(19)Ohio State 38 Minnesota 7
Well, it certainly should be a calmer week around Columbus, doncha think?
Ohio State put the pedal down in the second half of their Homecoming tussle with Minnesota, burying the Gophers 38-7 and staying in prime position for another Big Ten title. With Iowa getting a fourth-down, 2 seconds left miracle (“Holy Hawkeye”?) to beat back Michigan State and Penn State thumping TBGUN, the “November to Remember” is still in play.
Tim Brewster’s defense threw up a three-and-out to launch last Saturday’s proceedings, then with good field position from their 39; the Maroon and Gold offense quickly tilted the field as “Wildcat” QB MarQueis Gray slid by Nathan Williams, broke free from Kurt Coleman and raced for 25 yards. But when starting quarterback Adam Weber returned, his receivers failed him as both Eric Decker and Brandon Green dropped passes. ESPN analyst Chris Spielman utilized Green’s drop to note how Minnesota has been fruitlessly searching for someone to step up and keep the “O” from being “The Eric Decker Show”.
After a pathetic performance at Purdue and a merciless week of dealing with its after-effects, the Buckeye offense slowly began to turn the tide. An 18-play, 79-yard, 8-minute and 22-second march ended with a whimper as Aaron Pettrey blew a 30-yard field goal, but compared to the Wisconsin third quarter it was at least refreshing to see OSU work the ball and keep the chain gang awake. Terrelle Pryor converted third downs with a 14-yard keeper and a 12-yard peg to DeVier Posey, while Brandon Saine bulled for 2 on a 4th-and-1. Pryor even made a little magic under center, working the play-action nicely and hooking up with Dane Sanzenbacher (speaking of teams needing to develop another receiving threat) for an 18-yard gain. However, in the big picture nothing was on the scoreboard thanks to Pettrey’s mysterious inconsistency from 40-yards in.
Eric Decker provided a pair of first downs with catches on Minnesota’s ensuing march, but on the second of those snares he landed awkwardly on an already ouchy ankle he’s been battling and headed off, basically leaving Adam Weber with a empty gun. A holding call and a procedure flag scrambled the drive, and then as Ray Small fair-caught Blake Hauden’s punt at his own 8, Troy Stoudermire was whistled for kick-catch interference to give OSU a gift 15. Although Ray waited to the last minute to wave for the fair catch and Stoudermire couldn’t stop his momentum, there was nothing blatant about the contact. That flag used to be a five-yarder, but coverage teams were willing to give up 5 to get a shot in at opposing punt-returners. I can remember Michigan in ’96 in the 13-9 “Springs slip” game hitting David Boston on practically every punt. Just like facemask calls, the rules gurus probably figured 15-yard flags would cut down on this stuff and take one less judgment call away from officials. But Stoudermire had no bad intent and got caught up in a tough rule. ESPN’s cameras caught him moments later on the sideline jawing nose-to-nose with an assistant coach before cooler heads prevailed. You have to keep your composure on the sideline (especially with ESPN’s cameras around) and be aware of the rule, but I can’t blame Stoudermire for being upset.
Things looked good as the Buckeyes took possession as Brandon Saine bolted for 21 yards on two totes and the Gophers chipped in with an interference penalty. But OSU couldn’t maintain the momentum. Minnesota then set sail with a pair of Adam Weber strikes to Bryant Allen for 20 and Brandon Green on the slant for 12, but they too ran out of gas. Ray Small made a nice, twisting punt return out to his 25, and then his number came up on a 1st-down reverse. The play lost 2, but Ray’s namesake Eric Small delivered a late blow and once again the Gophers giftwrapped yardage. On the next snap, DeVier Posey broke deep from the right flank. Corner Traye Simmons thought he had deep help and broke to the sideline with the slot receiver. Problem was that “helpful” safety did the same thing, as did a linebacker. With all that attention on the out route, Posey was lonesome and even the beleaguered Terrelle Pryor found him for a 62-yard score.
