Game Thread Game Ten: #1 tOSU 17, Illinois 10 (11/4/06)

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CPD

A fight to the end

Illinois gives OSU a full-game struggle


Sunday, November 05, 2006

Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter

Champaign, Ill. -- The Mr. Heater warming units were pumping and the Illinois student section was jumping, and the Ohio State sideline was sizzling as Jay Richardson shouted in a huddle of his defensive teammates Saturday.
This was new. The clock was ticking down, and the No. 1 team in the country wasn't in relaxation mode.
Linebacker James Laurinaitis pushed his palms toward the ground, motioning for everyone to calm down, just as, on the field, OSU receiver Brian Robiskie was recovering an onside kick that all but assured Ohio State's 10th victory of the year.
Yet the defenders continued to ask each other for more, almost enjoying the intensity of a new exercise in their planned march toward the national championship game.
"It was something that actually we look forward to," defensive tackle David Patterson said. "As a defense, we like when the pressure is on us, when we have to step up. It was a feeling of guys getting together and rallying together."
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CPD

Best throw

Sunday, November 05, 2006

The Buckeyes added a wrinkle to their passing game with a Troy Smith pass off what looks like an option run. Smith has done a version of a pass off a fake run many times before, usually taking a step or two toward the line then dropping straight back and looking downfield. This play was more of a shuffle to the side, and then a throw on the run to receiver Brian Robiskie.
"We knew if they played true to form and did what we'd seen, that would be open for us," Robiskie said. "So they played the coverage we expected them to play and Troy made a nice throw."

Best grab

Brian Robiskie recovered the Illinois onside kick with 1:40 to play that eliminated any real Illini chance at a comeback. With the hands team in the game, Robiskie watched one teammate miss the ball before finding it himself.
The recovery wasn't really to coach Jim Tressel's liking.
"I almost jumped out there," Tressel said. "I thought it was available too long. But that's onside kicks, that's life, and thank goodness we got it."

Best break

The fourth fumble of the season by running back Chris Wells was the most visible Ohio State mistake of the game, but the Buckeyes actually fumbled two other times and got the ball right back.One could have shifted the momentum of the game even earlier.
Leading, 17-3, in the fourth quarter, running back Antonio Pittman fumbled for the first time this season. But the ball fell right under OSU lineman Steve Rehring. He not only recovered the ball, he picked up a first down.

Best run

On Illinois' second offensive play of the game, running back Pierre Thomas shot through a hole on the left side to pick up 43 yards, advancing the Illini from their 5-yard line to almost midfield.
That's when it first looked like the Buckeyes might be in for a game. But Illinois didn't gain another yard on that drive before punting. On their 21 other rushing attempts in the game, the Illini gained 56 total yards.

Best decision

Ohio State's defense tried to answer a turnover by the offense with another big play. So on the first play after running back Chris Wells fumbled in the second quarter, Buckeyes linebacker Curtis Terry broke in on Illini quarterback Juice Williams and hit him as he was throwing. The call on the field was a fumble.
But a review of the play reversed the call, ruling correctly that Williams was throwing the ball as he was hit.

- Doug Lesmerises

 

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CPD

SUNDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Sunday, November 05, 2006



Here's how I'd handle the Chris Wells situation. Play him against Northwestern next week. The Wildcats' win over Iowa and the Buckeyes' struggles notwithstanding, that shouldn't be a real tough game for Ohio State. What happens to the freshman's head should be of concern to coach Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes. But that's not nearly as important as the path to a national title. That's why no matter what Wells does against Northwestern, I wouldn't play him against Michigan. The way this offense shapes up, Wells isn't a player who can win that game for the Buckeyes. But with a critical fumble at the wrong time, he could help lose it.
Ohio State missed left tackle Alex Boone on Saturday. The offensive line had its toughest day of the season, allowing quarterback Troy Smith to take far more hits than usual and not clearing holes for running back Antonio Pittman in the second half. Tim Schafer, Boone's replacement, is a veteran, but he's not the beast that Boone can be. It'd be nice to see Boone next week. But if he's not healthy for Michigan's defensive line, that's really a problem.
It has to have been a tough season for linebacker John Kerr. The senior finally found his way into the starting lineup at the start of the year after sitting out two seasons following his transfer from Indiana. But he's lost his job in the second half of the season, with Curtis Terry and Marcus Freeman taking all the snaps at outside linebacker. Yet when Ohio State's defense was rallying itself on the sideline late in the game, Kerr was right in the faces of his teammates, his face curled in a snarl as he urged for a final stop. That counts for something.
%%bodybegin%%The wind was at his back, and the field goal came at the end of the first half, when the Buckeyes had the game in full control. So it wasn't under extreme pressure. But the 50-yard field goal by freshman Aaron Pettrey that put Ohio State up, 17-0, in the final minute of the first half was another line on his r?sum?. He's now 8-of-11 this season, 2-of-3 from 50 yards and beyond. You should be just a little more confident in him than you were before.

