COLUMBUS — As linebacker James Laurinaitis answered questions after Ohio State’s intrasquad scrimmage Saturday, a flat-screen monitor above him was showing highlights of LSU’s win over OSU in the national championship game.
“It still hurts from time to time but you accept it. It’s over with. That season’s done with,” he said of the Buckeyes’ 38-24 loss. “Now you have to focus on next season.”
The Buckeyes put some distance between them and that loss with a two-hour, full-contact intrasquad scrimmage at Ohio Stadium. The offense beat the defense 55-44 in a complicated and subjective scoring system.
Important matters facing coach Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes came into sharper focus:
l Rodriguez spat: New Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez reportedly has spoken to recruits who have verbally committed to other Big Ten programs. Tressel and Rodriguez have fired broadsides at each other (without using names), with Tressel complaining that coaches should lay off athletes who have indicated where they want to go and Rodriguez saying he’ll continue to recruit players until they sign a letter of intent.
“If a guy is not interested in coming to Ohio State, and he says that, we’ve got to move on,” said Tressel, adding that he and Rodriguez have “no beefs at all.”
l The fullback position: Curtis Terry, a linebacker his first four years at Ohio State, is playing fullback, one of only two positions where the Buckeyes lost starters from last year.
Terry, who played on both sides of the ball, wasn’t sure if he was a winner or loser.
 “I was kind of neutral,” said the
6-foot-1, 229-pounder, who is competing with senior Ryan Lukens and freshman Spencer Smith for the job.
He joked that he might just have to go to Tressel and ask for 30 or 35 carries in a game so he can show his stuff.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he said with a wide smile. “I’ve been trying to get them to see that. I feel I can break (a play) about 80 yards for a touchdown.”
l Backup quarterback: Todd Boeckman is the starter for the second straight year. Terrelle Pryor, the acclaimed recruit out of Pennsylvania, won’t report until the middle of summer, so Antonio Henton and Joe Bauserman are fighting for the backup job.
Boeckman threw two touchdown passes to Brian Hartline during the scrimmage, while Henton and Bauserman were erratic.
“I thought Todd was pretty fair and the other guys were pretty average,” Tressel said.
l Scrimmage star: Brandon Saine, who will back up tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells. Saine broke a couple of tackles, made a gee-whiz cut and carried two tacklers into the end zone on a 23-yard touchdown run.
“That was an unbelievable run,” Boeckman said.
Saine, also seeing time as a small fullback and in the I-formation, looked good when coming out of the backfield to catch passes.
l The defense: One of the few criticisms of Ohio State’s defense a year ago was that it did not take the ball away very often, forcing just 19 turnovers in 13 games. Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said there were ways to improve on that.
“Don’t drop interceptions, strip the ball when the (ballcarrier) is held up — things like that. Just being more aggressive going after the ball,” he said.
l Spring game: Tressel has decided that Saturday’s spring game at the stadium will be a scrimmage rather than a glorified practice because he knew the players wanted to get away from workout monotony.
He added that Boeckman will wear a yellow jersey, meaning he cannot be hit by defensive players. 

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