On OSU’s next drive, Brandon Saine lifted things off with 2 runs for 9 yards. But on the second carry, linebacker Lee Campbell popped Saine and sent him to the sideline for the rest of the day with a concussion. Nothing dirty on the play- Saine’s helmet looked like it caught Campbell’s pads- but the tailback stable is drying up. Down to third-stringer Jordan Hall, the offense still hummed along as Pryor directed a drive to the Minnesota 40. But then came the same ol’ same ol’- Pryor forcing a throw to Sanzenbacher that should have been picked and then settling for a 5-yard toss to Hall when they needed 13.
Adam Weber survived a shot from Thaddeus Gibson to drill Troy Stoudermire for a dozen, but the march went belly-up as Weber was victimized by the fifth dropped pass of the half from his receiving corps. Ohio State took over on their 14 and went into hurry-up mode, which everyone seems to agree is when Terrelle Pryor has looked his best this season. Back-to-back tosses to Dane Sanzenbacher chewed up 17 and 27 yards, respectively. Even after losing two on a keeper, Pryor came right back with an 11-yard aerial to Ray Small, and then moved the sticks with a three-yard keeper. Spinning out of trouble from the Gopher 30, Pryor smartly threw the ball away and then dialed up DeVier Posey for 13 to the visitors’ 17. But the ghosts of bad first half endings came calling when Kyle Theret jumped a throw at the goal line for Sanzenbacher and made an easy pick. As the ESPN crew pointed out, it was the best and worst of Terrelle in a short, compact presentation. The guests ran out the clock, leaving OSU up by 7 at the break.
The game got away from Tim Brewster’s ballclub right at the outset of the second half. Aaron Pettrey placed a perfect pooch kick in no-man’s land and Troy Stoudermire fumbled it while trying to field it on the dead run. Zach Domicone snapped the ball up at the Gopher 31 and the Scarlet and Gray were in business. Jordan Hall got loose for 12-on a play that should have earned half-the-distance yardage for a late hit- and came back for 3 more. With Minnesota locked in on the freshman, Terrelle Pryor got the right corner off a fake to Hall, stiff-armed a tackler and leaped into the southwest corner for six. I’m sure Ray Reitz, Terrelle’s high school coach who joined in the choir of criticism towards Jim Tressel by saying TP should run more, had to have liked that one.
The teams traded punts, and on Minnesota’s first play of their third drive, John Simon brought the heat on Adam Weber. As Weber cocked his arm back to throw, his hand hit Simon’s helmet and knocked the ball free. Thaddeus Gibson dove on it and the Buckeyes were back in business.
DeVier Posey’s yards-per-catch average took a hit on the first play as a toss from Terrelle Pryor lost 3 yards. DeVier proved his complete receiver worth on the next play as his block sprung Terrelle Pryor into the endzone, but Posey got a little too far outside the front of the defender and drew a flag, the second week in a row that a Buckeye hold has negated a touchdown. This time, though, the home team wouldn’t be denied. Jordan Hall carried the mail from there, capping the drive off with his first Ohio State touchdown, an 11-yard romp over the right side through a huge hole created by the law firm of Boren (pulling guard Justin) and Boren (kicking-out fullback Zach). The count reached 21-0 and the air was leaking profusely from the Minnesota balloon.
The defense, in what had to seem like a vacation, was three plays and done, but their offensive mates were still diabolically bent on keeping them on the field. Three plays into the ensuing drive, Posey yet again got embarrassingly open deep in the Gopher secondary and Terrelle Pryor found him for a 57-yard scoring strike, breaking the game wide open at 28-0.
A pretty dicey interference call on Austin Spitler negated an Anderson Russell pick late in the third, but as the game rolled into the final period, Spitler atoned. Following back-to-back sacks from Thad Gibson, Adam Weber delivered a custom interception right at Austin, who returned it to the Gopher 45. With the exception a 6-yard Ray Small reverse, it was all Jermil Martin on the drive. The Cleveland redshirt freshman broke free on his third carry behind a fine block from fellow Glenville Tarblooder Bryant Browning, coasting up the middle 39 yards for his first collegiate touchdown. I certainly understand that Martin is more of a fullback type and was only added to the tailback rotation with the plethora of injuries, but even on his short-yardage carries in this game, he moved the pile with authority. Herron, Saine and Hall are certainly not chopped liver, but just for a flicker Saturday, Jermil gave a glimpse into the not-too-distant past with Beanie Wells. For a team that has had trouble in the redzone in recent years, it may behoove Jim Tressel to keep Martin close at hand.