- Doug Lesmerises

 

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Dispatch

No fun for No. 1
Ohio State gets tested, but passes

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Anthony Gozalez is tackled by lIlinois? J Leman, bottom, and Antonio Steele after making a reception.

Troy Smith barely gets a pass off before J Leman of Illinois takes him down. Smith had one interception and no touchdowns.

Brian Robiskie gets to an onside kick before Illinois? Kyle Hudson to help preserve Ohio State?s victory.


CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? Fewer than two minutes remained and thousands of orange-clad Illinois fans were jumping and yelling in Memorial Stadium. A loud chorus of "I-L-L" and "I-N-I" echoed across the field in the chilly evening air.
The band played, a bell tolled.
The Illini trailed by just seven points and were lining up for an onside kick.
This had not happened to Ohio State in a while, certainly not in this charmed season, when the Buckeyes had rolled nine opponents by an average of 29 points.
Illinois was not a meek and mild 2-7 team. This was a hard-hitting, enthusiastic group that was making the nation?s No. 1 team sweat.
The kick fluttered through the hands of Ohio State safety Brandon Mitchell and wiggled around for a few tense moments before receiver Brian Robiskie fell on it.
With 1:36 left, Ohio State ran all but four seconds off the clock and held on for a 17-10 victory.
"I really thought we were going to get it," Illinois coach Ron Zook said of the kickoff. "But it wasn?t meant to be."
This, finally, was the test Ohio State (10-0, 6-0) figured it would get at some point this season. Most expected it would come from Texas or Penn State in September.
But after trailing 17-0 at halftime, the Illini (2-8, 1-5) cracked down on defense, giving up just 29 second-half yards and scoring 10 fourth-quarter points to suddenly make it a squeaker.
"We knew this was their one and only chance to have a little bit of glory, to knock off Ohio State," defensive end Jay Richardson said. "We knew they weren?t just going to roll over for us."
Illinois ended up outgaining OSU overall, 233 yards to 224. By seven points, it was the fewest points the Buckeyes scored this season and narrowest margin of victory.
Quarterback Troy Smith failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 12 games, passing for just 108 yards with an interception. Running back Antonio Pittman was stuffed for 58 yards on 32 carries, with 20 carries of 2 or fewer yards.
"They came out here and gave us all they had," Pittman said.
Even with a lethargic offense, Ohio State was in control until the final minutes. Leading 17-3, Smith was picked off, but Buckeyes linebacker James Laurinaitis responded with a pick to apparently seal the victory with 4:50 left in the game.
The Illini forced a quick punt and took over at its 20-yard line with 3:43 left. They had benched freshman quarterback Juice Williams earlier, but after backup Tim Brasic threw two incompletions, Williams came on to fire a 24-yard pass to Columbus native Jeff Cumberland, jump-starting the drive.
Three plays later, a wicked Laurinaitis hit knocked Williams back out and sent him for X-rays to check for a broken jaw. Brasic helped the Illini finish off a 10-play, 80-yard march for the score that made it 17-10.
After the onside kick, Illinois used its last two timeouts on Pittman runs. After a third run, the clock drained to 18 seconds before Ohio State punted down to the Illini 2 with four ticks left.
A desperation pass and series of laterals petered out at the Illinois 19, and OSU won.
The Buckeyes played it cool afterward. There were dual spins coming from the locker room: One was a bit of defiance, from Smith.
"A win is a win, any which way you cut it, whether you score 50 points or you score 17," he said. "Who cares? We won today and we?ll continue to grow. There?s going to be critics, there?s going to be naysayers, any which way you do it."
But the other theme was that OSU needed a tough game, that the succession of ho-hum victories had begun to turn the Buckeyes soft inside.
"I think it?s a good thing for us, it?s humbling," cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. "We come out (on) cloud nine, we?re back to reality. We know we can be beat."
So why did they need humbling? Had they felt invincible?
"We kind of got away from the grind period," Jenkins said. "Getting on our grind and knowing we have to go every week as hard as anybody else."
Coach Jim Tressel mixed equal parts of crediting the Illini and realizing that a close call could be a teaching tool.
A close call that ends in a win, that is.
"I think every time you?re tested and every time you?re bruised and battered and so forth, I think it?s always good for you," Tressel said. "In life or in football, you learn more in your suffering than you do in your wonderful moments, so I think we?ll learn something."
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Dispatch

