Ohio State passed their first Big Ten road test with flying colors. Combining another 100-yard game from Chris Wells, a Brian Robiskie dagger just before halftime and the usual superb effort from the defense, the Bucks cruised to a solid win over Minnesota. The eighth-ranked Buckeyes also found themselves propelled to #4 in the polls after #3 Oklahoma, #4 Florida, #5 West Virginia and #7 Texas all spit the bit over the weekend. It was reminiscent of the first week of November back in the national title year of 2002, when #3 Virginia Tech, #4 Notre Dame and #5 Georgia all went down to defeat while #6 Ohio State was thumping Minnesota in the ‘Shoe 34-3. OSU climbed to #3, then got major help from Texas A&M, whose upset of #1 Oklahoma the next week allowed Ohio State to slide into the runner-up slot behind Miami, where they would stay until the fabled victory over the ‘Canes in the Fiesta Bowl.
Minnesota rang up a couple of first downs on their opening possession, but with Marcus Freeman and Kurt Coleman teaming up for a TFL on Duane Bennett, and Vernon Gholston holding another Bennett run for nothing, the Gophers faced a 3rd-and-12. Freshman quarterback Adam Weber dialed up fellow frosh Tray Herndon for 24 to move the sticks, but the Buckeye defense met the challenge. Following an incompletion, James Laurinaitis stopped Weber after a two-yard gain, then safety Anderson Russell made a nice open-field stop on tight end Jack Simmons to force a field goal try. Joel Monroe’s kick had plenty of distance but was wide right from the time it got airborne.
A 9-yard Brian Robiskie reception and a Chris Wells run gave OSU a quick first down, but Todd Boeckman missed connections with Rory Nicol on a pair of passes. A.J. Trapasso came on to punt, but Jim Tressel decided to take an early chance on a fake. Trapasso dropped the snap, but was able to pick up the ball and used a great block from Marcus Freeman to scamper for 18 yards and a first down, showing off the form that earned him all-state honors for Pickerington.
Boeckman hung nicely in a collapsing pocket to hook up with Jake Ballard for 20 yards, then found Dane Sanzenbacher on 3rd-and-5 for 11, setting the Bucks up at the Gopher 6. Chris Wells breezed over the left side untouched on the next play for six, utilizing fine blocks from Ballard, Kirk Barton and Dionte Johnson to put OSU up 7-0 after the PAT.
Later in the first period, Ohio State began a drive with good field position at their own 46. Continuing what has become somewhat of a calling card, the offense went into quick-strike mode. Chris Wells circled the right side for 14, then Ray Small took a reverse pitch, made a big-time cut and flew down to the Minnesota 2 before Dominique Barber saved a touchdown by forcing Small out of bounds. Desi Steib dropped C-Dub for a loss of 2, but on the next snap Wells followed a tremendous Dionte Johnson block and powered over Barber and Mike Sherels for his second score of the evening. Ryan Pretorious booted the point-after and OSU led 14-0 after one.
The Buckeyes gained one first down on their next series with a reception by Jake Ballard, but Todd Boeckman threw incomplete on two deep balls to stymie the effort. The Gophers took over at their 36, and thanks to a defensive holding call against OSU on a 3rd-and-10 play, Minnesota marched to the Buckeye 37. Columbus native Ernie Wheelwright picked up 16 on an option pitch, but three Duane Bennett runs yielded nine and Gopher coach Tim Brewster was faced with a 4th-and-1 decision from the OSU 12. Faking to Bennett, Adam Weber kept around the left side for 9 and a first-and-goal at the three. One play later, Weber rolled right and connected with Ralph Spry, who just did get the football inside the pylon for the touchdown. It was Minnesota’s longest drive of the season in terms of plays (12) and time elapsed (5:48), and it cut the OSU lead in half.
A pair of six-yard scampers by Chris Wells moved the chains on the ensuing Buckeye drive, but a holding call looked like it would uproot the march. The offense managed to convert on 3rd-and-11 as Ray Small galloped for 13 behind great blocks from Jake Ballard and Steve Rehring. But just like that, the Gopher “D” came alive as Matt Stommes belted Boeckman to force an incompletion, and Derrick Onwauchi batted down a pass. A.J. Trapasso punted to the Gopher 22 and the home team was back in business.
Duane Bennett scampered for 19 with a swing pass, and Eric Decker found an open spot in OSU’s zone for 30 more to highlight a march to the OSU 19. The Gopher faithful among the 51,611 in the Metrodome sensed that their squad was taking control of the ballgame, but on 3rd-and-13 from the OSU 22, Weber made a bad throw towards Decker that Malcolm Jenkins easily picked off from his safety spot in nickel coverage. Jenkins made the theft at the 2, but actually was all the way back in his own endzone as he reversed field. Donald Washington was called for a block in the back on Bennett, so the football was brought back to the Ohio State 2 with 2:13 left in the first half.
Todd Boeckman fell forward for two yards to give his team a little breathing room, and when Chris Wells hit the middle for two more, it appeared the Buckeyes would be content to get out of the half with the 14-7 lead. Both teams called timeouts before the third-down play, on which Chris Wells took a handoff around the left side. Ben Person and Tyler Whaley sprang C-Dub loose, and the big tailback shook Desi Steib, stiff armed Duran Cooley and sprinted for 27 yards. Cornerback Jamal Harris gave the Bucks a gift 15 with a late hit on Wells, so Boeckman and Co. set up shop at their own 48.