After getting the screws put to them at Purdue last week by the zebras, karma came the Buckeyes’ way on Minnesota’s next thrust. Da’Jon McKnight was, let’s face it, knocked down by Kurt Coleman, who then picked off Adam Weber’s pass and brought it back 40 yards to the Gopher 30. In the ESPN booth, both play-by-play man Dave Pasch and analyst Bob Griese called it for what it was- a flag-worthy knockdown. The defensive player in the booth, Chris Spielman, called it “incidental contact”. While his colleagues were incredulous with that reasoning, Chris got the last word- “Apparently the (referee) right next to the play agrees with me”. Can’t disagree with Spiels there…
Joe Bauserman came on to take some snaps, but couldn’t generate a first down. Aaron Pettrey was in his more comfortable environment of 40+ yards away and booted a 44-yard field goal to make it 38-0, Bucks.
MarQueis Gray entered to finish things off at quarterback for Minnesota, and faced with running their streak of scoreless quarters to nine in a row, the Gophers responded with a 78-yard jaunt to ruin the shutout. Gray lit the fuse with a 27-yard burst, and then proceeded to go 4 for 4 through the air, climaxing with a 16-yard slant TD to Troy Stoudermire, who got entirely too much room from backup safety Orhian Johnson. The Bucks killed the rest of the clock to sew up a 38-7 Homecoming win.
Gray’s success on Minnesota’s final series drew some eerie parallels to Ohio State’s quarterback situation. The ESPN crew spent that last drive wondering aloud if Tim Brewster shouldn’t give Gray more playing time, a la Buckeye Nation’s clamoring for Jim Tressel to let Joe Bauserman see the field in lieu of a struggling Terrelle Pryor. Both teams find themselves at or near the bottom of most Big Ten offensive standings, and both starting QB’s- Pryor and Adam Weber- have certainly regressed since last season. The key difference would be that Columbus has been up in arms over the Buckeyes, while the hot topic on Minnesota sports talk radio this week will probably be how the Vikings let things get away against Pittsburgh. As Chris Spielman pointed out, fairly or not, fans’ passion with Ohio State football can be unreasonably off the charts, but why accept mediocrity?
Ohio State will hold a scrimmage next Saturday at noon in Ohio Stadium with New Mexico State, while Minnesota returns home for a primetime matchup with snake-bitten Michigan State at 8PM.
RANDOM THOUGHTS - Thaddeus Gibson’s 3-sack performance earned him a co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week nod along with Iowa’s Adrian Clayborn…Ohio State has not played a regular season non-conference game this late in the campaign since a 26-7 win over Oregon on November 17, 1962. Throughout the 40’s and early 50’s, an early November get-together with Pittsburgh was the norm on the Buckeye schedule, an arrangement that ended in the national championship season of 1954. The only time OSU has played a non-league game after Michigan since “THE Game” was moved to the end of both teams’ schedules was in 1942 when the Buckeyes beat a service team, the Iowa Seahawks, 41-12…Minnesota certainly didn’t look good on Saturday, but with 4 wins to their credit and Illinois and South Dakota State still on the schedule, the Gophers should be able to go bowling. Not only would it mean a bowl check for money grubbing Jim Delany, but Tim Brewster’s gang would certainly benefit from the extra weeks of practice…Much has been made of Terrelle Pryor sitting on the sidelines when the defense is on the field, not talking to coaches. Next time you watch Florida play, notice how Tim Tebow ALWAYS has a headset on when he’s on the bench (and don’t worry, CBS, ESPN or whoever’s carrying the game will provide you with plenty of shots of “The Messiah”). Point being, here’s a guy who’s won a Heisman, a national title (I’m not giving him full credit for two) and is a three-year starter. I suppose if anyone could come to the sideline and just chill while the “D” is on the field, it would be him. But it’s just not the case…
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October 24, 2009
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, OH
Attendance ??,???
10/25/09
VS
By Joe-S-U
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