Offense must learn lesson from Illini, Downing says

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? Several players departed yesterday saying "a win is a win" after Ohio State?s surprisingly close 17-10 victory over Illinois. Right guard T.J. Downing was willing to go along with that, to a point.
"That is, as long as we learn from it," Downing said. "You can?t just pass it over and say, ?Oh, a win is a win.? You?ve got to study it and learn from it, figure out what happened, and go from there."
What the offensive line will try to figure out is how the Illinois defensive front, led by defensive tackle Chris Norwell and linebackers J Leman, Brit Miller and Antonio Steele, had so much success. Just when the Illini should have been down and out and ready to throw in the towel is when they started snapping the Buckeyes with a wet version of it.
The Illini stunted, looped and came from all kinds of angles, and the Buckeyes couldn?t seem to cope in what was a forgettable second half of offensive football. The Buckeyes gained 29 yards and made just four first downs, compared with 195 yards and 13 first downs in the first half when they jumped to a 17-0 lead.
"They game-planned us well," Downing said. "They did a lot of movement, they loaded the box (within 7 yards of the line), and we just kind of seemed unbalanced. We couldn?t really get anything going either direction.
"And when they shut down the run, they were prepared to handle the pass. We always talk about that. If we don?t get the running game going, we?re not going to be very successful."
The Buckeyes went in missing starting left tackle Alex Boone, who sat out because of an undisclosed knee injury. Senior utlility player Tim Schafer played in Boone?s place, but that wasn?t necessarily the root of Illinois? success, offensive coordinator Jim Bollman said.
"I think most of the first half we were in pretty good shape; I don?t feel bad at all about what we got done then," Bollman said. "Then in the second half, in some situations we just got beat on some things. Give Illinois credit, I think they did a real good job."
Bollman said he wasn?t happy, especially after the way the offense had been on a roll going in, but he added, "There?s two ways to look at it: Are you going to pout about it, or are you going to go work at it and get better."
The offense definitely won?t forget about it, Downing said.
"We?ve got to study it, learn it, make sure we know what we?re doing next time, because we?re going to be in a situation like this (again)," he said. "It could happen next week at Northwestern. It could happen against Michigan. It could happen in the bowl game. So we better learn from it."
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Dispatch

