Coach John Cooper said before the season that this Ohio State team didn’t have the talent that his past few teams had. Some of his players now say this team doesn’t have the desire and emotion of its predecessors either.

“It just seems that there isn’t (an) ‘I’m going to lay my heart on the field,’ ” said fullback and co-captain Matt Keller. “There are some people who would die for Ohio State; (who) leave it on the field every game. I just wish there were more people like that sometimes.”

Defensive end Matt LaVrar said he has seen a different attitude on this year’s team as well.

“I’ve seen that happen too,” he said. “A lot of guys aren’t playing with enthusiasm and emotion. I can’t explain it at all.”

In embarrassing home losses to Wisconsin and Illinois, many fans gave up on the Buckeyes and headed for the exits early because it seemed OSU had given up early. Defensive end James Cotton said the Buckeyes have not played to the final whistle in every game and it has cost them wins.

“Definitely the heart and sole hasn’t been there or we would have won a lot more games,” he said. Cotton described heart and soul as “guys playing every play like it’s their last play.”

OSU faces a Michigan team this Saturday that displayed the intensity that the Buckeyes say they have been lacking. Last Saturday the Wolverines stormed back from a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to beat Penn State 31-27.

“They definitely showed they have what it takes to win,” said cornerback and co-captain Ahmed Plummer. “The past couple of years I really felt like that with the teams we had. Something that’s deep down within you, that no matter what it takes, you’re going to win the ballgame.”

Plummer doesn’t have that feeling this year.

“It is not the same. It’s been a lot of different things with this team. I’m sure this team, in the next couple of years, they’ll gain that. It just comes from confidence. It comes with experience. Hopefully, they will learn and gain from what happened this year.”

If the Buckeyes are to pull off an improbable upset in Ann Arbor, every Buckeye will have to play with heart, Keller said.

“I just think to win you have to have a whole team effort,” Keller said. “You got to have 22 people on that field that are willing to go out there and lay it on the line. Sometimes you have to question that a little bit.

“The majority of the people are going out there and playing their butts off. That’s what we need this week. We need people to go out there and lay it on the line.”

Cooper said he hasn’t seen a lack of effort all season and doesn’t expect that to be a problem when the Buckeyes travel north, despite what his players said.

“You always go into this (Michigan) game expecting your team to fight, claw and scratch,” he said. “It’s an honor and privilege to play in a game of this magnitude. The least of my problems should be getting our football team mentally ready to play.”