(8)Ohio State 31 (25) Wisconsion 13
Wisconsin ran 89 offensive plays to Ohio State’s 40, exactly doubled their hosts’ total yardage and held the football for almost 43 minutes, including all but 1:40 of the third quarter. The Badgers’ defense held the Buckeye offense to fewer points than USC did. Care to guess who walked off the Ohio Stadium turf with their first Big Ten loss?
Except for a quick strike at the end of the first half, the OSU offense was practically non-existent. It has become a hallmark of the Jim Tressel era in Columbus that defense and special teams are asked to win games while the offense seems at times to be a sideshow. One of the most glaring examples of this trend unfolded last Saturday as the Scarlet and Gray took over first place in the conference all by their lonesomes. After having to sit last week, Kurt Coleman’s rested legs carried him 89 yards with an interception to get the scoring started late in the first period. Early in the third, Jermale Hines duplicated the feat from 32 yards away, giving the Buckeyes a pair of pick-sixes in the same game for the first time since Malcolm Jenkins and Antonio Smith burned Penn State late in the 2006 contest. Just for good measure, Ray Small chipped in with a 96-yard kickoff return, the first for a Buckeye since Ted Ginn, Jr. provided the lone shining moment of the loss to Florida in the 2007 title game.
OSU’s first offensive possession was a microcosm of things that have ailed the “O” all season. The day’s first play was a low throw from Terrelle Pryor that Dane Sanzenbacher couldn’t dig out, followed by a Pryor keeper that Wisconsin sniffed out for a loss by overwhelming the offensive line. The drive fizzled as Ray Small ran a pattern short of the first down marker and couldn’t move the chains even with making the catch. Receivers have been doing this for years so I’m done pinning blame on them.
Cameron Heyward got the defense’s day off to a fast start, dropping Badger quarterback Scott Tolzien for a six-yard sack on Wisky’s first snap. Forced to punt by a quick three-and out, Brad Nortram sent Ray Small on a dead run backward with a 61-yard bomb. Small navigated his way back to midfield, but a block-in-the-back pushed the ball back. Terrelle Pryor got loose around the right side for the game’s initial first down, but the Badgers collared him on third down to even the sack count. On Ohio State’s next possession, Pryor had to throw one away and even though he hooked up with DeVier Posey on third down, DeVier was- surprise!- short of the sticks.
tweaked his ankle again on only his second carry of the day and spent the rest of the day on the sideline. It didn’t come back to bite OSU on this day, but Jamaal Berry was already in sweats so the tailback stable was down to Brandon Saine and Jordan Hall. Of all days for the opponent to dominate time of possession, perhaps it was a blessing it happened last Saturday.
With Saine and Mike Adams doing their bullfighter impressions, Pryor was dropped for a loss on a keeper. Then Pryor exacerbated things by yet again staring down his intended target on a third-down pass. Culmer St. Jean easily jumped in front of Dane Sanzenbacher and brought the pick back to the Buckeye 12. It appeared the “D” would bail OSU out as Austin Spitler dragged John Clay down for a loss of 4, and then Scott Tolzien fumbled the snap on third down. But field goal holder Chris Maragos caught the Bucks napping and circled the left side, sticking the ball in front of the pylon for the score. It was the first fake field goal pulled off against Ohio State since Iowa’s Nate Kaeding used a great hold to score in 2003. Maragos’ effort was upheld on review and things were even at 7-apiece.
OSU couldn’t answer as Pryor almost threw another interception by telegraphing a throw for DeVier Posey, and Brandon Saine got the usual nothing on another 2nd-and-10 run call that Tressel apparently will never learn will NEVER WORK! Jon Thoma got a friendly roll on his punt, forcing the visitors to start from their 23, but Bret Bielema’s crew proceeded to chew up almost 7 minutes on a 12-play march that ended with Philip Welch booming a 50-yard field goal to put Wisconsin up 10-7, the first time Ohio State has trailed in a game since USC took the late lead of 18-15 back on September 12th.
