Foul language. Physical threats. Flying bottles and cans. These actions are more likely to occur during the infancy of a riot, not festivities leading up to and following a collegiate football game.

However, for Ohio State officials, these are exactly the unglamorous deeds for which they had to apologize. Officials received numerous behavior-related complaints from disgruntled Texas fans who painted an ugly picture of their experiences in Columbus for the school’s first game against the Buckeyes.

OSU spokeswoman Liz Cook said the university received several letters from both Texas fans and embarrassed Buckeye faithful criticizing the conduct of the many ill-mannered OSU fans.

“After the game I actually saw one Texas fan get pushed from behind and followed for a second down High Street outside of the Scarlet and Gray Café,” said 20-year-old Columbus resident Nick Moushey. “That was the only physical stuff though. Anything else I saw was just talking or yelling.”

Kyle Schroeder, 25, said he observed similar behavior.

“We were sitting out on Lane (Avenue) and saw some bottles getting tossed at people wearing Texas colors,” he said. “They didn’t really do anything back to the people throwing stuff and yelling. They just kept walking to get past.”

In a response retrieved from WBNS-TV News, Holbrook said the university “has been working very hard to change a culture from one that is disrespectful to one that is welcoming.

“Obviously, there is still much work to do,” she said.

In an e-mail sent to The Lantern, one Texas fan said that he and his wife asked for directions to their downtown hotel and were told to, “Walk straight to High Street, turn right and don’t look at or talk to anyone.”

Although, he said he was disappointed by the black eye the recent complaints gave the university, Athletic Director Gene Smith noted that not all OSU supporters deserve to have such an indecent and negative reputation.

“I feel bad that thousands of Buckeye fans are being painted with a bad brush because of a few,” Smith said in the Sept. 15 Columbus Dispatch article.

Greg Ammon, a senior in communications said that the Texas game was like any other football game.

“I didn’t see or hear anything myself that I would call out of place from any other college during a game day,” Ammon said. “I’m sure what people are saying really happened, but it sucks seeing stuff written or said about everyone in general when that’s not the case.”

In contrast, NBC 4 reported that not all Longhorn visitors shared such negative views of the OSU faithful during their stay.

“My group had a great experience and found the Buckeye fans to be good people and good fans,” one Texas fan wrote. “From my experience, I don’t see any need for apology.”

As for efforts to lessen the likelihood of this sort of unwelcome behavior, Sgt. Brent Mull of the Columbus Division of Police said that with such a high number of people in the area during Saturday home games, it is solely up to the fans to exercise a certain level of restraint.

One common theme from most complaints was the use of the word “drunk” in one form or another.

Since becoming university president, game day drinking has become one of Holbrook ‘s prime targets. Whether it be scaling back Hineygate or putting heavier restrictions on tailgating, lessening the negative role alcohol plays in fan behavior is desired, but is not easy to accomplish.

“Obviously more stuff like this is going to happen when people are drinking,” Ammon said. “But there’s really no way to totally control it or make people stop drinking before games.”

Ohio Staters Inc., choose to confront the issue directly in a project called Teaming up for Sportsmanship. The project’s aim is to “create positive rivalries between schools and fans” in hopes of curtailing such situations in the future.

The university and city police currently have not issued guidelines or policies that advise opposing fans about what to expect when coming to the campus area.