OSU seeks improvement

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The top-ranked team in college football isn't satisfied with what they've done so far.

COLUMBUS (AP) — No. 1 Ohio State can't go any higher in the rankings and could not have won any more than the three games it has played.

Yet the Buckeyes aren't satisfied with what they've done so far and believe they have lots of room for improvement heading into Saturday's Big Ten opener at home against Penn State.

"We're probably not as consistent across the board," coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday when asked to pinpoint a problem.

But then he added, "There's nothing that jumps out at me and says, 'Oh, man, we have regressed in this area.' We are progressing in many areas."

Unfocused early

The Buckeyes seemed to be unfocused early in last week's 37-7 victory over Cincinnati, which wasn't a surprise since they were coming off a stunning 24-7 victory over defending national champion Texas and were already gearing up mentally for this week's showdown with the Nittany Lions.

"Dave Patterson, one of our captains, demonstrated the whole week that he thought we were not ready," quarterback Troy Smith said. "I'm not saying he was Nostradamus, but to a certain extent he was right. We came out sluggish and we came out slow."

The numbers support the contention that the Buckeyes (3-0) are far from a finished product.

They are ranked in the top 10 among Division I-A schools in only one major statistical category (although it's an important one) — scoring defense at 8.7 points per game.

Stats mediocre

The Buckyes are 59th in rushing offense (139 yards per game), tied for 13th in passing (287 ypg), 18th in total offense (427 ypg) and tied for 30th in scoring (32 ppg).

"I think the last game maybe we could have broken some runs up the gut a little better, like we had the first two games," center Doug Datish said. "And maybe we need to protect Troy better.

On defense, they're 50th against the rush (106 ypg), tied for 55th against the pass (187 ypg) and 43rd in total defense (294 ypg) of the 119 I-A programs.

"Our defense hasn't arrived yet," linebacker James Laurinaitis said.

Funny, but one area that hasn't been up to snuff is kick returns — even though with Ted Ginn Jr. back there, it is considered one of the strongest parts of the team.

Ginn is averaging 7.6 yards per punt return — almost half of his career average (15.9). Same goes for kickoff returns, where he is averaging 14.3 yards compared with his career mark (28.6).

Ginn improves

Tressel chooses to look at Ginn's development as a receiver, where he already has 14 catches for 253 yards and five touchdowns — matching his output at the position last year.

"Teddy continues to grow into understanding of how they're trying to play him," Tressel said, while mentioning that Ginn must frequently be a decoy to draw double coverage that opens up other receivers.

Maybe it's still too soon to judge the Buckeyes' progress. Besides, Smith said it's more important to be a well-oiled machine in November than it is in September.

"If we peak too early as an offense, then the people in the stadium are wondering, 'What are we here for?' " Smith said. "It's cool to see a gradual increase, whether it would be rushing, passing, returning kicks, defensively — the whole way around. A big thing for us is to peak at the right time and not too early."

Wednesday, September 20, 2006