Payback

Ohio St came into last week's game against Purdue pissed off. Pissed off about the awful loss that they suffered at the hands of the Boilermakers last season, and pissed off about Wisconsin ruining their perfect season and title hopes last week. Unfortunately for Purdue, they were on the receiving end of OSU’s frustration in a 49-0 massacre that would put 50 Cent to shame.


Game Recap

Aided by the opening kickoff going out of bounds and a Purdue 15-yard facemask penalty, Boom Herron carried the ball all five times on Ohio St’s opening drive and scored from 10 yards out to put the Bucks up early. To save time, we won’t talk about Purdue’s first five series, as they all ended in punts. OSU went three-and-out on their second possession, but return man Chris Carlino muffed (snicker, snicker) The Cannon’s punt, and Ohio St continued its drive. A big pass from Terrelle Pryor to DeVier Posey set up another Herron TD run.

Jordan Hall was the featured back on the next series, not running particularly well (1.6 ypc) but moving the ball and scoring a touchdown of his own. It was Brandon Saine’s turn next, and he had the Buckeyes moving the ball efficiently until Pryor threw an awful interception. TP responded well, however, making some good throws on the following two drives, including a 22-yard TD to Posey, a 56-yarder to Dane Sanzenbacher, and a 7-yard touchdown to Sanz, to make it 35-0. Thinking his punter needed a break, Boilermaker QB Rob Henry threw an interception to Orhian Johnson on the first play of the next series, setting up a Pryor-Corey Brown touchdown pass. The half ended with Ohio St in complete control, up 42-0.

The second half was awfully boring, which is starting to become a theme for this year’s Buckeyes, due to their sheer awesomeness. Terrelle Pryor threw his second INT of the game halfway through a scoreless third quarter, which prompted Coach Tressel to send in the subs. The thing that worries me about Pryor’s interceptions is that they are such terribly thrown balls.

Jaamal Berry and Carlos Hyde ran pretty well in the 4th quarter (a combined 11 carries for 48 yards), setting up the half’s lone score - a Joe Bauserman to third-string, Juco-transfer tight end Spencer Smith. (Who?) Hoping to avoid the shutout, Purdue attempted at 56-yard field goal with under 30 seconds to go, and missed. Ohio St wins more comfortably than Loonette and Molly’s couch, 49-0.


Game Notes

Game Ball
No one defensive player really stood out in this one, because they were all so great, so the GB goes to the entire defensive unit. The Boilermakers came into this game leading the Big Ten in rushing, racking up over 200 yards on the ground in each of its last five games. In this one? 30. Yes, that is the right amount of zeros on that number. Purdue only made it across the OSU 45 one time in this game, in the final minute where they missed the FG. Oh yeah, and all this coming from a defense without captain and leading tackler Ross Homan. I haven’t heard about Homan’s status for the upcoming weeks, but I believe that he was listed as day-to-day when his missed this game, so I would hope he would be ready for the next contest.
Game balls to date: Pryor (4), Defense, Herron, Moeller

Big Ten
I mentioned last week that each Michigan St and Wisconsin need to lose at least one more time this season for Ohio St to be solely atop the Big Ten. Both teams came very close to defeat this past week, but both squeaked by. The Spartans needed a late comeback to beat Northwestern, and Wisconsin narrowly escaped Iowa, 31-30, largely due to the Hawkeyes’ inept kicking game.

I still see Michigan St losing this year. They are a good team, but certainly no National Title contender. Their toughest remaining foe comes this week at Iowa. Wisconsin on the other hand, should win out, with the hardest one left for them being at michigan - and I mean, c’mon, it’s michigan. The good thing here is that it is much more important for MSU to lose, so we can grab a share of a sixth-straight conference title.

Duron Who?
Freshman wideout Corey Brown is really starting to come along at the mid-point of the season. With the loss of Duron Carter before the season started, Ohio St has been looking for someone to step up and be a another threat along with Posey and Sanzenbacher, and it looks like they may have found him. Brown had three catches for 38 yards in this one, including a nice touchdown grab and an 18-yard reverse play. I think it is a sign of things to come that Tressel decided to give it to Brown on that reverse, when he has such dangerous weapons in Posey and Sanz. Expect to see some more of him as the season moves on.

The Second Coming?
Chimdi Chekwa is really starting to remind me a lot of Malcolm Jenkins. What I always used to say about Jenkins, one of my all-time favorite Buckeyes, was that he was underrated because you didn’t hear his name all that much during the game for interceptions, tackles or pass break ups (although he still managed his share of INTs), so people assumed he wasn’t anything special. However, the reason you didn’t hear his name was simple - teams just didn’t throw his way. While Chekwa doesn’t possess nearly the overall talent that Jenks had, the same thing is happening to him. He completely shuts down the other team’s top receiver, and rarely gets noticed for it.

Up Next: @Minnesota (1-7, 0-4), 8:00, ABC
I’m really not sure why this is ABC’s primetime game, as Minnesota is probably the conference’s worst team. The Gophers are coming off seven straight loses and a firing of their head coach. However, QB Adam Webber is fifth among the Big Ten’s career passing leaders (I know, I was shocked to hear that, too). I don’t expect him to move up much on the list this week. I see Ohio St rolling into their bye week in a big way.
Prediction: Ohio St: 45 Minnesota: 9


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