spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The giant video screen in Ohio States indoor practice facility ran a loop of MMA fighters beating each other senseless, coach Urban Meyers way of reminding players that they have one swing to knock out Michigan State this week and keep their championship dreams alive.With all the playoff talk swirling after a seismic college football Saturday that saw three teams ranked higher than the Buckeyes lose and an odd tiebreaker situation that could see them advancing to the playoff without even playing in the Big Ten Championship game, the idea is to shut out the noise and keep the team focused on the immediate task.Meyer said its difficult to keep players from looking ahead and worrying about things that are out of their control. Ever since the Oct. 22 loss at Penn State , schedule boards in the football complex were covered up and the program renewed its focus on just winning the next game.Im debating right now what to do with that, Meyer said Monday when asked about the amped-up playoff chatter. I did not cover it yesterday. I havent covered it throughout the year. In the past I have. I dont know yet. But the focus is obviously Michigan State.It may help that there is a revenge element when it comes to the Spartans, although that angle was mostly downplayed by players on Monday. But remember, it was Michigan State that came into Ohio Stadium last year and ended the Buckeyes chances of repeating as Big Ten and national champions .Theres a little bit of human element that comes into the game, especially with them ruining senior night for us last year and ruining the season we were supposed to have last year, guard Billy Price acknowledged. Its in the back of your head, absolutely.Like last year, the championship hopes of No. 2 Ohio State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 5 CFP) will be erased with a loss to Michigan State (3-7, 1-6), a program that has fallen on hard times this season.They always have a chip on their shoulder when the Buckeyes are in town, and its going to be the same way this Saturday, Ohio State center Pat Elflein said. The records dont matter.Because of the loss to Penn State, and Michigans loss at Iowa on Saturday, Ohio State could be kept out of the conference title game by the tiebreaker system , even if the Buckeyes beat Michigan State and then Michigan on Nov. 26. Then the question becomes if the playoff committee will install Ohio State in the top four without a conference championship on its resume.At least one player said what many people around college football likely are thinking.I see it like this: If we win out all our games, Big Ten championship or not, you not going to put us in? quarterback J.T. Barrett said incredulously. Like youre going to leave Ohio State out? That doesnt make sense to me.NEVER MICHIGAN: Buckeyes fans were put in the distasteful position of needing Michigan to beat Iowa.If Michigan had won, and Ohio State took care of business against Michigan State and Michigan, that would have given Ohio State the East Division crown in the tiebreaker and a spot in the conference championship game. As it stands now, Penn State will win the tiebreaker if the Nittany Lions win out.But Buckeyes players werent rooting for Michigan. Thats just never going to happen.No, not at all, Price said.No, I dont root for them, linebacker Raekwon McMillan said.You dont ever want to root for those guys, Elflein said.---More AP college football at www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 .---Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacy Cheap Yankees Jerseys . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Youth Yankees Jerseys . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. http://www.cheapyankeesjerseyschina.com/masahiro-tanaka-jersey/ . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. Paul ONeill Jersey . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. Yogi Berra Jersey .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again.Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn has apologised to college standout Eli Apple after a member of his staff asked last week during the NFL Scouting Combine if he was gay. Neither Apple, a 20-year-old cornerback for Ohio State who helped the Buckeyes win a national championship for the 2014 campaign, nor Quinn identified the Falcons assistant coach who asked the question not allowed under NFL rules. I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches, Quinn said. I have spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained to him how inappropriate and unprofessional this was.I have reiterated this to the entire coaching staff and I want to apologize to Eli for this even coming up. This is not what the Atlanta Falcons are about and it is not how we are going to conduct ourselves. Apple #13 in actionn for the Ohio State Buckeyes Apple described the meeting Friday in an interview with Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.ddddddddddddThe Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, So do you like men? Apple said.It was like the first thing he asked me. It was weird. I was just like, No. He was like, If youre going to come to Atlanta, sometimes thats how it is around here. Youre going to have to get used to it.I guess he was joking, but they just ask most of these questions to see how youre going to react.The NFL is expected to look into the incident and could impose disciplinary action against the coach since the question is against league policy.Quinn went 8-8 last season in his first campaign guiding the Falcons after serving as defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. Also See: AFC North: In Focus AFC South: In Focus AFC West: In Focus AFC East: In Focus ' ' '