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Buckeyes must get ball to Ginn, Holmes
Posted: September 16, 2005
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ted Ginn Jr. has been called one of the fastest players to play college football. In his last 20 games, Santonio Holmes has scored 16 touchdowns.
Yet in Ohio State's 25-22 loss to No. 2 Texas on Saturday night, they were almost invisible, combining to run the ball once and catch six passes.
"I think any playmaker's going to be frustrated with not touching the ball at least 10, 15 times a game," Holmes said. "But it's a team sport. I just think you have to make the best of every time you do touch it."
The ninth-ranked Buckeyes (1-1) may go to extremes to get the ball to their gamebreakers -- Ginn, Holmes, Roy Hall, Tony Gonzalez and Anthony Pittman -- when they host San Diego State (0-2) on Saturday.
"The number one thing that a quarterback needs to do is make sure that guys like Santonio and Teddy and Gonzo and Antonio and Roy and so forth get the ball in their hands to make plays," coach Jim Tressel said in announcing that Troy Smith would start at quarterback.
Opposing defenses gear up for Ohio State's fastest players.
"We've got to try to neutralize Ted Ginn and Santonio Holmes," San Diego State coach Tom Craft said. "Ginn may be the best return specialist in the country, too. They make an effort to put it in their hands and see what they can do with it."
Yet the game plan for Texas didn't seem to offer many opportunities for either Smith or Justin Zwick to get the ball to the Buckeyes' fastest players. Rather than make Texas have to defend their sprinters, the Buckeyes took them out of the game by not going to them.
Ginn was the only wideout to run the ball, losing two yards on his only carry. Holmes had four catches and Gonzalez, Hall and Ginn had two apiece.
Ginn said the Buckeyes have tricks up their sleeves but just haven't shown them yet.
"It's the second week," he said. "We can't come out with everything yet."
For Ginn, the touches weren't a problem -- it was the catches. He dropped two balls that hit him right in the hands.
Smith took the blame for the Buckeyes' lack of big-play offense.
"We had ample opportunities to get the ball in the hands of the guys that we need to," he said. "Whether it be on my part or I made a bad decision to go somewhere else and not get it to those guys, we have plays designed to get it to them."
Smith ran the ball 13 times, including two sacks. He said that all 11 runs were called in the huddle -- he wasn't trying to be creative while playing keepaway from Ohio State's other speedsters.
So maybe Tressel and offensive coordinator Jim Bollman need to take a long look at how they are using Ginn, Holmes and Co. Tressel and Bollman have said they intend to build their offense on speed, yet last week's game seemed to refute that.
Holmes said the Buckeyes need to identify the people who can get them into the end zone.
"It's really just ... knowing who's capable of making plays, having better play-calling and we just have to execute the plays that are being called," he said.
Ginn said winning was what mattered, far more than his own contributions. "You know it's not all about how many times I touch the ball," he said. Many people, however, think it is.
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