Lamaar Thomas faked a reverse on the kickoff, but Chris Borland wasn’t biting and popped him in his tracks at the OSU 12. As Ray Small would prove later on, just get the friggin’ football and head upfield, PLEASE! At most, a reverse will work once in the course of a season. Faking it three times in one game is useless.
With under two minutes to go, it was evident that unless lightning struck right away, the Buckeyes were going to go in down at halftime. But lo and behold, here came a bolt as Terrelle Pryor reversed course on an option and broke off a 27-yard chunk of real estate. Two plays later, DeVier Posey came wide open on a crossing route and Pryor dialed him up for 22. The “O” had some momentum, but an illegal shift and two incompletions for Duron Carter threatened to scuttle the march. Facing third-and-15 from the 32, Pryor sent Posey deep and fired away after a two-step drop. DeVier baited his defender beautifully, twisting outside at the last second to haul the pigskin in for six. It was reminiscent of Dimitrious Stanley’s touchdown in that very same corner against Notre Dame in 1995. Bobby Hoying’s pass went to the opposite shoulder where Dee was expecting it, but Stanley spun quickly around and found the ball in the bright sun for the score.
Stupidly, the Buckeye braintrusts ordered up a squib kick, which Wisconsin brought back to their 39-yard line. Isaac Anderson worked free for 13 on the cross, but Thaddeus Gibson came up with a big, timely sack of Scott Tolzien and the Badgers had to settle for a 57-yard Philip Welch field goal try, which had the leg but was nowhere near the posts.
Just a brief, halftime thought- How many times is ABC/ESPN, when they do an Ohio State home game, going to feature both the whistle-making factory (which they’ve already shown this year) and former kicker Vlade Janakievski’s deli (which they’ve dragged out for the last three seasons)? I know between endless trips back to New York and countless “Desperate Housewives” promos that there isn’t much time to squeeze in “slice-of-life” stuff from around Columbus, but could we find some fresh material?
Wisconsin punched out a couple of first downs to open the second half, but here came the defense. Thad Gibson drew a holding call on Garrett Graham, Cameron Heyward rang up a TFL, and for the coup de grace Jermale Hines tipped and intercepted a poor Tolzien throw towards Isaac Anderson. Kurt Coleman blasted Anderson into the Buckeye bench to initiate a convoy for Hines to the goal line, where he spun over a last tackle attempt for another pick-six. Ross Homan was hit with an unnecessary roughness flag during the return, but despite Bret Bielema’s protest, the penalty didn’t negate the 32-yard score and Ohio State’s lead ballooned to 21-10.
It didn’t take the guests long to respond. A 33-yard pass to Nick Toon sparked a quick drive into Buckeye territory where a Tolzien pass to Isaac Anderson was dropped and the quarterback himself could only manage a six-yard scramble on 3rd-and-9. Philip Welch was true from 46 yards away to slice the margin to 21-13. It didn’t last long. In fact, it took no time at all, literally. Gathering in the ensuing kickoff at his own 4, Ray Small thankfully chose to forego the idiotic fake reverse and tore straight upfield. He only needed one block from Storm Klein to open the gate and here came a picture runback of 96 yards. It was 28-13 and the offense still hadn’t moved off the bench in the third period. In a figurative sense, it was almost like Ray Small was (hopefully) bursting once and for all from the doghouse.
Chris Borland tried to get Maurice Moore to stay in the endzone as he fielded the kickoff, but in a major brainfart he stepped out and had to go. Anderson Russell roped him down at the 5 and the wheels were officially off the wagon. It was only after all this action that someone realized the play clock hadn’t budged from 10:06 since Philip Welch’s field goal. After a respite to straighten that out, Wisconsin cobbled together a decent march with Scott Tolzien coming up with crucial big pass plays to keep the drive alive. Taking a shot at the endzone minutes later, Tolzien had Anderson open but his receiver couldn’t hang on. Facing 3rd-and 13 moments later, Tolzien hooked up with David Gilreath for 15 and it seemed apparent the pesky Badgers weren’t going away. But after a 17-play march, Welch missed a 33-yard field goal try and for all intents and purposes, it was over.