Up in the ESPN booth, analyst Bob Davie’s crystal ball was amazingly clear-
"...what could have been a big 3rd-down stop for Minnesota turns into a huge field position ... and momentum swing for Ohio State, ‘cause Ohio State’s gonna go downtown right here ... Play action ... Brian Robiskie has to become a factor here..."
No sooner had Davie spit that sentence out than Boeckman faked to Wells, and airmailed one towards Robiskie on the fly pattern. Jamal Harris, whose late hit had set this play up, fell down as the ball arrived. Robo went up over Harris, hung in the air and made an acrobatic catch for the score, his sixth touchdown reception of the season.
Todd Meisel blocked the point-after attempt- Ryan Pretorious’ first failure in 20 tries this season- but in the blink of an eye Ohio State had swung momentum firmly in its favor. Minnesota had gotten to within 7 points and had reached the red zone, but the Jenkins pick and the lightning-like 98-yard drive gave the Bucks a 20-7 halftime lead and effectively sucked the life out of the Metrodome.
OSU revved up its initial drive of the third period from their own 19. Brian Robiskie had two more catches totaling 30 yards as the Bucks moved to the Minnesota 26 before stalling. Pretorious hammered home a 43-yard field goal, extending the lead to 23-7. Ryan then made probably his biggest play of the evening, bringing down kick returner Harold Howell after he had snaked his way out to the Buckeye 44. Pretorious had whiffed trying to tackle Northwestern’s Stephen Simmons on the latter’s 99-yard kickoff return last week, so he got a quick chance to make amends.
The Gophers went three-and-out, then OSU got a 12-yard dash from Mo Wells, an interference call on Desi Steib and a 10-yard snag from Brian Hartline to move to Minnesota’s 38, but the drive bogged down. Neither offense could muster much for the rest of the quarter. Cameron Heyward throttled the Gophers’ final third-period thrust by stripping the ball from Ralph Spry on
an attempted reverse. Adam Weber had to fall on the ball, but the 13-yard loss on the play effectively finished the drive, and the quarter ended shortly thereafter with the Buckeyes out front 23-7.
Ohio State’s final scoring march of the night ignited with a pass interference call against Ryan Collado as he attempted to defend Brian Robiskie. Chris Wells moved the ball into Gopher territory with a 14-yard romp featuring Jamal Harris being stiff-armed into the turf. Following that display of brute force, C-Dub showed off a deft spin move on an 8-yard pickup. Mo Wells broke off his own 8-yard run, then Ray Small and Brian Hartline sandwiched 7-yard receptions around a pair of penalties. With a 3rd-and-6 at the Minnesota 19, Hartline ran a simple fly pattern and dusted Collado, hauling in a touchdown strike from Todd Boeckman. Ryan Pretorious tacked on the final point of the evening to make it 30-7, Buckeyes.
Minnesota had one final chance to dent the scoreboard following a Chris Wells fumble at his own 9-yard line. I really didn’t focus on the Gophers’ first couple of plays since I was trying to figure out what in the world Wells was even doing in the game at this point. Larry Grant dragged Amar Pinnix down for a 3-yard loss on first down, then Tray Herndon snagged a 6-yard pass to the OSU 4. But Adam Weber misfired terribly on his next two throws and the Gopher threat went by the boards.
Following a Buckeye 3-and-out, Weber engineered a drive to the OSU 35, but Larry Grant made an acrobatic interception, and his 20-yard return, with all due respect to Chris Wells and even A.J. Trapasso, was the best run of the night from anyone in Scarlet and Gray. Grant faked and juked just about everyone on the Minnesota offense before being wrapped up. It’s nice to
have Grant’s maturity and athleticism, but it makes you wish he had had four
years here.
Buckeye Nation will stock up on No Doz for another 8PM kickoff this Saturday in West Lafayette against 5-0, #23 Purdue, with ABC doing the TV honors. Minnesota heads to Bloomington for a noon matchup with Indiana, who’s fresh off a 38-20 pasting of Iowa.
RANDOM THOUGHTS- The Bucks added to their school record by winning their 23rd consecutive regular-season game. Their Big Ten win streak now stands at 16, one short of the mark set on three different occasions by the OSU squads of 1954-56, 1967-69 and 1974-76 ... Minnesota’s new on-campus stadium will be complete in 2009, and with Ohio State not due to return to Minneapolis until 2010, the Bucks wrap up their visits to the Metrodome with a perfect 11-0 mark. The only other Big Ten venue that OSU never lost at was Indiana’s original Memorial Stadium, which served the Hoosiers from 1925 until the current version of Memorial opened in 1960. The Buckeyes were 5-0 in Bloomington at the old site, and are 16-1-1 all-time at Memorial Stadium since 1960, with the only loss coming in 1988 (41-7) and the tie happening
in 1990 (27-27)…So I’m sure you all were sitting around wondering, "Gee, what is Ohio State’s all-time record when they’ve been ranked #4 in the polls?" Glad you asked! Ohio State has been fourth in the polls on 63 different occasions. Five of those times it was either the preseason poll or leading into a bye week, but their record in the other 58 games is an impressive 47-10-1. The only time OSU was #4 for a game on October 6th was 1956, when they beat Stanford 32-20. The Bucks have faced Purdue 6 times when they’ve been ranked fourth, with a mark of 5-1. The lone defeat was a 35-13 loss in 1945, which was coach Carroll Widdoes first loss after winning his first 12 in a row. Among the 5 Buckeye wins was the legendary 13-0
upset of the top-ranked Boilers in 1968, and the 16-13 overtime win in 2003 ...
(8)Ohio State 30 Minnesota 7
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VS
September 29th, 2007
HHH Metrodome
Minneapolis, MN
Attendance 51,611
10/2/07
