Buckeyes’ pinch-hitters open with strong showings

“It was a lot of guys’ first time out there and playing in front of our fans is always a tough thing to do,” safety C.J. Barnett said. “They all came here because they can play and they proved it last week.”

The contributed with their play and also with their enthusiasm.

“The most important thing is the attitude,” Fickell said. “The attitude that the guys had that obviously weren’t with us, the attitude the guys had that did have to step up and take their spots that nobody batted an eye at it. Nobody worried, nobody whined. To me that’s more of the things that I wanted to see.”

Ohio State regains four suspended players this week (linebacker Jordan Whiting, Howard, Brown and Hall), but still will be without Adams, Herron, Posey and backup defensive lineman Solomon Thomas until the sixth game, at Nebraska on Oct. 8.

So The Replacements aren’t going away any time soon _ and maybe not even when those other players return.

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Rusty Miller can be reached at http://twitter.com/rustymillerap

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