OSU's goal: Win big one
When the Ohio State schedule comes out each year, Malcolm Jenkins always has a lot of circling to do.
The first one is easy. Last Saturday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 22 this year: Michigan. Ohio State is 6-1 in the Big Game in coach Jim Tressel's seven years.
The nonconference slate also provides one, Sept. 13, in probably the marquee nonconference game of the fall when the Buckeyes play at Southern California.
The final game Jenkins circled might come as a surprise, against a program that until last year owned an 8-38 record the previous four seasons.
Illinois, Nov. 15 in Champaign.
"It is right up there with USC and Michigan, especially with how our game played out the last two years," Jenkins said. "It is starting to turn into a small rivalry, at least on our end it is. It's one of the ones we have circled on our calendar."
Avenging last year's 28-21 loss to Illinois, along with beating Wisconsin in Madison, would go a long way to putting Ohio State back at the top of the Big Ten. If the Buckeyes get there, they will become the first school in the 113-year history of the Big Ten to win three straight outright championships.
"The guys who come to play at Ohio State or come to coach at Ohio State understand that the expectation is that we want to deserve to be the Big Ten champions," Tressel said. "We have good fortune from the standpoint of returning a number of guys who have experienced a lot of things, a lot of great things and some things that weren't the way that we'd hoped they'd happen."
That would be the way the last two years ended, with a 41-14 loss to Florida and a 38-24 loss to LSU in consecutive national title games.
"If we want to earn respect, we've got to win that big one," senior quarterback Todd Boeckman said.
Ohio State certainly has everything in place to win that big one. They enter the year ranked No. 2 in the AP preseason poll and No. 3 in the coaches poll.
The Buckeyes received a boost when Jenkins, a preseason All-American cornerback, and linebacker James Laurinaitis, last year's Butkus Award winner, spurned the NFL to return for their senior seasons.
They have the top returning rusher in the Big Ten, Beanie Wells, who broke Archie Griffin's school record for a sophomore by rushing for 1,609 yards.
Boeckman finished as the Big Ten's top-rated passer, even with a disappointing finish (2 touchdowns, 6 interceptions) against Illinois, Michigan and LSU.
The defense returns nine starters, including stars Laurinaitis, Jenkins, linebacker Marcus Freeman and safety Anderson Russell.
The Buckeyes add the top recruit in the country, quarterback Terrelle Pryor. While Boeckman is the starter, look for Tressel to work Pryor - a 6-foot-6 dual threat who has been compared to Vince Young - into the offense immediately.
With 18 returning starters, Jenkins and his teammates might have one more date to circle - Jan. 8 in a third straight national championship game.