Ohio State Football: Steve Gorten Is an Idiot, Plus Other Miami Game Notes

We apologize for our hiatus the last few days, it has been a crazy busy time for us.We are officially back though, and ready to get you prepared for the showdown with Miami this Saturday afternoon.

Here are some of the nuggets you need to know about:

1. According to Steve Gorten of the Sun Sentinel, the Horseshoe isn't intimidating at all. In fact Gorten, a Florida graduate by the way, compares the Shoe to playing in the Big House. His claim is that the Buckeyes can only brag about seating capacity and not atmosphere.

"The Horseshoe doesn’t come close to The Swamp in Gainesville or Neyland Stadium in Knoxville or a night game at LSU. Those places create a home-field advantage that makes a difference. In conference, Virginia Tech and Clemson are tougher places to play than The Horseshoe. FSU, for a Miami game, is too."

Well, apparently Gorten wasn't in attendance for last year's USC game or the 2006 game against Michigan. Ohio State fans hold their own in the biggest games. We all know the Shoe can be quiet when the Buckeyes are playing weak non-conference foes and the game is out of hand, but the atmosphere in big games is totally different.

Matt Barkley had this to say last year after the USC game:

"It was really loud. I think my ears are still ringing a bit. Some of the time the tackles and tight ends couldn't hear me."

Not to mention that Gorten throws out some other stadiums that don't compare to the Shoe. I won't argue an LSU game at night is nuts—those Cajuns aren't right in the head—but Florida State and VT, really? Neither come close to comparing.

If Gorten's article couldn't get any dumber, he quotes some of the Miami players about what they think of playing in Columbus (as if they have a clue). The best quote hands down comes from Damien Berry:

“I really don’t think it’s going to have an effect on us because wherever Miami is…[Young] Jeezy said it best, ‘We’re going to bring the whole city out.’ Everybody wants to come see us. They ain’t coming just to see Ohio State."

Yes Damien, everyone wants to see you. So much so that you guys averaged 47,551 in attendance last year at home.

2. Anyway, to something that really matters for the game—player updates.

First, the good news is that Nathan Williams will be back for the Miami game this Saturday.

He has been practicing, but will likely be limited by Jim Tressel on the number of snaps he will take. Any amount of time Williams can give the Buckeyes should be positive, especially after the weak pass rushing performance this last week.

Marshall was able to neutralize the rush a bit with quick throws and screens, but the Buckeyes still had a pitiful showing.

Also of note is Orhian Johnson and Storm Klein, who will both be back this week.

Tressel also had some interesting comments on Roderick Smith. He said he looked solid in practice this last week, and is not definitely going to redshirt. This will most likely depend on how much the Buckeyes need a power back down the stretch, or if injuries surface with a couple of the guys on the depth chart.

3. Tressel refused to talk about the national championship game in 2002 in his presser. In fact, he played it off as if he had never seen the game and barely remembered it.

Leave it to Tressel to come up with some interesting way to dodge the bullet. Anyway, here was his quote on the topic:

"Some day I'll invite you all over and we'll sit in our rocking chairs and we'll break that game down and I'll tell you what I was thinking, if I can still think by then,' Tressel told reporters."

4. Randy Shannon's press conference highlights can be watched below.

Shannon has little to say about anything important, and rambles on about team football. Pretty boring.

The only real note is that he apparently thinks that playing in front of Alex Rodriguez and the Waymen brothers (I think he means the Wayans brothers) somehow has prepared his team for an atmosphere like OSU.

Not sure of the connection, but hey it's Randy Shannon.