Buckeyes figure to have it easy today

ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS — DeWayne Walker may never rival Patrick Henry or John Paul Jones when it comes to stirring rallying cries.

When his New Mexico State Aggies — who are 44-point underdogs — take the field today at No. 17 Ohio State, Walker hopes his players are inspired by his somewhat tepid words of encouragement.

“Both of us, players and coaches really have something to prove to say maybe we’re not as bad as maybe you guys think we are,” Walker said.

Don’t look for Walker’s words to be engraved on a monument in Las Cruces, N.M. The Aggies are coming to Ohio Stadium not so much to prove or test themselves as to add $850,000 to the athletic department’s budget.

Asked what improvement he’d like to see his Aggies (3-5) make before 105,000 partisan, boisterous fans in the Horseshoe, Walker said he’d like to see the defense grow and the offense — which is last in the nation among the 120 FBS teams — score some touchdowns.

Then he added, “It may not be the perfect team to really have these positive notions, but we’re still trying to build and we can’t worry that it’s Ohio State.”

Penn State-Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald may tweet and text and be up on all the ways of the world. Yet, he still has that old-school approach to the game he loves.

There’s the game face, the crew cut and the respect for those who’ve been coaching long before his short career began.

Like Joe Paterno.

“Coach Paterno is college football,” Fitzgerald said as his Wildcats got ready to meet the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions and their legendary coach today.

“I don’t want to speak for other coaches but for me he’s a role model and someone who we aspire to be,” Fitzgerald added. “Obviously you hope to have a few victories, I don’t know if anyone we’ll ever get to where he is, and it’s because of his consistency, his approach to coaching the game.”

Fitzgerald’s first experience coaching in a Big Ten game came against Paterno and the Nittany Lions in the 2006 season, a 33-7 Nittany Lions victory at State College. Fitzgerald, then just 31, had been a coach only for a few months following the death of Randy Walker.

Eleven years earlier, the Nittany Lions — and Paterno — really got an eyeful of Fitzgerald. He was wearing a dark No. 51 Northwestern jersey and seemed to be in on every tackle as the Wildcats beat Penn State in Evanston on their way to the Rose Bowl.

Notre Dame-Wash. State

SAN ANTONIO — After the last six weeks, No. 25 Notre Dame may have earned a little getaway to Texas.

And woeful Washington State is a longshot to spoil it.

Notre Dame booked the Alamodome for Saturday night to recapture their barnstorming roots, but after six consecutive weeks of going down to the wire, the bigger upside for the Fighting Irish (5-2) may be an at-long-last breather against the Cougars.

All signs point to a Notre Dame cakewalk. The 281‚Ñ2-point line. A crowd of about 60,000 that will overwhelmingly be uprooted Irish fans in Texas savoring a rare visit. Washington State (1-6) scraping the statistical bottom in total offense and defense.