COLUMBUS, Ohio - Plenty to talk about with Ohio State coach Luke Fickell today. I asked him twice about not using his timeouts on defense as the Buckeyes trailed 17-6 late in the Miami game, and also about the TV cameras catching quarterback Joe Bauserman smiling or laughing on the sidelines late in the loss.

And, of course, we talked about quarterbacks. Fickell basically said the competition is on this week, and seemed to hint that he had an idea which way the battle might go, but he wasn't telling us.

Here's his first answer on the quarterbacks.

"We don't know what the plan is just yet. We're going to have these guys compete. We have an idea what's going to happen. Until we see them compete in practice, see how guys handle situations and roles and different things like that, we're not going to make a complete judgment just yet. We're going to focus on ourselves."

And then later, Fickell was asked whether Miller was in the running to start against Colorado on Saturday.

"I don't know. I don't have the crystal ball. We know what we think. We're going to continue to see them battle and work at it. We're going to focus on day to day getting better. Does that mean we have to adjust and do some things? I think the most important thing, talking about the quarterback position, whether it's offense or defense, we got to find a way to get our best 11 on the field.

"I know there's situations when you have to have different guys on the field, whether it's defensively or offensively. The thing we have to make sure we do is try to find a way that we can, A, get better each and every day, but how do we get our best 11 guys on the field."

I think it's fair to guess that Miller will play more than he has.

On the timeouts, here's my first two questions, and Fickell's answer.

Q. Why didn't you call any of your timeouts when you were on defense late in the game?

COACH FICKELL: "We were going to call a timeout on the third down play they converted. There was still a minute and a half to go. They actually ended up calling the timeout for us. We got together, said, You know what, we need two scores, whether they kick a field goal or what happens. The only way we probably best fit is to make sure we've got as many opportunities to call timeouts as possible.

"Probably if I went back and looked at it, the one they called with 8, 10 seconds left, maybe should have saved ourselves 25 seconds right there. Once they called the timeout on the third down before the last four plays, we decided, Hey, we're going to need to save these unless we get in a situation because we're going to need two scores."

Q. You didn't consider it earlier in the drive?

COACH FICKELL: "No, we didn't. We still knew we were going to need two scores. Our thought was if we're going to need two scores, we're going to need to have the ability to stop the clock offensively. They were running it out.

If we look back in hindsight, the very last one, maybe it would have saved us 30 seconds in our minds and maybe we could have got a little bit of a breather is something that I always look back at. Our thought was, Hey, we're going to best we can try to make sure we have a couple to score twice."

I asked again to end the news conference, with two more questions before Steve Helwagen of Bucknuts finished up with the final question in this exchange.

Q. I don't want to belabor the point on the timeouts, but I'm going to. Do you regret you ended up with three timeouts in your pocket at the end of that game?

COACH FICKELL: "Well, if we were within striking distance, I would have liked to have them. Do I regret anything? Maybe the very last one that could have saved us an extra 20 seconds before they went for it on fourth down. Other than that, that was our plan when we talked about it."

Q. Did you feel 17-6 was striking distance?



COACH FICKELL: "We felt like we needed those timeouts, if we were going to get the ball back, to be able to have a chance to score twice."

Q. Perhaps the most glaring was when there was an injury on the field and they took 40 seconds off the clock. Do you regret not using one at that point to keep a full 40 seconds on the clock?

COACH FICKELL: "That was right there towards that very end. After they had already taken their timeout on third down, we said, They did us a favor, took the timeout. We have to score twice. We're going to need those two if we can get the ball back. The focus needed to be on, yes, stopping it.

"It ultimately didn't end up hurting us. That last one, as I look back and evaluate it, that was the chance to get hindsight, that would probably be the spot."

I think it may have been best to use the timeouts with three or four minutes left, at the same time stopping the clock, giving the defense a breather and making sure the defense was settled while trying to make a stop on second or third down. Fickell talked after the Toledo game about how important it was to call the defensive timeout they used late in the game to organize the defense as Toledo was trying to drive for the winning score.

Also, the only real hope there was to force a turnover, and Miami quarterback Jacory Harris has a history of throwing picks. I would have saved the time earlier, so if that pick would have come, and Harris did throw a dangerous pass on that drive, more time would have remained. Saving the timeouts for offense at that point was too hopeful, and you can control the clock more on offense than you can on defense,.

And then, my question about Joe Bauserman's sidelines attitude at the end of the game. Fickell defends Bauserman but admits it's something you can't do.

Q. I think the TV cameras near the end of the game caught Joe Bauserman laughing or smiling on the sidelines. Is that anything that's an issue for you while you're losing the game?



COACH FICKELL: "I didn't see it. I didn't catch it. I think somebody emailed me something about that. I haven't talked to Joe. I know Joe hurts every bit as bad as I do. Just like me up here, I smile and I show that I'm happy and everything's going great when my stomach down inside is sometimes in a knot.

"No, that's not something you want to see. Whether he was disguising or masking how his gut felt, I have confidence that Joe hurts every bit as much as I hurt. We try and tell those guys, nothing goes unnoticed whether it's on the sidelines of a game, whether it's in a classroom, wherever you are having something to eat. Just make sure you understand that.

"But I haven't noticed anything that would tell me that Joe isn't 100% with us."