Long story short: Tressel wrongly thought he had Texas No. 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said he voted Texas No. 1 in the coaches poll this week. Only his ballot didn't have the Longhorns in the top spot.

At his weekly news conference on Tuesday previewing the top-ranked Buckeyes' showdown at No. 2 Texas on Saturday night, Tressel said, "I've got (the Longhorns) ranked No. 1 on our ballot."

But USA Today disclosed late Tuesday night that Tressel's ballot didn't list Texas No. 1.

Stan Jefferson, Ohio State's director of player development, called in Tressel's ballot on Tuesday morning. He said he changed the ballot and did not have time to tell Tressel.

"When it came time to vote on the preseason poll, we voted Texas No. 1 and us No. 3 after talking about it as a staff," Jefferson told the Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal. "When I called in his poll (Tuesday morning), he did not tell me to put Ohio State No. 1. I put that down because we were No. 1 in the preseason poll that came out. I did not have time to get with him before the press conference."

Jefferson said it was an "honest mistake."

"It was not meant as a psychological ploy or attempt to play mind games," he said.

The school confirmed Texas was No. 2 on Tressel's ballot.

The USA Today coaches poll allows its voters to keep their ballots secret until the final regular-season poll.