Zook has no hard feelings about OSU loss

By: Adam Rittenberg (ESPN.com) — I’ve received several e-mails asking about the end of Saturday’s Ohio State-Illinois game and a possible handshake snub between head coaches Ron Zook and Jim Tressel. Now I haven’t seen video of the postgame scene, but there were certainly a few lightning-rod moments in the closing seconds of the Buckeyes’ 30-0 win.

Leading 23-0, Ohio State faced fourth-and-goal from the Illinois 3-yard line. Though quarterback Terrelle Pryor had attempted only 12 passes all game in rainy conditions, he took to the air and found Dane Sanzenbacher for the touchdown with only 1:18 remaining.

Asked about the play Tuesday, Zook found no fault with Ohio State’s strategy.

“It’s up to us to stop them,” he said. “I don’t have any issues with that at all. We’ve got to bow up and stop them.”

The Fighting Illini coach was also asked about his reaction to the Big Ten suspending Ohio State safety Kurt Coleman for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Illinois quarterback Eddie McGee late in the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t really think anything about it,” Zook said. “[The Big Ten has] been very, very vocal about what they’re going to do. They are going to address it, they are going to replay it.”

Unlike his colleagues in the SEC and Big 12, Tressel hasn’t been known to regularly run up the score in his career. He seemed genuinely upset when Dan Herron scored a late touchdown in a blowout against Northwestern last season.

And while piling on points seems to be the rage in college football, Tressel follows a specific plan when Ohio State has put away the game.

“Our biggest thought process if we’re ever fortunate to get into a situation late in the game where order drugs online we perhaps have a [big] lead is how quickly can we get some other players in the game,” Tressel said, “more so than, ‘Hey, let’s score some more points.’ Now we would like to score more points with some new players in the game, but our attention really turns more to, ‘When is it safe, when is it appropriate to get some experience for the second group?’”