NOTEBOOK From Ohio Stadium

Homecoming: A lot of the pregame hype centered around Cincinnati's first-year head coach, Mark Dantonio. Dantonio spent the past three years as Ohio State's defensive coordinator after five years under Tressel at Youngstown State. "I looked at Tressel a couple of times," Dantonio said. "He is a great coach, very patient and thorough in his preparation." Tressel, who was also coaching against his nephew, Cincinnati linebackers coach Mike Tressel, was just happy to get it over with. "It's like playing against family," he said of coaching against Dantonio. "And [offensive coordinator] Donnie Treadwell, I coached him when he was playing in college and coached for me all those years and on down the line to guys we worked with. I'm obviously happy that we won, but I'm just as happy that it's over."
Local connections: Ohio State sophomore Doug Datish (Howland) may have been the only Valley player to start on Saturday, but there were plenty of local ties. Four Valley players are on the Bearcats' roster, all of them true freshmen: Linebacker Anthony Hoke (Warren Harding), punter Cody Chappell (Howland), defensive lineman Adam Hoppel (Beaver Local) and running back Delbert Ferguson (Ursuline/Warren Harding). OSU freshman Shaun Lane, son of former Buckeye standout Garcia Lane, is the only other Valley player on Ohio State's roster.
Ohio domination: The Buckeyes are 172-48-17 against Ohio schools all-time, including 151-27-14 at home. OSU has won nine straight against Cincinnati and leads the series 12-2. The Bearcats, however, gave OSU a scare in their last meeting. Cincinnati lost 23-19 in 2002 and had a chance to win it before falling short in the final seconds. The Bucks last lost to an Ohio school in 1921, falling to Oberlin 7-6.
Freshman phenom: Highly-touted freshman Ted Ginn, Jr., saw a little playing time at wide receiver for Ohio State, catching two passes for minus-1 yards. He was recruited as a cornerback, but is expected to see action on both sides of the ball, a la Chris Gamble. "It was fun," said Ginn, who won three state titles at last year's state track meet, leading Cleveland Glenville to the team title. "It was nice to see some playing time and get a win."
Up next: The Buckeyes will play host to Marshall at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Joe Scalzo