Football
Opposing Coaches Offer Final Remarks
By John Porentas

The preliminaries came to an end today.

After a week of interviews that has led to an avalanche of coverage in the national and local media for both Florida and Ohio State, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer both met with the media for about 30 minutes today in their final appearances before the BCS championship game on Monday.

Little was left to be discussed that hasn't already been covered this week, though there was at least one humorous exchange between Tressel and reports and one rather insightful remark by Meyer that really cut to the chase regarding what may decide the outcome of the game.

There has been much talk about which team might have the motivational edge. Both coaches are effective motivators, and both have been at it full bore since the national championship game pairing has been announced. Gator Head Coach Urban Meyer has made no secret that he has his team playing to earn the respect they feel they have been denied this year, especially by the nay-sayers who said prior to the bowl games that the Gators do not belong in this game.

Tressel has not been so open as to his method, but one unnamed OSU defensive lineman told reporters earlier in the week that Tressel had handed out a card to his team with a quotation from Confucius. When asked about that card today and what was on it, Tressel was taken aback.

"Obviously that one didn't work, because it wasn't Confucius," said Tressel with a smile.

"It happened to be Nelson Mandela. But anyway, some of them work and some of them don't."

Despite the apparent failure that particular effort, Tressel does not expect that his team will have any problem being motivated for the game.

"I think our guys are anxious to tee it up," said Tressel.

The game has had no lack of analysis this week, with most of the analysis centered on the skill positions and defensive speed, but Meyer said the deciding factor may well be much more fundamental to the game of football.

"Every football game is decided on whether you can run the ball or not," said Meyer.

Meyer is sure the Buckeyes will try to run the football, but has seen enough film on OSU to know they will try to do it on their own terms.

"If you can run the ball, that makes the throw game that much easier. They will run the football at you, but they are not stubborn enough to run it against all those unblocked people when you start putting a lot of people in the box," said Meyer.

"For Florida to win the game we have to run the ball, have to. That means our offensive front will have to handle arguably the best defensive front they've played all year.

"For Ohio State to win, I'm sure they would say the same thing.

"Pittman has to get going or you can bracket people, double-team people because you are in a single-gap defense. If you are in a two-gap defense, which means you are putting more people in the back end, you are very concerned about giving up the run," Meyer said.

Meyer pointed to OSU's offense in the Michigan game as an example of the importance of the running game.

"The two plays that knocked it over the edge against Michigan were the two run plays, simple off-tackle power plays against a two-gap defense and then a great run from another guy when the defense was spread out covering people. That's the chess match that goes on during the course of the game," he said.

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