COMMENTARY
Defensive effort reveals genius of Heacock

Sunday, November 05, 2006

BOB HUNTER

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? Jim Heacock doesn?t do self-promotion. Sometimes he tries so hard not to take credit for the things he has done with the Ohio State defense that you almost start to believe him.
Almost.
Then you think about how well his Buckeyes defense has played with nine new starters. You think about how his group was there to bail out the usually explosive OSU offense yesterday when it finally had to, and you realize that everybody needs to give it up to this man.
The Buckeyes might not have left town with a 17-10 victory over Illinois if the defense hadn?t been so good. Or to put it another way, No. 1 Ohio State might not still be No. 1 on Monday if Heacock wasn?t doing whatever it is he says he doesn?t do.
"You know what?" Heacock said. "Luke Fickell, Paul Haynes and Tim Beckman are unbelievable guys to work with, and these players are unbelievable guys. We?re all just in this for the same reason. I don?t want them to get caught up in the individuality and I don?t want to get caught up in it. There are other assistants who do every bit as much as I do. I kind of get in the way."
Last year, he might have been able to sell that. In his first year as defensive coordinator, he had guys such as A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Donte Whitner to build a defense that led the nation in rushing defense and that was fifth nationally in scoring and total defense.
This year, it sounds about as believable as one of those televised political ads. Even he will admit that before the season he really didn?t know what to expect.
"No, I really didn?t," he said. "I don?t think you ever know. You can hope and you can think and act like you know, but I don?t think you really do until you get into the season."
Ten games into an unbeaten season, this is what we know:
Until yesterday, the Ohio State offense has been so explosive the defense didn?t have to be that good to get the Buckeyes here. Except for the Penn State game, in which the defense kept the game in hand and then sealed a 24-6 win with two interception returns for touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the season is a highlight reel of dramatic Troy Smith plays, Anthony Gonzalez and Ted Ginn Jr. catches and Anthony Pittman runs.
Ohio State teams are often haunted by this place, so it probably figured it might change here. The Buckeyes? 2002 national championship team had to go to overtime to beat Illinois in Memorial Stadium, and the Illini beat Jim Tressel?s first Ohio State team in Champaign 34-22.
This one never got into the "frightening" category because the Illini couldn?t generate a lick of offense until the end. On a day when the Illini defense gave Smith and company fits, this might have been an upset on par with that 1998 Michigan State debacle in Ohio Stadium if Heacock?s defense hadn?t been so good.
If it continues to play this way, a guy who has been coaching football since 1971, who was the coach at Illinois State from 1988 to 1995 and who has been on the OSU staff since 1996 might suddenly find himself bearing the "genius" label 36 years into his coaching career.
"I don?t even think about stuff like that," he said.
That won?t stop it from happening, though. The Buckeyes went into yesterday?s game No. 1 in scoring defense and No. 9 in total defense, and it?s not as if Ohio State is playing all of its games on ESPNU. Network analysts will start yakking and reporters will start reporting, and all Heacock modesty aside, his name will start popping up in stories around the country.
Would Heacock ever like to become a head coach again?
"No, sir," Heacock said. He thought about the question for a second and laughed. "I just want to beat Northwestern."
He paused again, as though the question had surprised him.
"We?re just really locked in and focused on what we?re doing right now," he said. "I don?t know how anybody would have any time to think about anything else."
Maybe that?s why his defense is so good.
Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.
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Dispatch

Robiskie?s recovery caps OSU victory
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio State?s Ted Ginn Jr., left, said the Buckeyes weren?t bothered by chants of "overrated" from the crowd.


CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? The football and Ohio State?s grip on the top rung of the college football ladder was rolling around on the Memorial Stadium field yesterday with 1:40 to play. Illinois, trailing by seven, had just executed an onside kick that went through the hands of OSU?s Brandon Mitchell. The ball was right in front of coach Jim Tressel.
"I almost jumped out there," Tressel said.
Receiver Brian Robiskie took care of the loose ball for him. It turned out that Robiskie had his eye on it all the way.
"Brandon was right in front of me, I saw it bounce high, go right through his hands, and I think it bounced off of somebody to the left of me, and I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and reached out and grabbed it," Robiskie said.
Illinois was trying to stage a furious comeback against topranked Ohio State, but by the time the Illini got the ball back at their 2-yard line there were just four seconds left. A multilateral play by the Illini was cut short when Derrick McPhearson stepped out of bounds at the Illinois 19-yard line.
An onside kick recovered by the Illini would have made for a more dramatic ending, but "every Thursday, we come out with the hands team (in practice), so when something like that happens, you?ve just got to get the ball," Robiskie said.
Wells benched

Freshman tailback Chris Wells lost his fourth fumble of the season midway through the second quarter, thwarting what was a promising drive to the Illinois 34. It came as Ohio State was up 14-0 and appeared ready to take control. Wells lost the ball without being hit, just as he seemed to be trying to gain a better grip in his left hand.
Starting tailback Antonio Pittman counseled him on the sideline: "I was just telling him, ?Keep your head up. Put it behind you. We?ve got a whole half to go.? "
But Wells spent the rest of the game on the sideline as Tressel stuck with the sure grip of Pittman. Tressel indicated he didn?t plan to make it a permanent benching, though, and reiterated, "We?re going to need (Wells) if we?re going to become the best we?re capable of becoming" on offense.
They?ve heard it before

