By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland.com) —
Columbus — None of the Ohio State players has played at Wisconsin before, and the way they tell it, Camp Randall Stadium is some sort of asy- lum.

“I heard the atmosphere is crazy. I think the fans are crazy,” defensive end Lawrence Wilson said.

“We heard it’s real crazy,” cornerback Chimdi Chekwa said.

“I talked to [former Buckeye] Brandon Mitchell when he was here, and he told me the crowd throws batteries and nickels in marshmallows,” safety Anderson Russell said. “So I’m expecting a wild and crazy atmosphere.”

The No. 14 Buckeyes will experience it first-hand on Saturday night against the No. 18 Badgers, with the mythology heightened by the scheduling quirk that hasn’t sent the Buckeyes to Madison since 2003. That year, Ohio State was ranked No. 3 and lost, 17-10, to the No. 23 Badgers.

Starting in 2004 in OSU’s absence, Wisconsin has gone 27-1 at home, and its 16-game home win streak is the second-longest in the country.

Scary. Of course, that 27-1 record includes just two games against ranked teams, both wins over Michigan. While Wisconsin is 4-4 away from home against ranked teams in that time, their sparkling home record is an indictment of the Big Ten’s relative mediocrity, and the Badgers’ lax nonconference schedule, as much as anything else.

Still, cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson, tasked with primary prepping duties in the Buckeyes’ coaching rotation, showed the players a film of “Jump Around,” the hip-hop tradition between the third and fourth quarters, when the fans obey the House of Pain song’s title and shake the stadium.

A group of graduate students has monitored the stadium with motion sensors.
They confirmed that the press box does shake side-to-side with the jumping, the tenth-of-an-inch movement enough for the inhabitants to notice. It wasn’t the same song, but OSU coach Jim Tressel experienced it during his days in the ’80s as an OSU assistant.

“When they switched from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, all of a sudden that press box started swinging,” Tressel said. Not that the players will be in the press box.

“I know it’s going to be loud, it’s going to be hostile,” OSU receiver Brian Robiskie said. “I’m excited about the game. I’m not going to be looking into the stands to watch people jump around.”

Actually, other visiting players in the past have joined in the jumping. But the real issue for the Buckeyes will be communication.

Certainly, there’s an emotional component to any road game, especially a night game against a talented opponent. See Ohio State’s loss at USC. But the current OSU senior class is 11-1 in Big Ten road games, nearly as good at its 12-1 mark at home in the conference. And in Tressel’s tenure, the Buckeyes and Michigan are tied with the best road record in the league at 21-7, and no other league team is above .500 on the road since 2001.

But with a freshman center in Mike Brewster and a freshman quarterback in Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeyes must stay on the same page. Jim Cordle, the center against USC who has moved to left guard, said the noise from the Trojans fans led to false starts at times and other moments when the tackles got late jumps, and maybe missed blocks, because they couldn’t hear the snap count.

Each Thursday, the Buckeyes practice with noise and work on hand signals and working off the plays on their wristbands, anticipating hearing problems in every stadium. Saturday, the routine will be tested.

“Sometimes if you’re not quite sure what you heard or what you saw, that can lead to some negative things happening,” said Tressel, emphasizing the need for Pryor to get his message out. “I think if his communication can be clear, I think he’s the kind of guy, he can get energized by the situation, like all good competitors.”

That’s what the OSU players say, that all that antagonism binds them together. If the Badgers play like the Trojans, hide the children. If the Buckeyes’ biggest worry is a little wobble to the stadium, they have a chance.

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