Football
Buckeyes Put It All Together
to Thump Wolverines
By John Porentas
A season of frustration was erased in an outburst of
excellence in every phase of the game as the underdog, unranked Ohio
State Buckeyes (7-4, 4-4) defeated Big Ten co-champions No. 7 Michigan
(9-2, 7-1) by a final score of 37-21 in front of 105,456 frantic fans
in Ohio Stadium.
The Buckeyes played unquestionably their best game of
the season in the 102nd renewal of The Game. An OSU
offense that has struggled all season rolled up 446 yards, 205 rushing
and 241 passing, behind the leadership of quarterback Troy Smith.
Smith was unstoppable against the Wolverines, rushing
for 145 yards, one short of the rushing record for an Ohio State quarterback.
Smith was the first OSU quarterback to rush for 100 yards since Rod
Gerald went for 100 yards even against Iowa in 1977. Smith also passed
for 241 yards becoming the first player in Ohio State history to rush
for 100 yards and pass for 200 yards in a game.
"He did a great job. The guy came out and killed
us throwing the ball and especially running the ball," said Michigan
defensive back Marlon Jackson.
"You're in man defense and the ball
is being run down the field. He's a guy who can break tackles and
make people miss and he did a good job of that today," Jackson
said.
Smith was magnificent and his play breathed
life into an offense that has been somnolent most of the season. Smith
was not, however, alone in outstanding play.
Offensively, the Buckeyes got great blocking
from an offensive line that has struggled at times. T. J. Downing
got his first start of the year and played the entire game. OSU did
not give up a sack to the Wolverines, the first time they have accomplished
that feat since 1990. There were times when Smith seemed to have time
to knit a sweater before he threw the football. When he didn't, he
was able to run out of trouble and make plays.
Smith gave notice that this would be a special day for
the OSU offense on OSU's first possession. On third-and-twelve from
his own 32-yard line, Smith hit wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez in
the middle of the field at the 20-yard line. Gonzales raced past Wolverine
senior safety Ernest Shazor to cover the rest of the distance to the
endzone and put OSU up 7-0 with just 1:13 off the game clock.
"Troy had all day to throw that ball," said
Gonzales describing the play.
"In general, that play goes to Santonio (Holmes).
My job is to occupy the safety, in that case Shazor," said Gonzalez.
"I don't know what he was looking at. He kind of
let off a little bit. Then Troy saw me and just threw it up there
and I was fortunate enough to be able to be in a position to catch
it," Gonzales said.
The Buckeye offense was off to a fast start, but so
Michigan's.
The Wolverines scored the first two times they had the
football, the first time on an 87 yard, 9 play drive culminated by
a four yard Chad Henne pass to Jason Avant. The Wolverines took a
14-7 lead on their next possession when, following a 21 yard punt
by OSU's Kyle Torano, they went 43 yards in six plays to score on
a one yard Michael Hart plunge.
An exchange of punts following Michigan's second touchdown
resulted in OSU taking possession of the football at the Michigan
one-yard line.
Trailing 14-7, the Buckeyes drove 99 yards to a touchdown
to tie the game. Smith was three-of-four passing on the drive for
54 yards, the biggest play a 34 yard completion on third-and-four
from the OSU 41. Smith also rushed four times for 27 yards including
the last two of the drive for the score.
With the score tied 14 all in the second quarter, the
Buckeyes drove to a first down at the Michigan two-yard line, but
the Wolverines held on fourth and goal to keep the Buckeyes off the
scoreboard. The Michigan offense, however, could move just one yard
in three plays and was force to punt from the endzone. The Buckeyes
got the ball back on the Michigan 32 and drove to a first and goal
from the one, but once again could not push the ball across. OSU settled
for a 21 yard Mike Nugent field goal to take a 17-14 lead.
The Michigan offense that looked unstoppable in the
first two possessions was stopped once again by an OSU defense that
had suddenly gotten a bead on what the Wolverine offense was doing.
"We made adjustments. We figured out what their
game plan was going to be and which direction they were going,"
said OSU defensive coordinator Mark Snyder.
"They're not real complicated offensively, they're
just real good at what they do. Once
we figured out what their pattern was going to become, then we implemented
out game plan from there," Snyder said.
The Wolverines did a great job of breaking
tendencies early in the game to keep the OSU defense on it's heels.
The strategy gave them an advantage early on, but the OSU defensive
staff caught on.
"They were running their lead play,
their iso play, the opposite direction that we had practiced or that
they had run tendency-wise, so where we had our down safety, our eighth
hat in the box, was incorrect," said Snyder.
"The screen pass, they did a great
job there, throwing it on first down, the tendency was second or third
down. When they did run the lead iso, what we practiced all week,
it was out of a different formation, so again our scheme was not set
up properly. We got all those fixed and the kids just adjusted and
executed phenomenal."
OSU closed out the first half scoring
with a 42 yard field goal from Nugent as the clock expired in the
first half to give the Buckeyes a surprising 20-14 lead.
The first score of the second half was
nothing short of breathtaking.
Midway through the third quarter Michigan
punter Adam Findlay lofted a high punt to Buckeye freshman returner
Ted Ginn Jr.. Ginn appeared to be hemmed in, but somehow eluded two
Michigan tacklers and literally bolted down the east sidelines with
an 82 yard punt return to put Ohio State up 27-14.
"Our plan was to kick the ball high.
We got the ball very high. I think we had him bottled up there,"
said Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr.
"That return looked to me like it
was designed to go the other way. We had him and someway he got away,"
Carr said.
The Buckeye offense and special teams
were getting it done. So was the OSU defense. The Buckeyes took away
Michigan's running game and force the Wolverines to try and beat them
with Henne's arm. The combination of a strong pass rush and great
coverage by the OSU secondary would not allow that to happen.
"I think the big difference was
that Ohio State ran the football very effectively and I think more
than anything else Troy Smith created some big plays, kept some drives
alive, and our inability to run the football," said Carr.
With the running game stymied, the Wolverines
called on Henne to put the ball up 54 times. Henne completed 27 for
328 yards and two touchdowns, but was also intercepted twice and could
not sustain an offense against the Buckeye defense that was in his
face all day.
"Ohio State's front was very good,"
said Henne.
"They were plugging the holes. There
was no where to run. They were dropping down a safety and taking away
the run, so we had to throw the ball a lot more than we could run,"
Henne said.
The Buckeyes added one more touchdown
on a pass from Smith to Santonio Holmes for 12 yards and a score to
cap a 97 yard drive. With the score, OSU had put 27 unanswered points
on the board to take a 34-13 lead with just under two minutes to play
in the third quarter.
The Wolverines finally scored again in
the fourth quarter to pull to within 13 at 34-21, but Nugent added
a 48 yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to close out
the scoring.
Ginn was OSU's leading receiver in the
game with five catches for 87 yards to go with his 82 yard punt return.
Braylon Edwards reeled in 11 catches for Michigan to account for 172
yards and a touchdown.
Michigan freshman tailback Michael Hart,
who entered the game with over 1,300 rushing yards, was limited to
63 yards on 18 attempts.
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