Ted Ginn Jr. and the rest of the Buckeyes could hear the Illinois partisans? chant of "overrated" near the end of the game and afterward, questioning their position at the top of the polls. Not that it?s anything new, Ginn said.
"Everybody?s been saying it all year, that we shouldn?t be up there ? but we?ve just got to keep our heads tight and play as a team, and just keep moving forward," Ginn said.
"We?ve shown it every week we can be the No. 1 team, and we just came out, had a dogfight, and it helped us more, to see our character and our heart. And we?ll just go back next week and play hard."
Making a choice

Illinois had a shot at making it much closer as it drove from the Ohio State 47 early in the fourth quarter after a short punt. On first down at the Illinois 26, receiver DaJuan Warren took a pitch and then launched a pass toward Jeff Cumberland, who was open for a moment in the right corner of the end zone. But cornerback Malcolm Jenkins and safety Brandon Mitchell plowed into Cumberland, getting a pass interference call.
"I?d rather give up 15 yards than six points," said Mitchell, who then helped force the Illini to settle for a field goal four plays later.
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Dispatch

Zook told his players to wait for onside kick

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? On Thursday, Illinois coach Ron Zook told his players that the upcoming game against Ohio State would come down to an onside kick.
If the players thought Zook was crazy, they didn?t say so.
"It?s a bold prediction, I?ll give you that," Illini defensive back Alan Ball said. "But we believed we could hang with these guys, even if they are the No. 1 team in the country."
Hang they did, almost pulling off an upset.
Ohio State won 17-10 yesterday in Memorial Stadium, but the Illini gave the Buckeyes their biggest scare this season ? and, yes, it did come down to an onside kick, with 1:40 to play.
The ball bounced around, touching the hands of at least one Illinois player, receiver Kyle Hudson, before Ohio State receiver Brian Robiskie recovered it at the Illinois 47-yard line, allowing the Buckeyes to run down the clock.
"That ball was loose," Zook said. "Gosh dang, it was loose and bouncing around, just like you want it. When it bounced over those (OSU players?) heads, I thought for sure we were going to get it."
Zook, in his second season at Illinois, is trying to build the program into a national power. First, he has to get the players to believe in themselves and one another ? thus, the onside kick prediction.
"The wins are going to come," Zook said. "There?s no question about it. There?s not a doubt in my mind. I wanted the guys to know that if we play like we?re capable, we can play with anybody in the country. And we?re getting closer to that every day."
The Illini fell behind 17-0 at halftime, and it seemed as if the Buckeyes were prepared to roll again, much like a 44-0 rout of Minnesota a week earlier.
This was Illinois, after all, which has only two wins this season and has suffered ugly losses to Ohio University, Syracuse and Indiana.
But the second half was a different story.
Illinois limited Ohio State to four first downs, 20 yards rushing on 22 attempts and 29 yards total offense.
In the process, the Illini might have damaged Troy Smith?s Heisman Trophy chances. The Ohio State quarterback completed just 13 of 23 passes for 108 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
"I think Ohio State knows now, after that second half, that we can bring the wood on defense," said Illinois linebacker J Leman, who had 19 tackles.
But they couldn?t quite bring the funk. The ball didn?t bounce their way on the onside kick.
"We came oh-so close," quarterback Tim Brasic said. "It?s not enough if you don?t win, but we gave those guys a pretty good scare."
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Dispatch

OSU defense puts squeeze on Juice
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH



CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? The Ohio State defensive approach yesterday was straightforward: When going against a quarterback nicknamed Juice, it?s best to turn on the juice.
For all four quarters of Ohio State?s 17-10 win over Illinois, the defense played at a high energy level, especially when Illinois freshman Juice Williams was in the game. Jay Richardson and his tag-team defensive end partner Lawrence Wilson especially were on the hunt against the fast and sometimes elusive Williams.
"We knew they had a young quarterback in there, a freshman, maybe unproven, and we knew we had to get after him, try to get some pressure on him, show him some different coverages, hopefully we can force him to maybe make some mistakes," Richardson said.
After being benched from the middle of the third quarter until the middle of the fourth in favor of junior Tim Brasic, Williams returned to launch the Illini on their lone touchdown drive, covering 80 yards. He was knocked out of the game before the Illini reached the end zone, though, on a blitzing hit by linebacker James Laurinaitis, but Rashard Mendenhall?s 3-yard run cut the margin to the final score with 1:40 left.
Brasic also led a short drive, which was set up by a short A.J. Trapasso punt, that resulted in Jason Reda?s 27-yard field goal earlier in the fourth quarter.
But it was obvious from the start that the Buckeyes thought Williams was the primary target. Chasing him was where Wilson was at his best.
"Lawrence is going to be a great player. There was a lot of energy out of Lawrence," Richardson said.
It paid dividends through the first three quarters. Then came the Illinois field-goal drive, though, led by Brasic.
"We kind of had the momentum most of the game, but once it swung, they had it and brought out everything," cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said.
Yet on a day when the OSU offense struggled, the defense held the opponent to 10 points, not much above its nationleading 7.3 average going in.
"We understood Illinois doesn?t have a bad defense," Richardson said. "Being a good defense is being able to help out your offense when they?re struggling a little bit."
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Dispatch

