Ohio State Football: Luke Fickell Talks Michigan State at Press Conference

This Saturday, Ohio State head coach Luke Fickell will greet an old, familiar face.

Except this time, the face will be on the other side of the field.

The Buckeyes will take on former defensive coach Mark Dantonio and his Michigan State Spartans this weekend at Ohio Stadium.

Fickell, for one, is excited about the opportunity to coach against a former colleague.

"Just the three years Coach Dantonio was here with him, [he is] probably the one guy that I stay most in contact with since he's been gone. Just probably because we're more similar people in general, family-oriented guys, a lot of those kind of things...we have a good relationship," Fickell said at the press conference. 

However, Fickell is prepared not to let his relationship affect his mindset on game day.

"I've said before, if I was playing my brother, I'd want to beat him as bad as I want to beat anybody. I don't think that changes or factors into it."

The press conference then circulated around freshman quarterback Braxton Miller's performance.

"He did a good job. The No. 1 thing he did was hold onto the football, played some plays with his feet, settled down, threw some good balls later in the game.

"The ball wasn't coming out of his hands as well as he would have liked or anybody else would have liked. He settled down. Took some shots. Still got up and continued to compete. I think that's the No. 1 important thing we saw from him, his demeanor, how he competed." Fickell stated.

However, Miller has a lot to improve. Fans watched as he ran 17 times last week against Colorado.

"We've got to find more balance. That's not always easy to do. But we're going to continue to tweak those things, find different ways we can do what we do, get better at them. We do know we have balance. In what way, we'll at this point figure that out."

Finally, Fickell talked about the significance of starting the Big Ten season.

"There's definitely a heightened awareness. They understand that. Not that those other games don't count because they do. They know what it's about. That's what our focus has always been about. This is when it starts.

"That's the beauty of it. I know they're excited. I know we're all excited."