By Rusty Miller
The Associated Press

ARE YOU GOING?

Hey, Ohio State fans! Headed to the Fiesta Bowl? The Enquirer wants to hear your stories as you prepare to leave for next week's national championship game and then talk to you while you're soaking up the scene in Tempe. Contact Rick Green, assistant manager editor for Business and Metro, in the Enquirer newsroom at (513) 768-8477. Or, better yet, send him an e-mail at rgreen@enquirer.com. Please include your telephone number here in Cincinnati and/or where you'll be in Tempe.

PHOENIX - There's one recurring theme whenever an Ohio State coach or player talks about the Miami Hurricanes: team speed.

The Buckeyes are bigger and stronger, yet it is Miami's turbocharged quickness at almost every position that awes opponents and sets the defending national champions apart from the rabble of college football.

"Speed is the key to any game," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said after the Buckeyes' first workout Friday in Arizona for the Jan. 3 showdown against No. 1 Miami in the Fiesta Bowl. "Any time human beings play on their feet, the faster ones usually win."

Unless, of course, they find an edge of their own.

The Buckeyes are spending their days in the sun working on ways to combat Miami's perceived advantage in speed. To a man, they acknowledge that the Hurricanes defenders are sprinters, that their wide-outs allow no room for error by a defense, that one simple misstep can easily end in a long touchdown.

Every team puts a premium on speed. It's just that most experts believe that Miami started the trend and still corners the market on guys who can run.

Ohio State offensive lineman Alex Stepanovich said it's not just hype.

"Oh yeah, they're definitely fast," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and tell anybody they're like any other team."

Fifty-seven players on Miami's roster come from Florida, which has long been considered by most coaches as the main conduit for speedy players. The Hurricanes' burners include flanker Roscoe Parrish, split end Andre Johnson, tailback Willis McGahee, linebacker Jonathan Vilma and cornerback Kelly Jennings. Tight end Kellen Winslow is 6-foot-5 and weighs 233 pounds but can run like a track star.

After a while, the numbers associated with Miami's quick-strike offense - fueled by their speed - become overwhelming.

The average drive time on the Hurricanes' 67 offensive touchdowns was just under 2 minutes. They scored 18 times within a minute of getting their hands on the ball. They ran 187 plays that gained at least 10 yards - one of every four snaps.

Almost everyone but Ohio State's players considers the game a mismatch in terms of speed.

"It's because we're from the Big Ten, we're from Ohio, the Midwest," free safety Donnie Nickey said. "It's the stereotypes that go with certain parts of the country, like West Coast offense. People get stuck in a style of football. We've got speed, they've got speed. It's that they've got it in more places than you expect. Their linemen can run.

"But I don't buy the whole thing that Ohio doesn't have any speed and Miami is where the speed is."

The Buckeyes don't have to reinvent themselves to combat Miami's main asset. All year Ohio State's offense has muscled teams up front and relied on the quickness of freshman tailback Maurice Clarett, the smarts of quarterback Craig Krenzel and the big-play proficiency of wide receiver Michael Jenkins.

But running the ball is the first item on the Buckeyes' to-do list.

"When you've got a team with so much speed, they like to pass rush and run up the field off the corners and that leaves them open for the draw," tight end Ben Hartsock said. "You can't stop everything they do, but you can use what they do to their disadvantage."

On defense, the Buckeyes hope that they can hold their own out wide and in the secondary while the interior wall and linebackers put the clamps on McGahee and the running attack.

"You can tell they're actually very fast, but our defense we think is pretty fast too," Ohio State offensive lineman Shane Olivea said. "We see a lot of speed. They're defense is comparable to ours. Our defense is very fast and very good also. They've proven that for most of the season, how good they can play and how good they are. We see that kind of speed every day and I think that's going to help us in the game."

Ohio State's defense was fourth in the nation against the run, allowing only 78.7 yards a game. McGahee, who set a Miami record with 1,686 yards this season, has gone over 100 yards in 10 of 12 games and led the nation with 27 rushing touchdowns.

Ohio State defensive coordinator Mark Dantonio said he is more impressed by the way Miami plays rather than how fast they play.

"What jumps out at me with Miami is their discipline and their toughness as an offense," he said. "They run a screen pass and the three wide receivers to the strong side are running their routes hard, like they would if they were catching the ball. A back gets bottled up in the backfield and continues to play hard, makes a couple of tacklers miss and makes a big play. Everybody has speed. It's what they do with it that's impressive to me."

The Buckeyes on both sides of the ball will have to adapt on the fly. There is almost no way to simulate the Hurricanes' speed in practice, particularly with scout-team players who haven't seen the field much this season.

During workouts leading up to the game, Ohio State will shift some front-line offensive players for a few plays to the scout team - and will pit the No. 1 offense against the first-team defense - to try to get a taste for what the Buckeyes will face in the national championship game.

Nonetheless, the first quarter of the Fiesta Bowl will be a feeling-out period as both teams try to gauge their opponent to determine a counterattack.

"You've got to go get a feel for the game," Tressel said. "You've got to spar for a while and get a handle on the speed. Just like I hope they have to get a handle on our speed. That's the way football is played."

Fiesta Bowl at a glance

Ohio State (13-0) vs. Miami (12-0)

When: 8 p.m. Jan. 3.

Where: Tempe, Ariz.

TV: Ch. 9, 2.

Quick stat: Miami has scored on its first series in eight of 12 games this season, including seven of the last eight.

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