Illinois QB struggles
Yanked freshman might have suffered a broken jaw from hit

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio State?s James Laurinaitis puts a hard hit on Illinois quarterback Juice Williams.


CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? With 4:26 left in the third quarter of a 17-10 loss to Ohio State, Illinois coach Ron Zook replaced freshman quarterback Juice Williams with backup Tim Brasic.
"We just couldn?t get Juice to settle down," Zook said. "And, to be honest, we felt like we were leaving some plays out there on the field. We took him out of the game just to let him catch his breath a little bit."
Brasic led the Illini on two scoring drives, cutting a 17-0 lead to 17-10.
Williams returned to the game late in the fourth quarter, but his night ended in pain after a big hit by OSU linebacker James Laurinaitis.
Williams might have suffered a broken jaw. He was taken for X-rays after the game.
Zook made it clear that Williams, if healthy, is his quarterback.
"There is no quarterback controversy here," he said. "Juice is our quarterback."
Busy night

Illinois middle linebacker J Leman had a career-high 19 tackles, one forced fumble and a sack. He had 3? tackles for minus yardage.
"I went up to J and asked if he was tired," Zook said. "He said, ?No.? And I said, ?Good thing, because you?re not coming out of the game.? I?m like the players. I look at J and I draw strength from him."
Tough bounce

The Illini were clinging to faint hope as it was.
But a 55-yard punt by OSU?s A.J. Trepasso to the Illinois 2 with four seconds left made a miracle comeback that much more unlikely.
"I swear, that rubber we got down there (under the synthetic grass surface) is just too soft," Zook said. "It?s like pillows. We?ve had more punts stop at the 2 than any team in America."
Quick - hitters

Tight end Jeff Cumberland, a Brookhaven graduate, caught four passes for 62 yards. ? Illinois had three sacks, the most against OSU this season. ? Illinois (2-8, 1-5) won?t go to a bowl game for a fifth straight season. "We should be bowling," defensive back Alan Ball said. "No reason we lost to some of those teams we lost to earlier this season. No reason."
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DDN

Ohio State 17 | Illinois 10
Smith, Buckeyes find Illini won't go down without a fight

Illinois scores 10 points in the fourth quarter and limits Ohio State's offensive stars.


By Doug Harris
Staff Writer

Sunday, November 05, 2006

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith spent more time on his back than an auto mechanic, having been blasted repeatedly by an inspired Illinois defense Saturday.
But while the No. 1 Buckeyes may have had their image tarnished in a 17-10 victory ? they gained just 29 yards in the second half and needed to recover an onside kick to end the suspense ? Smith remained unbowed.
Asked if that was the most punishment he's endured this season, he grinned and said, "I've been hit a lot in practice."
But no OSU foe had inflicted as much damage as the Illini did. Smith was sacked three times and hit on at least six other occasions.
The Buckeyes (10-0, 6-0 Big Ten), who hadn't allowed a team to come within 17 points of them this season, were outgained, 233-224, and didn't look at all like the Big Ten's top scoring offense (35.9 points per game).
"They did a great job," said Smith, who finished a pedestrian 13-of-23 passing for 108 yards and one interception. "But toughness is one key to anyone becoming a great player. ... There were times where I had to dig down deep and understand that this is where I want to be and this is the situation I want to be in. And I'm gonna have to take some of these hits to stay in the game."
The Illini (2-8, 1-5) spotted OSU a 17-0 lead and didn't cross midfield until there were less than 12 minutes left, making their late surge all the more startling.
"Our offense struggled, and our defense did a great job until the fourth quarter," OSU cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. "But I think this was a good thing. It's humbling. This helps us out. We'll come off Cloud Nine and know we can get beat by anyone."
Stat of the game
Junior tailback Antonio Pittman rushed a career-high 32 times for a meager 58 yards. The Buckeyes, who were missing left tackle Alex Boone (knee injury), tallied just 116 yards on the ground.
Quote, unquote
"It was a Big Ten victory on the road ? that's huge," OSU coach Jim Tressel said. "Championships are won with tough wins on the road in a conference like ours."

