Football
Tressel's Message Broadens
By John Porentas

Jim Tressel
Photo by Jim Davidson

Jim Tressel's 2006 "Theme of the Week" tour may have ended. Now he's set his team on the "Theme of the Month" tour.

Throughout this season Tressel has come up with a weekly theme to keep his Buckeyes motivated and into the game with the upcoming opponent. With the change of the calendar month however, Tressel appears to have embarked on a new strategy.

Brandon Mitchell
Photo by Jim Davidson

"Coach put up a graphic today of all the (OSU) outright Big Ten champions and all the national champions in Ohio State history, and they've all with the exception of the '39 team I think, they all were undefeated in November, so we know the opportunity that we've put ourselves in and the place we've put ourselves in to be able to do those things," said OSU senior safety Brandon Mitchell on Tuesday.

Tressel's November message is a bit more specific than the old "pretenders in September and contenders in November" axiom. Tressel has modified the message to match OSU's 2006 schedule that includes two road games before the home finale with Michigan.

"He told us today that Big Ten championships are won in November on the road. That's real," said Mitchell.

Tressel's message really covers all the bases and all the remaining schedule. It certainly covers OSU next two games on the road with Illinois and Northwestern, and it even conveniently covers the home game with Michigan. If things play out the way they are expected to play out, Michigan will be trying to do the very same thing, win a Big Ten championship on the road on November 18. Tressel drove that point home, and further focused his team on the Illinois game, but mentioning some rather recent OSU history.

"We also talked about the 2001 game when Illinois came here and they beat us on our home field. We were pretty much playing for an outright Big Ten championship then and they won on the road in November," Mitchell said.

That game gave Illinois the Big Ten championship, further underlining Tressel's message.

"It's games like that can define your season," said Mitchell.

Tressel and his players have dutifully recited the "one game at a time" mantra Throughout this season, but Tressel himself may have broken that rule with a comment he made to his players earlier in the season that brought their attention to the bigger picture, not the upcoming opponent, a comment that Mitchell remembered and has given the "win in November" message that much more impact now that November has arrived.

"Coach Tressel in the locker room, whenever Purdue lost their first game, he told us right then after they lost their first game that we control our own destiny in the Big Ten." Mitchell said.

"If you go back to the 2002 season we didn't control our own destiny, we didn't play Iowa and they were undefeated just like us, so we were co-Big Ten champions. I've always wanted to be an outright Big Ten champion just because it hadn't been done since '84," Mitchell said.

The message has been sent and received. Three games in November will determine whether or not the 2006 Buckeyes reach one of their primary goals, an outright Big Ten championship.

"Obviously we know how big a task that is, but I think he sets everything up for us to peak in November," Mitchell said.

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