Buckeye Blogger Network
Oh, it's on...
The Buckeyes came back to Ohio Stadium looking for a little bit of payback and they got it in a big way. The Boilermakers were completely outmatched, falling to the Buckeyes 49-0 in the Bucks first shutout of the year. Pryor finished the game with 16/22 with 270 yards 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on the day. The Buckeye running game also made an appearance as Dan Herron picked up 74 yards on 16 carries with 2 touchdowns.
Ohio State started the game with the football on the 40 yard line after Jordan Hall allowed the ball to bounce out of bounds. The Bucks started out on the ground the first few plays, giving Herron the ball repeatedly. The strategy clearly surprised Purdue’s defense who was expecting a healthy dose of Pryor all afternoon. With 5 straight carries, Herron stuck the ball out over the goalline and scored, setting a clear tone for the game.
Purdue started the game out to surprise the Buckeye defense themselves. A quick pass over the middle gained 15 yards, though two Buckeye defenders were in position to almost make a play on the ball. Purdue switched into their more traditional running offense but were unable to get through the OSU defensive line forcing them to punt.
Cole brings this week’s highlights from the Big Ten Player of the Week- Terrelle Pryor.
He runs, he throws, he catches… That’s an action figure there, son.
The quarter's so you can call for help...
Buckeye 411
More physically challenging than brushing off Bobcats
In a game that was never remotely close, the Buckeyes handed the Eagles of EMU a 73-20 loss that displayed plenty of offensive flash, and a couple defensive question marks. Terrelle Pryor was the star of the day with 6 total touchdowns including 4 passing touchdowns to Dane Sanzenbacher (9 rec 108 yards), a 53 yard rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown thrown by former High School teammate Jordan Hall. The Buckeyes put the majority of their effort in the passing game and it paid off as they hit 13 different receivers for 303 total yards in the game.
First of many
The 73 points scored in the game were the most in the Jim Tressel era, topping the 58 points scored on Northwestern on September 22nd, 2007. The previous time OSU had scored more than 70 points in a game were the first two games in 1996, 70 points against Rice, and 72 against Pittsburgh. This game also saw the most points scored by OSU since October 28th 1950, when the Bucks scored 83 on a 3-5-1 Iowa team.
I think Dane just scored again
The Buckeye offense was near unstoppable in the game today. The Buckeyes wracked up 645 total yards of offense with 342 rushing yards to go with their 303 passing yards. The only turnover the Bucks gave up was a fumble late in the game when walk-on Tight End Ricky Crawford dropped a pass from Joe Bauserman after bobbling the reception. The Buckeyes managed to have 11 players run the football for positive yardage, including Terrelle Pryor’s game leading 104 on 7 attempts. The longest run of the day went to Jaamal Berry with a 67 yard touchdown scamper late in the game giving him 74 total yards for the day. Dan Herron appeared to be the primary running back during the game – unsurprising with Saine’s injury from practice – collecting 12 carries for 55 yards and an early touchdown.
Brian Rolle can fly. Who knew?
The Ohio Bobcats rolled into Columbus today to take on the Buckeyes and hopefully challenge them the same way that they did back in 2008. The Buckeyes weren’t having any of it as they raced out to a 43-0 lead before giving up a late touchdown in trash time to end the game with the 43-7 victory. Terrelle Pryor had another solid game with 22 receptions on 29 attempts for 235 yards and 2 touchdowns, though he threw his first 2 interceptions of the year.
The Ohio offense started out very poorly. After a short running play up the middle, Bates tossed a quick passing play to the left side of the field. Devon Torrence made a fantastic play on the ball by batting it into the air for Tyler Moeller to come down with. The interception gave the Buckeye offense fantastic field position. Unfortunately, after picking up a great game on their first play with a pass to Jake Stoneburner, the Buckeyes squandered their chance and was forced to kick a field goal in the red zone.
The Buckeye defense continued to be aggressive. With the Bobcats pinned close to their endzone due to a block in the back penalty on the return, the Silver Bullets made the most of the situation by not allowing Ohio any room to move the ball. On the ensuing possession the Bucks found plenty of room to move the ball. As usual, the offense promptly moved the ball into the redzone with confidence and authority. What was unusual was that Pryor found Saine over the middle for the Touchdown. It was exactly the kind of pass that Pryor needed in order to build confidence in his arm in scoring position.
Dan Herron was excellent today, especially in helping kill clock at the end.
It was one amazing football game as the Buckeyes faced off today in the Horseshoe with the Hurricanes of Miami (FL) for the first time since their National Championship battle in January of 2003. The game had been massively anticipated since it’s announcement several years ago and it didn’t disappoint. Terrelle Pryor guided the Buckeyes to a huge 36-24 win over the ‘Canes on the strength of 12/27 passing for 233 yards and a touchdown plus 105 yards on the ground on 18 carries with a touchdown. The stat of the game were the four interceptions thrown by Jacory Harris during the game that killed potential Miami scoring drives and gave the Buckeyes a chance to overcome their continued failures in special teams.
The Buckeyes started out with the ball and got going with authority against the quick Miami Defense. Pryor moved the ball down the field with a series of runs and passes, including a fantastic ten yard scamper for a first down. However, the drive stalled right after the Bucks crossed mid-field which forced them to punt the ball. Miami’s defense found good success against the run, getting penetration against the line and dropping Brandon Saine in the backfield.
The Buckeye defense was fast and vicious against Miami, attacking deep into the backfield and preventing Miami from finding much success on the edges. Miami managed to get a first down on a fortunate spot. Unfortunately for Miami their worst nightmare occured when they tossed a pass on third down which got tipped into the hands of a waiting Nathan Williams, giving the Buckeyes great field position in Miami territory.
Courtesy of our friend Cole Blaney, here’s tBBC’s plays of the week from the Marshall game as decided during our livechat on Thursday:
And, because we love you, here’s a little bonus…
Leader of men, destroyer of offense.
This is only the second time (in 121 years) that Ohio State has named six captains.
They are seniors: Brian Rolle, Cameron Heyward, and Ross Homan on defense; Bryant Browning, Dane Sanzenbacher, and Brandon Saine on offense.
This team has a helluva lot of quality senior leadership (they couldn’t pick just four), and with plenty of other upperclassmen in the wings for support (Boren, Larimore, Brewster, Chekwa, Pryor, Moeller ect. ect.) solid team leadership is just another reason for such lofty expectations this year.
If nothing else, as ElevenWarriors points out, it gives us an intimidation advantage at the coin flip, even though Heyward can probably handle that duty on his own.
