Ohio State bowl plans this year include milk, cereal

Updated: August 30, 2006, 5:08 PM ET

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Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio State Buckeyes are now part of a complete breakfast.

Blue Ribbon preview: Ohio State

The record is downright Switzerian. Or Osborneian. Or Paternoian.

Fifty up, 13 down for Jim Tressel in five years as Ohio State's head coach. Not bad for a guy who was considered the third or fourth choice for the Buckeyes. Not bad for a guy who built his coaching resume at I-AA Youngstown State. Not bad for a guy with a low-key personality, who is more Woody Harrelson than Woody Hayes.

• To read more of Blue Ribbon's preview of Ohio State, click here

Buckeye Heroes, the newest university-licensed food, will be available in grocery stores before No. 1 Ohio State opens its season Saturday against Northern Illinois at Ohio Stadium.

The box of honey-nut-flavored toasted oats features three mascots -- former Buckeyes linebackers and current NFL rookies A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, and Anthony Schlegel.

"We couldn't make them 'block Os,' so we made them Os," said Rick Van Brimmer, director of trademark and licensing services at Ohio State.

The cereal will cost $3.49 for a 14-ounce box at Kroger stores, which will have it stocked as early as Thursday, said Monica Gordon, spokeswoman for the Cincinnati-based grocery chain's Great Lakes division.

The cereal joins other Ohio State foods such as pasta, chips, salsa, hot dogs, mustard and hot sauces, as well as candy Buckeyes.

Other universities have had cereal promotions but none on the scale of Ohio State, which is starting with about 75,000 boxes, said Tom Schmieder, marketing vice president of TK Legacy, a Carrollton, Texas, company making Buckeye Heroes.

"OSU's fandom is just a different breed," he said.