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DDN

Buckeye defenders take tight game as positive


By Kyle Nagel
Staff Writer

Sunday, November 05, 2006


CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? The Ohio State football team's defense was rolling through three quarters. The toughest group in the country to score against had allowed zero points and 100 total yards to Illinois.
"Next thing you know," said OSU defensive end Jay Richardson, "they're making a surge."
Illinois closed the game with 10 points and 133 yards in the final quarter in a desperate attempt to upset the country's top team. But despite the fourth-quarter holes, as the OSU offense struggled mightily to move the ball, the Buckeyes defense showed again Saturday that opposing teams will have to scrap to put points on the board.
Illinois did it Saturday, using a Jason Reda 27-yard field goal with 8:54 left to break the shutout and a 3-yard run from Rashard Mendenhall with 1:40 left to cut the deficit to 17-10.
It was a challenge, OSU defenders said, that they needed.
"At times, it can be bad because people start panicking once it's a close game," said linebacker Marcus Freeman. "We're glad we got this in us because we know we're going to have two close games coming up. We have to be able to handle that adversity."
OSU entered the game No. 1 nationally in scoring defense, giving up an average of 7.3 points per game. Some others ranked in the Top 10 didn't fare as well this week: Michigan (4th, 11.6) allowed 26 points to Ball State, Florida (6th, 12.3) gave up 19 points to Vanderbilt and Louisville (7th, 12.6) and West Virginia (8th, 12.7) beat on each other for a combined 78 points in Louisville's Thursday night victory.
The Buckeyes gave up greater than their average, but less than the weekly team goal of 13 points. In a close game, the defense sped and tackled while the offense gained just 224 yards, a season low.
"We look forward to that," OSU defensive tackle David Patterson said. "We like when the pressure's put on us and we have to step up."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or [email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

Illini fans celebrate close loss to Bucks



Sunday, November 05, 2006

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? The section of orange-shirted University of Illinois students began the chant just as their Illini football team scored to cut the deficit to seven points.
"Over-rated," they chanted. "Over-rated."
If you were just walking into the stadium in the final two minutes Saturday night, you would've thought Illinois had pulled off the upset of the season against No. 1 Ohio State, as long as you didn't look at the scoreboard. In the end, it said the Buckeyes won the game, 17-10, preserving their undefeated season and place atop the nation's elite. But the atmosphere didn't show it.
The Illini, those who dominated Ohio State in the fourth quarter like no team has this season, fell to 2-8 and 1-5 in the Big Ten. Their fans loved it.
A lowly team taking a national championship contender nearly to the wire? Who does that sound like? Oh yeah, No. 2 Michigan edged 3-7 Ball State, 34-26, earlier in the day.
So what should we take from this, that the two teams heading to a Nov. 18 game that will almost surely decide who goes to the national championship game had lousy performances against two teams with a combined five wins?
That sometimes, when you're the top two teams, players are more excited to play you than vice versa.
These are still, without question, the country's two best.
"What does it say that we got taken against the wall?" said OSU coach Jim Tressel. "Everybody can get taken against the wall."
? The No. 1 story line listed in The (Champaign) News-Gazette on for Saturday's game was "Will the crowd top 50,000?" Imagine wondering that about an Ohio State home game.
That's an example of the large divide between the top and the bottom of the Big Ten. You've got three of the nation's top four teams in Division I-A average attendance ? No. 1 Michigan (110,137), No. 2 Penn State (107,683) and No. 4 Ohio State (104,994) ? along with No. 53 Illinois (41,300), No. 73 Indiana (31,521) and No. 83 Northwestern (24,650) in the same standings.
By the way, OSU scarlet covered at least a third of the stadium, if not more.
And, yes, 53,351 people showed up.
? Let's talk for a second about the Bowl Championship Series. Should an undefeated Louisville play for the national championship? Absolutely not. Should there be an Ohio State-Michigan rematch in the national title game? No way.
Hypothetically, if the season ended today, what about this playoff bracket: No. 1 seed Ohio State vs. No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 7 Southern California, No. 3 Florida vs. No. 6 Texas, and No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 5 Auburn. Don't tell me that wouldn't be more fun.
? Maturity of a quarterback? When OSU quarterback Troy Smith was flagged for intentional grounding late in the first half, Tressel was yapping to the official along the sideline. Smith gently grabbed Tressel by the elbow and eased him away from the, um, discussion to call the next play.
Smith then went out and completed a 7-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr. to set up an Aaron Pettrey 50-yard field goal for a 17-0 halftime lead.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

