COLUMBUS — Ohio State’s darkened team bus was on its way back from the airport to campus Saturday night when word spread that unbeaten Penn State was on the ropes at Iowa.
The Buckeyes, on the last leg of a trip back from a lopsided win at Northwestern, took notice.
The bus driver had a small radio that he handed to coach Jim Tressel. Everyone else used cell phones to get updates.
Penn State led 23-21 when Daniel Murray came on the field for a 31-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds.
“When the Iowa kicker kicked it through, you could see that piqued interest, because all of a sudden you’re ostensibly back with a shot (at the Big Ten title), if you do your work,” Tressel said Tuesday.
What was thought to be out of reach — a chance at a fourth consecutive conference title — was suddenly back on the table.
A team that had no real definitive goals after losses to Southern California and Penn State seemed to wipe away any hope of a national title or even a Big Ten crown, suddenly had one.
“Now everything is back in our hands,” cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. “If we want a share of the Big Ten championship or even win it outright, depending on what happens, it’s up to us. We’ve got to win these games.”
Michigan State (9-2, 6-1) has a bye this week. Penn State (9-1, 5-1) hosts Indiana before entertaining the Spartans in what will likely be a showdown to determine at least a share of the Big Ten title. A rejuvenated and no longer rudderless 10th-ranked Ohio State (8-2, 5-1) plays at Illinois this week before hosting rival Michigan in the season finale.
Two wins and the Buckeyes are assured of at least a piece of the Big Ten title, and may be in store for something much bigger — the inside track to an at-large Bowl Championship Series berth.
Because of how many people they bring to games, and of how many TVs they turn on when they’re playing, the Buckeyes would seem to be a popular choice come bowl season.
Tressel acknowledges that, but he is also aware that such talk can be distracting.
“The only thought I have on that is you can’t be 10-2 until you’re 9-2, and being 9-2 is going to be a challenge,” he said of the game at Illinois (5-5, 3-3). If we would become 10-2, we will get as our works deserve.”
Tight end Rory Nicol said the Buckeyes are excited about the possibilities, but fully aware of how much can still be lost. He said the coaching staff talks constantly about how the biggest games are played at the end.
“Statistically over the years, the teams that end up being good in the Big Ten don’t lose in November. It’s so true,” he said. “Really, our goals now are to be undefeated in November and then let everything else take care of itself.”
Linebacker James Laurinaitis isn’t a fan of speculation about bowl trips, rankings and title games. He constantly repeats the mantra that the only game that matters is the next one. In this case, that’s Illinois.
The Buckeyes feel they owe the Illini, since they provided Ohio State’s only loss during the regular season a year ago.
“We always say, we’ll play for what we can control,” Laurinaitis said. “We just have to keep battling. Things are going to happen in college football, it’s crazy. Obviously, we know we can only control our own destiny with what we do, and that’s playing well on Saturday.” 

Buckeyes Periscope

BUCKEYES BUZZ: Unlike last week, when he wheeled and walked away from reporters when grilled about WR Ray Small’s playing time, Jim Tressel kept his cool Tuesday when asked a question about the in-the-doghouse player.
Asked if he minded addressing Small’s availability or lack thereof for the game at Illinois on Saturday, Tressel said tersely, “Lack thereof.”
Last week, Small’s father, Ken Small, blasted Tressel for benching his son, who was the team’s second-leading receiver and top punt returner. Ken Small said Ohio State players have been arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated and trying to pick up a prostitute, and that another player was caught smoking marijuana before a national championship game.
Those players were not benched, he said, yet his son was suspended, apparently for not going to classes and meetings and for several other minor wrongs. And Ken Small thought it was unfair.
Tressel said he had not slammed the door shut on Ray Small. Asked if he could still work himself back into the lineup, Tressel said, “Yes. Absolutely.”
Shifting gears, former Ohio State offensive lineman T.J. Downing was arrested Sunday in suburban Grandview Heights and charged with felony drug abuse, trafficking and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.
Tressel said that news was painful to him.
“Those things hurt,” he said. “I haven’t had a chance to talk with him and I don’t know, I’m not judge and jury, I don’t know what allegedly is the case or not the case. But any time you hear of something as disappointing, even if it’s alleged, as that, it puts a knot in your stomach.”
Tressel said it’s a difficult transition going from college football star, to potential pro, to finding your way in the world like everyone else just a short time later. Downing had been cut by the Arizona Cardinals in 2007.
“I don’t want to get on the pulpit, but there’s a big difference between what you do and who you are,” Tressel said. “Sometimes, I hate to say it, because all the aunts and uncles and everyone else telling us we’re out of this world, we start thinking that what we do is what gives us our value. We’ve just got to keep working on helping ourselves understand that it’s who we are that really is important.”
ONE VOTE FOR A PLAYOFF: Ohio State President Gordon Gee, AD Gene Smith and Tressel are all adamantly against a playoff system, in large part because the Big Ten fills its pockets with cash under the current Bowl Championship Series system.
They always say that a playoff would be too much hardship on student-athletes, even though it seems to work fine in the other three divisions.
TE Rory Nicol said he’s not all that impressed with the BCS, and wouldn’t mind a playoff.
“I don’t know how it (the BCS) works. We’ve never really gotten screwed by the system, so we’ve never really had to sit there and say how much we dislike the BCS, the rankings and how they work,” he said. “But I don’t know that a playoff would be that bad. It’s kind of like, how many teams do you do? I’ve heard some ramblings about an eight-team playoff or something like that. It would obviously stretch the season and probably eliminate bye weeks. And I still don’t know that everybody would be pleased with it. But it could help, I guess, a little bit. You’d have to truly win the games to become the champion.”
FIELD TRIP: Since it was Veterans Day, Tressel said the Buckeyes took a morning field trip to the Statehouse to see a large photo-and-art display dealing with the Columbus-based Lima Company, which lost several members during the fighting in Iraq.
“It was really special for our guys,” he said.

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