Football
Ginn Perfect Tonic for Buckeyes
By John Porentas
At the end of the day in East Lansing there were the quick and the
dead. The quick was was Ohio State freshman sensation Ted Ginn Jr.
who darted, dashed and pranced his way to three spectacular scores
to leave Michigan State among the dead and lead the Buckeyes (6-3,
3-3) to a 32-19 road win over Michigan State (4-5, 3-3).
For the second straight week the Buckeyes put 14 points on the board
before they had registered a first down, and all 14 of the points
came courtesy of Ginn.
Ginn's first score followed an interception by cornerback Ashton
Youboty of a Damon Dowdell pass that Youboty returned 26 yards to
the Michigan State 17-yard line. On second-and-ten, Ginn took a hand-off
on an end around on a play that appeared to be defended well by the
Spartans. Fat chance.
"They had the reverse covered with their defensive end,"
said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel, "but that's a little bit of
a mismatch."
Ginn simply ran around a defender in the backfield then sprinted
around left end to the endzone. Nobody touched him and the Buckeyes
were up 7-0 with 9:43 remaining on the first-quarter clock. By the
time the clock got to 8:15, Ginn had put six more points up on the
board for the Buckeyes.
The Spartans failed to move the football on their possession following
OSU's first score, and Dave Raynor made the mistake of punting to
Ginn when Michigan State faced a fourth-and-five at their own 25-yard
line. Ranynor's punt was fielded by Ginn at his own 40, and the fleet
freshman weaved his way through the MSU punt coverage team to cover
the full 60 yards for OSU's second score.
"We practiced all week pickup up ground ball punts," said
Tressel.
At that point in the game, OSU's offense had earned a total of 23
net yards and no first downs, but the Buckeyes were up 14-0 and the
Spartans had to dig themselves out of a hole. Oh, and in two touches
Ted Ginn had gobbled up 77 yards, scored two touchdowns, and nobody
had even touched him, let alone come close to tackling him.
The Buckeye defense came up with another three-and-out on the MSU
possession ensuing Ginn's second score, then the OSU offense put together
a seven play, 19 yard drive which Mike Nugent capped with a 53 yard
field goal to put OSU up 17-0 with 2:50 remaining in the first quarter.
"It was big for us to come here and jump out early, which we
knew we had to do" said Tressel.
It had been all Buckeyes, but that was about to change.
The Spartans began to turn the tide with a 15 play, 86 yard drive
the ended in an eight yard touchdown pass from Damon Dawdell to Jerramy
Scott. The OSU offense sputtered and The Spartans got on the board
again with a 10 play, 56 yard drive that MSU kicker Dave Raynor ended
with a 27 yard field goal to close the score to 17-10. OSU again failed
to move the ball, and the Spartans drew blood once again, this time
on another field goal by Raynor from 44 yards out to cut the OSU lead
to 17-13 with 1:08 left in the half.
The half-time stats were lopsided in favor of the Spartans. MSU outgained
OSU 203 yards to 71 and rolled up 11 first downs to OSU's three, but
the Buckeyes still led 17-13 when the teams went to the locker rooms
The second half turned into a slugfest.
OSU began to finally find a little offense and their defense showed
signs of slowing the MSU attack, but a Lydell Ross fumble gave the
Spartans the football on the OSU 42, and three plays later Rayner
connected from 53 yards out to trim the OSU lead to 17-16 with 7:54
remaining in the third quarter.
The remainder of the half turned into a field position game until
MSU put together a 14 play, 67 yard drive that Rayner culminated with
a 29 yard field goal. The Spartans had taken their first lead of the
game with just 3:06 to play in the game. It looked like the Buckeyes
were dead. That's when they called on Mr. Quick one last time.
Starting at their own 24, OSU moved to a second-and-five at their
own 42 when Smith found Ginn for what looked like a 15 yard gain on
a slant pass. Ginn, however, had different ideas.
Ginn once again eluded the entire MSU defense, and once again sprinted
to the endzone untouched for a 58 yard touchdown pass and run to stun
the capacity crowd of 72,222 and put OSU back up 23-19 with 1:24 remaining
on the game clock. Troy Smith circled right end for a two-point conversion
to put OSU up 25-19.
"On the slant there at the end, they (MSU) had decided to go
two-over-one (defensively) on both wide guys, and that allows you
to throw some slants, and our guys made the plays," said Tressel.
Tressel added that OSU quarterback Troy Smith also had a big hand
in the winning score.
"The one that he caught for the touchdown was the very same
play that Santonio caught for the 15 yard gain a little bit earlier,
but it was a different coverage this time. To me, I look at how Troy
did on that play. He went away from the primary (receiver) to what
the coverage gave him, and we won the game," Tressel said.
OSU linebacker A. J. Hawk ended MSU's attempt for a go-ahead drive
with a diving interception of Dowdell to return the ball to the Buckeyes
on the Michigan State 42 with 45 seconds remaining on the clock. OSU
ran two plays into the line in an attempt to run out the clock, and
on on third and five with 37 seconds on the clock, OSU tailback Maurice
Hall got loose over left tackle and sprinted 51 yards down the sideline
to seal the OSU win.
"You had to feel good for Mo Hall," Tressel said. "We
were just trying to run out the clock and he slid outside. It was
a big win for us," Tressel said.
Tressel was pleased with the overall play of his team in OSU's first
road win in conference play this season.
"We had a good preseason road win, but then we did poorly twice
on the road during the league schedule.
"Defensively, we kept blasting away, kept doing a good job,
and the whole outfit, special teams, O and D just kept battling, and
that's what it's about, especially away from home."
"I thought the guys over on offense were executing fairly well
during the course of the day. We had the one fumble there in the second
half on a nine yard run and a penalty there late in the game, but
I think we're getting a little bit better. We've got to get a lot
better next week."
Though Tressel praised his overall team, there was no denying that
Ginn was the difference in the game for the Buckeyes.
"He's starting to get more comfortable with what we're doing,
how we line up, and we're getting the ball to him more out in the
open, " said Tressel of Ginn's spectacular play over the last
two games.
"When he's out in the open, he can go, and he loves to compete.
I suppose you can say he's had more opportunities," Tressel said.
"I said this last week about Teddy Ginn. You know how fast he
is, but the way that he catches the ball with his hands, that's beyond
what you see in a lot of very good receivers. I guess I take it for
granted that he's faster than anyone in college football, but he has
such great hands. That's what jumped out at me the first time I saw
him on our practice field," Tressel said.