College football

At Ohio State, new faces and few changes

No one talking BCS title, but this team knows expectations in these parts

Terry Gilliam / AP

Is that really Jim Tressel? The Ohio State coach ditched one the sweater look for Saturday's spring game.

OPINION

By Dave Curtis

updated 1:27 a.m. ET April 26, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio - They tried to spice up the spring game at Ohio State. From conventional scoring structure (no points for "explosive plays") to Jim Tressel's red Hawaiian shirt to a national spring game record 95,722 fans inside Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes wanted more than a scrimmage out of Saturday's festivities.

Yet a half hour deep, the day felt like just another weekend in the Big Ten. The Gray side led the Scarlet 3-0. The teams combined to provide a punt for every point. A little foliage and one side nicknamed the Hawkeyes would have made this seem real familiar.

So it goes with the Buckeyes — although things might appear to change, everything ends up about the same.

And so it will be in 2009. Tressel's ninth Ohio State squad will rely on a Sanzenbacher and a Spitler, a Herron and a Homan. These aren't popular names in May. But come December, after another finish around the top of the Big Ten and during preparation for another BCS bowl, they'll be as well known as Laurinaitis, Jenkins and Wells.

Sure, Ohio State needs an overhaul. Just place the winter's Fiesta Bowl depth chart next to a list of projected starters for the fall. On offense, the Buckeyes boast a new tailback, new tight end, two new starting receivers and three new linemen. The numbers seem daunting, even for this perennial powerhouse.

"The last time we played," Tressel said, "there were 28 seniors and three juniors who aren't here. This is our team now."

And this new team knows the expectations in these parts. The last national title came in 2002, but OSU has played in two other BCS championships and six BCS games in seven years.

Feel free to add another to that list right now. This is far from Tressel's best group, and the schedule includes a visit from USC and a presumptive conference championship game in November at Penn State. But given the changes and the challenges, there's a confidence here that things will work out by Thanksgiving.

"That's why a place like Ohio State is great," receiver Dane Sanzenbacher said. "You always have that great recruiting class coming in to replace the guys who are going."

Fitting that such a thought would arise on the first day of the NFL draft. Everyone in the locker room figured that by night's end, the core of the Buckeyes' recent success — running back Beanie Wells, corner Malcolm Jenkins, linebacker James Laurinaitis — would know where they'd begin their pro careers. During the day, even with the discretion necessary to evaluate a spring game (like we said, the Hawkeyes weren't here), their replacements showed the drop-off might be minimal.

For starters, Wells' former backups looked strong Saturday. Expect a season-long fight for playing time involving Dan Herron, Brandon Saine and Marcus Williams.

And then there's quarterback Terrelle Pryor, now a sophomore phenom, who has more in his legs than Saturday's five-carry, minus-17-yard performance.

Sanzenbacher, who sat Saturday with a bad knee, will team with deep threats Ray Small and Taurian Washington outside. Small and Washington each caught a Pryor touchdown pass Saturday, cementing themselves as the successors to Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline.

The defense figures to struggle minus Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman and Jenkins in every facet. Ross Homan, the lone returning starting linebacker, said he still looks for his former teammates between plays on the field, or when he walks into position meetings.

"It's crazy not having James and Marcus in there," he said.

Don't expect that feeling to hang around until September.

Tressel has veteran reserves Austin Spitler and Tyler Moeller high on the depth chart now, but heralded sophomore Etienne Sabino will soon grab one of those spots. And if Lawrence Wilson's health doesn't abandon him for a third consecutive year, this defense won't slip at all.

Nobody outside the program is thinking national championship with this team. A matchup with Florida, Oklahoma or Texas would look like last year's 35-3 loss to USC.

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Over 95,000 see Pryor star in OSU spring game

But all those departed big names couldn't vault Ohio State past the best teams in the country either. Laurinaitis, Wells and the rest made the Buckeyes the class of the Big Ten and put them, at worst, atop the nation's second tier of teams. Even with all the defections, Pryor and the replacements can maintain that status.

Wait and see. Ohio State will win double-digit games again, and play in a BCS game again. Nothing ever changes around here.

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