Heacock has job to stop Irish

OSU's defensive coordinator from West Branch has to prepare a sound game plan.
By ROB TODOR
VINDICATOR SPORTS EDITOR
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Jim Heacock looked surprisingly alert Friday for someone who's spent a lot of sleepless nights.
OK, to be perfectly honest, there's no proof Heacock hasn't been getting much shut-eye, but as defensive coordinator at Ohio State, it's his job to prepare a game plan to shut down -- or at least slow down -- Notre Dame's explosive offensive attack in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Monday.
The brother of Youngstown State coach Jon Heacock -- he's a graduate of West Branch High School -- said he doesn't see any weaknesses when watching the Fighting Irish on film.
"You have to start with the quarterback [Brady Quinn]," said Heacock, who's in his 10th season at Ohio State and his first as a defensive coordinator.
"He makes everything go," Heacock said. "His numbers are really impressive."
Quinn has completed 263-of-405 passes (64.9 percent) for 3,633 yards and 32 touchdowns, with just seven interceptions.
Holds Notre Dame records
He owns all of Notre Dame's significant passing records, including career and season marks for yardage, attempts, completions and touchdown passes.
"His wide receivers have really come on," Heacock said. "He has three really good tight ends and they have an offensive line that's unbelievably experienced. They've started an incredible number of games [combined]."
Receivers Jeff Samardzija and Maurice Stovall have combined for 131 receptions for more than 2,300 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Samardzija's 15 TD catches are a school record and he and Stovall were the only receiving tandem in Division I-A football to have double digit TD receptions.
The Fighting Irish were one of just two teams in I-A (joining Miami, Ohio) to boast a 3,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher (Darius Walker] and two 1,000-yard receivers.
Still, despite all those gaudy numbers, Heacock remains resolute in his and the Buckeyes' task.
"We are who we are; we can't change our philosophy," Heacock said. "We're going to hang our hat on what we've done all year."
The matchup of powers
The game will match Notre Dame's offense, ranked No. 10 in the country, against the Ohio State defense, which finished No. 5 in I-A.
The Fighting Irish were No. 6 in scoring offense and the Buckeyes No. 7 in scoring defense.
"We've played some awfully good offenses this season," Heacock said. "Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State ... there were some pretty good offenses in the Big Ten.
"Notre Dame has a lot of talented players [on offense] and they're very balanced [rushing and passing]."
Heacock said it wasn't his game plan to try to force the Fighting Irish to become one-dimensional -- for instance, emphasize stopping the running attack and talented tailback Darius Walker.
"We have to have the mindset to defend it all," Heacock said. "We can't just zero in on one thing or another.
"We really want to stop both [the rushing and passing attacks]," Heacock said. "Also, we can't give up big plays. We just have to play sound football."
While Quinn and his receivers receive a lot of notoriety, Walker's rushing ability impressed Heacock.
"He's a great cutback runner," said Heacock.
Carpenter's status uncertain
Complicating matters for the Buckeyes is the uncertain availability of linebacker Bobby Carpenter, who broke a foot on the first play of the Michigan game and remains questionable for Monday's contest.
"You can't prepare as though you're going to have him," Heacock said. "We have to get ready assuming he's not going to be available and that's tough to cope with.
"Hopefully, if he can play even a little bit that will be an added bonus because he is so talented and makes such an impact on the field."
Heacock said freshman James Laurinitis, who played at Michigan after Carpenter was sidelined, has been impressive.
"He's had three weeks of [practice] and James knows he's going to play," said Heacock. "How he responds to that, I don't know. He was pretty much forced into action at Michigan and I'm not sure that wasn't almost better than sitting around for a few weeks, thinking about it."
todor@vindy.com