The beleaguered Buckeye offense came to life one final time as the game entered the fourth quarter. Dane Sanzenbacher had a nice 17-yard catch-and-run, and then Brandon Saine worked a counter for 31 more. Two Saine runs set up a 3rd-and-goal where the Bucks rolled Pryor out on the same play that worked for the touchdown to Zach Boren in Bloomington. Wisconsin obviously studied that film as all of Terrelle’s options were covered up. Defensive end O’Brien Schofield lassoed Pryor and as they fell the ball flew out of bounds. It appeared Pryor had simply lost the handle, but he drew a ridiculous grounding call and the Bucks had to settle for an Aaron Pettrey 37-yard field goal to conclude the scoring at 31-13.
The defense got in a few final jabs as the clock wound down. Nathan Williams, who had taken up residence in the Badger backfield, finally got to Scott Tolzien for a sack, and Ross Homan put the exclamation point on a six-sack afternoon for the “Silver Bullets” by smothering Tolzien a few plays later.
The Bucks hit the road this Saturday to take on Purdue at West Lafayette, looking to tie the Big Ten record for most consecutive road wins in the league. The mark of 17 is currently held by Michigan (1988-1992). Kickoff is high noon on the Big Ten Network. Wisconsin heads home to tangle with undefeated Iowa also at noon on ESPN.
RANDOM THOUGHTS- On the heels of two interceptions run back for scores last Saturday, it’s worth noting that two of Ohio State’s longest pick-sixes have taken place in West Lafayette- 100-yard returns by David Brown (1986) and Marlon Kerner (1993)…In 24 quarters of football this season, the Buckeyes have only been shutout in two. They failed to score in the third quarter of the opener with Navy, and the last period that produced no Scarlet and Gray points was the fourth quarter of the USC loss…The wives of Jim Tressel and his brother Dick were given plaques Saturday to commemorate 500 head-coaching wins between Jim, Dick and their father Lee…It’s sevens all across the board for the Buckeyes in this week’s AP, USA Today and Harris polls. OSU has a 21-6-2 record as the nation’s #7 team. Some of the more notable wins were the “Beanie” Wells-led win over Michigan in 2007, the 35-28 shootout with Kansas State in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl, the 31-16 romp over TBGUN in 1998 and the memorable 45-26 pounding of the Domers in 1995. One of the two ties was the 7-7 deadlock with the Wolverines in 1949, but it was good enough to punch the Buckeyes’ ticket to Pasadena.
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October 10, 2009
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, OH
Attendance 105,301
10/3/09
VS
By Joe-S-U
2000-2009 Buckeye50.com, All Rights Reserved
Wisconsin revved up its next drive from their own 40 as the punt exchanges were starting to tilt the field in their favor. David Gilreath worked a reverse for 15 and latched onto a Tolzien aerial for another 15, but the defense met the challenge. Getting heat from captains Doug Worthington and Austin Spitler, Tolzien badly overthrew Nick Toon down the middle where Kurt Coleman made the easy pick. Motoring down the west sideline, Coleman got screens/blocks on the only two Badgers with any kind of angle from Thaddeus Gibson and John Simon and coasted to the endzone. The 89-yard return was the fifth-longest in Ohio State history, displacing an 88-yard runback from “Hopalong” Cassady on October 23, 1954 (program right). In a mirror image of Coleman’s theft, Cassady snared an ill-advised toss from Wisconsin’s Jim Miller at the south end of Ohio Stadium. Speeding along the west sideline, Hop left the only Badger with a shot in a heap at the 25-yard line with a wicked cutback and trucked home to turn that game around and launch the Bucks towards the national title. The final that October day in ’54? How about 31-14, OSU?
Back to 2009- Ross Homan and Chimdi Chekwa teamed up for the second sack of the day on Scott Tolzien, equaling what the Wisconsin offensive line had given up all year to this point. But whatever momentum the stop troops helped to gather went up in smoke on the next possession. First, "Boom" Herron
