OSU vs. Purdue 1995
By
Robert Stevenson
Purdue
Drenched, Wrenched & Benched
The Purdue Boilermakers were anything but troublemakers,
dissolving 28-0 in the soaking rain Saturday afternoon.
Temperatures in the low-40’s, steadywind, and
intermittent light to heavy rain kept very few fans away.
The Stadium was 97.46% filled.
The mosaic pattern of parkas and rain gear, speckled red,
orange, yellow and some green across the seats of A-deck,
south bleachers and C-deck, much resembled the current
colorful central-Ohio foliage. It looked picturesque, but
sitting in the rain always stinks.
How wet was it? Josh Jackson slipped on his fanny during
the opening kick-off. If you thought Bret
Bartholomew’s been kicking funny lately, you should
have seen the Purdue punter, senior Rob Deignan. OSU
broke up Peee-Ewuuuu’s first three punts, two on
blocks by Alonzo Shavers and Mike Vrabel, another by an
intense pass rush. Only one OSU score resulted from those
special teams plays.
Antoine Winfield learned minutes before kickoff that he
would be starting for limping Shawn Springs.
Winfield’s eleven tackles were enough to earn him
the defensive player of the game award. Springs and
Winfield will be alternating at cornerback this week.
The Buckeyes lost the ball inside the 20-yardline three
times under the slippery conditions. Cooper said they
should have been ahead 28-0 at half-time. Eddie George
rushed for 104 yards and had another 56 yards on five
receptions, but was limited to just one TD. He fumbled
once as he was about to cross the goal line. Another time
he slipped on wet grass on a fourth-and-goal attempt from
the one yard line and didn’t make it
Luckily the offense wasn’t entirely doom and gloom.
Bobby Hoying completed 20 of 29 passes for 276 yards and
3 TDs. He tied his own (and Jim Karsatos) school record
for TD passes in a season and moved into third place for
career touchdowns. His current streak of five consecutive
games with 200+ yards passing is a school record.
Saturday’s production moved Bobby from second to
first in the nation in passing efficiency. To date
he’s completed 108 of 162 for 1865 yards, 19 TDs and
just six interceptions. Tuesday’s Columbus Dispatch
even mentioned Hoying’s big stats are likely to get
him more Heisman votes than Eddie. George is 7th in
rushing nationally this week. Also, the National Football
Scholarship Hall of Fame announced they will induct
Hoying this year. He's the 15th Buckeye selected for the
honor. Joey Galloway got in last year. Speaking of
records, Terry Glenn caught a couple in the endzone to
tie -- and then break -- the single season record for TD
receptions. NFL stars Chris Carter and Joey Galloway
previously shared the honor (11 TDs) Wonder how many Paul
Warfield and Doug Donnely had?
On the day: Glenn totaled 6 for 82 yds, Buster Tillman
had 6-96, Rickey Dudley dropped one easy catch and held
onto one for 5 yards. The Texan caught a sweet 31-yard TD
pass with 00:58 left in the half. Some viewers would
later say Rickey was *thisclose* to being out of bounds
when he crossed the goal.
The Buckeye D not only gave Purdue a big donut (with no
coffee), the linebackers produced two of the longest
offensive plays of the game. Ryan Miller galloped
32-yards after intercepting a second-quarter pass, and
Greg Bellisari scrambled for 27 yards on a fake-punt
attempt where he lined-up as fullback.
The Big Ten named the OSU kick return squad the
‘defensive player of the week.' Coach Cooper and
Bill Conley, the return coach, did not hesitate naming
Alonzo ‘The Rat’ Shavers as MVP of the kicking
team. He blocked the first punt of the game and made two
solo tackles on other returns. Shavers is a 24 year-old
ex-Marine who saw action in Desert Storm. He works a
part-time job between school and football practice to
support his wife and child. Shavers earned the Rat
moniker when the coaches noticed, “He always
gets the cheese.” Shavers was since awarded a
scholarship that will start winter quarter.
WBNS reporter Jeff Logan spotted the truck near the south
stands with 11:38 left in the fourth quarter. At 10:54
left, Logan ordered the dog into the truck along with
Coach Jim Colletto. This hunt was over. The only tense
moments came in the closing minutes. Colletto wanted
desperately to score a touchdown. Well-within fieldgoal
range, a three-pointer would have ruined the shut-out,
but Colletto wanted more than that. The former OSU
offensive coordinator wanted to beat the 22-point spread,
and persevered for the endzone. By this time, the OSU
defense consisted of all second- and third-stringers. The
crowd of 93,111 had dwindled to maybe 45,000. But they
were hardcore. From the volume of noise generated, each
fan had at least $100 riding on the final score. A most
entertaining conclusion to the day's contest.
A mild distraction interrupted the Friday before the
game. The spouses of Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore
honored our campus with a visit to the Oval. The
henpecked politicians each got an OSU football jersey
bearing the numbers 1, and 2, respectively. President
Gordon 'Pee Wee' Gee instructed real life Bevis and
Butthead to give the jerseys to their wives back home.
Speaking Monday to the unleashed, rabid fans at the
Columbus Downtown Quarterback Club, Cooper avoided any
questions about the Rose Bowl or national championship.
Coop says there’s just too much football left to
play. Cooper also told Channel 6 TV sports that he was
one of the four coaches who gave OSU a first-place vote.
Another non-surprise is the Scripps Howard computerized
power rating, based entirely on strength of opponents. It
puts OSU first, Florida second, Nebraska third,
Northwestern fourth, Tennessee fifth and undefeated,
media-darling Florida State sixth, just above
Notre Dame.
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