Tuesday Notebook: Coleman, Twitter and Crowds

It was the shot that was heard around the Buckeye world when Kurt Coleman left his feet to hit Eddie McGee with what was later determined to be a late hit and a hit on a defenseless player. While the officials only saw it necessary to asses a 15-yard penalty the Big Ten stepped in and told Coleman he would have to sit down for a week and thing about his misgivings with a suspension.

This is the third time in four weeks that the conference has stepped in with an after-the-fact suspension upon reviewing tapes. The suspensions should not come as a surprise with the league making pre-season visits to each campus to let teams know that it would be a point of emphasis.

The question being asked now is why Coleman was out there with less than a minute left in a game that was already iced.

"You know what, I can't answer that question," head coach Jim Tressel said during his weekly Tuesday presser. "Probably because he was told to. He wasn't taken out."

So with Coleman out of the picture (will practice but not travel with the team to Bloomington) who will step up and see the reps and how might a rotation work against the Hoosiers?

"We've been playing three safeties a lot, whether we're in base or nickel. Anderson (Russell), Kurt, and Jermale (Hines) have been playing," Tressel said.

But the Buckeyes like to rotate more than just three players in and out so who might answer the bell if the team wants to roll more players in and out?

"Your next safety, and I guess I'm speaking a little bit out of ignorance, because I haven't sat and had that discussion with Jim Heacock and Luke (Fickell) and them, would be Orhian Johnson as the guy that's had the most reps." Tressel said. "Getting Zach Domicone back is certainly helpful there from a depth standpoint."

Nobody wants to go without an All-Big Ten caliber player, even for a game, but if you do the crime be prepared to do the time is the message from the league office. And the Bucks are hoping nobody else will get that terrible news on a Monday morning.

Technology concerns?

Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach put his foot down recently banning his team from using the popular social networking application of Twitter. For those of you like Jim Tressel who are not too familiar with the program it basically is a way of sending out a text message to update all of your friends and followers as to what you are doing.

But Twitter is not always the best thing in the world for players with Chad Ochocinco for the Cincinnati Bengals having made the app even more popular during HBO's show Hard Knocks. Now with the fear of either valuable team information getting out there or players showing vibrato to their buddies, is there a fear that things could go horribly wrong with that information being made so easily accessible to the public?

"We do talk about the fact that anything you put out there is there for good and whether you're trying to get a job at a corporation some day or the NFL as they look at your background and so forth, so if you put it out there, you're stuck with it," Tressel said.

Is there a member of the support staff that is out there as a Twitter policeman or the other popular apps of Facebook or MySpace?

"(We) haven't had that at this point," Tressel said. "Now, we do check all those pictures that are -- what's that on, myspace, facebook? We have a person check that out because you never know who's putting you on where, it might not even be you and that's the hard thing we tell our guys, hey, if you're anywhere near where someone can have a camera phone and you're not doing something appropriate, you might be on record."

But people seem to be following Jim Tressel on Twitter…

"You're following the wrong guy," Tressel joked. "If someone's representing me on Facebook or Twitter, I hope they're doing a good job because it's not me. I don't even know how to spell it."

On the Road Again

The Buckeyes have not had to travel outside of the state of Ohio as of yet for the football season and even the one game that was played on a neutral field was still played in front of a partisan crowd.

Ohio State has traveled well to Indiana through the years and even angered the Hoosier Nation by tearing down the goalposts at Memorial Stadium after winning the Big Ten title in 1996 and a Rose Bowl berth.

But the Hoosiers are much improved right now under Bill Lynch and many in the Cream and Crimson believe that they should be 4-0. There might not be as many Ohio State fans at the stadium this time around and a crowd that used to be better than 60-40 for Ohio State could be very much the other way around.

"It is going to go into that environment this Saturday just knowing the things that they bring and are showing to their campus," defensive lineman Doug Worthington said. "It is going to be a great opportunity for myself and my defense and the offense as well."

Add to that the fact that the game will be on national television (Big Ten Network) and under the lights.

"This is a big night game for them so I know that they are going to be really excited and pumped up and ready to play us," running back Brandon Saine said.

Though there is one saving grace because from the field it will be hard to distinguish who is cheering for whom.

"I just tell our guys, all that red is for you," Tressel said. "I don't know who's for who when we're in that stadium. Like if we go to somewhere else that has different colors than us, it's obvious, but when you go there, it all looks red and I don't expect the crowd to be partisan in our favor, that's for sure."

Quote of the day

Doug Worthington being asked about Cameron Heyward and Thad Gibson's chances of leaving for the draft after this season

"They're great athletes and great guys. Just playing with those guys brings up your level of intensity and level of play in practice. So I definitely think they can but i know both of them want to stay here, graduate and be senior captains of next season."