avoid missing out on a bowl game for the second straight season.

With so little at stake, this certainly isn’t the high profile rivalry game Ohio State-Michigan usually means. But Tressel refuses to believe this series has lost its luster.

“If you’re an observer, perhaps,” Tressel said. “But if you’re part of it and you’ve felt those feelings and you had those experiences and just know what it means to both schools, that would never occur to the participants. Perhaps someone from Utah might not jump on it because neither team is being talked about every day in the national scheme of things, but not with the participants.”

NOTES, QUOTES

• OL Justin Boren will become the first player since World War II to play for both Ohio State and Michigan. Boren, who transferred from Michigan two years ago, was not made available this week by Ohio State.

• Ohio State will unveil replica throwback uniforms from the 1954 national championship season for the Michigan game. The uniforms are part of Nike’s series that include a handful of schools across the country. They are not expected to be worn again following the Michigan game.

• The Buckeyes have rushed for at least 200 yards in four straight games—and even surpassed 300 in one of those.

Series History:   Michigan leads 57-42-6 (last meeting, 42-7, Ohio State, 2008)

Scouting The Offense:   Dan Herron is the bruising tailback and Brandon Saine is the home run hitter, although Saine has flashed power at times, too. The combination, along with QB Terrelle Pryor, will likely be too powerful for Michigan’s feeble run defense. When the Buckeyes do throw the ball, it’s most likely going to DeVier Posey. Posey leads the team with 47 catches. The next-closest receiver, Dane Sanzenbacher, has 26.

Scouting The Defense:   Ohio State excels in two important areas: forcing turnovers and keeping opponents out of the end zone. The defense has only allowed 10 touchdowns in the last 39 quarters and it ranks sixth in the country with 23 takeaways. Linebacker Ross Homan has played well the last two weeks, totaling 18 tackles in wins against Penn State and Iowa to overtake Brian Rolle for the team lead in tackles (84-82). The defense came up with three interceptions last week against Iowa and had a fourth nullified by an offsides penalty.

Quote To Note:   “I’m not worried about overconfidence because we’ve got enough guys that have played in this game that they know better than that. If there’s any inkling of overconfidence, it will get knocked out of their throwback uniforms on the first play.”—coach Jim Tressel, on his team facing a 5-6 Michigan team after winning five straight in this series

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

This Week  ‘S GAME: Ohio State at Michigan, Nov. 21—A rivalry Michigan dominated throughout the 1990s has been reversed. The Buckeyes have won five straight and seven of eight in this series since Jim Tressel’s arrival.

Keys To The Game:   Terrelle Pryor has done well to keep his emotions in check this season during tense moments. He’ll need to do it again, since 100,000 Michigan fans will likely be taunting him for choosing the Buckeyes over the Wolverines. Beyond that, Ohio State will make forcing turnovers a priority. Jim Tressel believes winning the turnover battle is a huge key to winning on the road. Ohio State should have no trouble gaining the advantage against a Michigan team that ranks 102nd in the nation in turnover margin.

Players To Watch:  

• RG Justin Boren—The former Michigan lineman has been called every name imaginable by Michigan fans, and players, upset about his “lack of family values” statement upon leaving the Wolverines. Brandon Graham was particularly critical of Boren this week. “It’s just somebody who shouldn’t have been here in the first place,” Graham said. “He was good here, but I don’t think he’s good there because it’s O-State.” Graham and Boren are destined to run into each other at least once during the game.

• QB Terrelle Pryor—Jim Tressel raved about Pryor’s performance in the win against Iowa, even though he didn’t grade a “winning performance” by OSU coaching standards. This is Pryor’s first trip to Michigan Stadium since choosing Ohio State over the Wolverines. He went through this just a couple of weeks ago when he visited Penn State. Now he’ll have 100,000 more angry fans to quiet down.

• LB Austin Spitler—Had a key interception in the win against Iowa and will now focus on a Michigan rushing attack that ranks second in the league. Spitler lived in obscurity for years behind James Laurinaitis. Now he gets his chance against Michigan.

Roster Report:  

• LT Mike Adams (knee) could have played against Iowa, Jim Tressel said, but he elected to keep Adams out because of how Jim Cordle was matching up against Iowa DE Adrian Clayborn. Cordle admitted after the game Clayborn got the best of him quite a few times, but Tressel wanted to leave Cordle in to get a rhythm against Clayborn rather than risk a recovering Adams. Expect Adams to return against Michigan.

• RT J.B. Shugarts (foot) played sparingly against Iowa, but Tressel expects him to start against Michigan.

• DT Dexter Larimore played about 10 snaps against Iowa, Tressel estimated. Tressel expects that figure to increase against Michigan.