Sat Feb 04 2012
Associated Press
COLUMBUS " As is typically the case, former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce spoke to the team earlier this week as a way of setting the stage for Michigan week.
Needless to say, he left quite an impression.
Coach Jim Tressel always has Bruce, who is 77, as a keynote speaker on the Sunday night before the Michigan game. It sets the tone.
"Earle has a way of helping you understand how lucky you are to be a part of that game," Tressel said.
The Buckeyes players are always a little wide-eyed because Bruce starts out slowly and builds to a rant when the subject is Michigan.
Punter A.J. Trapasso: "Coach Bruce genuinely dislikes Michigan. I mean full-blown hatred. Me personally, I grew up around it. I don't hate Michigan. I wish them well all season until the last game because I like having something on the game and having it mean so much. If he could, he would take it off the map, I think."
"He really gets into it," TE Rory Nicol said. "He went off last year in the team meeting room. It was pretty comical. That would probably be my highlight of Earle."
DL Nader Abdallah, on the difference between Bruce and Tressel addressing the team: "Coach Bruce will go up there and speak his mind and whatever he feels he is going to say. Coach Tress is more understanding. Coach Tressel lately has shown a lot of emotion but coach Bruce, when he goes up there, well, it's two different worlds."
"Sometimes we laugh at some of the things he says because you see this old guy and he's going off about Michigan," CB Malcolm Jenkins said. "You see he still has the same enthusiasm we have and we're 20 years old. You take what he says to heart."
LB Marcus Freeman: "When I was real young I was just like, "Man, this guy is crazy. Who is this guy?' But the older you get the more you appreciate him and realize he has a passion for this game, a passion for this rivalry and a passion for coaching football. ... In a perfect world for him, it would be 1,000-0 (with Ohio State winning)."
Finally, LB James Laurinaitis was asked if anyone hated Michigan more than Bruce.
After thinking about it a second, he said, "Alive or dead? Because I'm sure Woody would still be classified for that."
BUT IS HE A KIPKE? Michigan has had 12 previous head football coaches. In their first meetings with Ohio State, those coaches are 10-1-1.
The only coach to lose his first game against the Buckeyes was Harry Kipke, whose team dropped a 7-0 decision to Ohio State on Oct. 19, 1929.
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