osu notes
Bouncing onside kick finally corralled by Robiskie


By Doug Harris
Staff Writer

Sunday, November 05, 2006

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? The Ohio State football team had already been warned once for a sideline violation, having been detected creeping too close to the field. But coach Jim Tressel almost committed a blatant violation of the rule when he saw an onside kick bounding his way.
After cutting the Buckeyes' lead to 17-10 with 1:40 to go, Illinois kicker Jason Reda sent a chopper into a mass of humanity that ultimately was recovered by OSU receiver Brian Robiskie.
"I almost jumped out there," Tressel said. "It looked like it was available too long. It seemed to me that (Robiskie) was the umpteenth person to touch it. ... We were lucky to get it."
OSU's Brandon Mitchell tried to stab it on a bounce, but he looked like a Detroit Tigers pitcher fielding a grounder.
"The first thing I saw was they were lining up to kick it to our side," Robiskie said. "Brandon was right in front of me. I saw it bounce high and right through his hands. It bounced off someone to the left of me, and I saw it out of the corner of my eye and reached out and grabbed it."
The Buckeyes killed all but 18 seconds before punting. A.J. Trapasso's boot was downed at the 2-yard line, leaving the Illini only 4 seconds. They tried a short completion and a couple of laterals before a player stepped out of bounds.
Wells fumbles again
OSU freshman Chris "Beanie" Wells fumbled for the fourth time this season ? and third time in four games ? while rumbling toward a big gain in the second quarter. And this one was the most egregious of all.
The ball squirted out of his left arm with no one around him. When Illinois pounced on it, he trudged to the bench and slammed his helmet on the ground.
He didn't play again, finishing with 21 yards and a TD on four carries.
"It looked like he was cutting back and made a nice cut and was going to gain a bunch of yards," Tressel said. "No one was more disappointed than him. But the guys were consoling him and working with him. I've said it before, we're going to need Beanie to be the best team we can be."
Wells, who didn't speak to the media, has four of the Buckeyes' 11 turnovers this season on just 86 carries. Starter Antonio Pittman has gone 195 totes this year and 16 games overall without losing a fumble, although he nearly coughed one up in the fourth quarter (teammate Steve Rehring retrieved it).
"You can't worry about that," Pittman said of Wells' gaffe. "He's only a freshman. He's got a long way to go. When I first got here, I had trouble holding on to the ball. As time goes by, he'll put that behind him."
Pettrey bombs one
Redshirt freshman Aaron Pettrey walloped a 50-yard field goal in the final minute of the first half to give the Buckeyes a 17-0 lead.
He's made eight of his last nine attempts (his only miss a 53-yarder against Penn State) and has two from 50 yards or more.
Buckeye bits
? Linebacker James Laurinaitis notched his fifth interception of the season and had a team-high 11 tackles.
? OSU drove 80 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown on the game's opening possession. On fourth-and-1 at the 2, Wells bulled his way into the end zone.
? OSU defensive end Lawrence Wilson forced a fumble after tackling receiver Derrick McPhearson on a screen. Linebacker Curtis Terry recovered it at the Illinois 38-yard line, and the Buckeyes scored eight plays later.
? OSU defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock returned to action after sitting out last week with a concussion. He rotated with senior Joel Penton and had two tackles.
? OSU has 17 straight wins, the longest streak in the nation.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or [email protected].

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Telegraph-Forum

Scrappy Illini give Buckeyes fits
By JON SPENCER
For The Advocate

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Four years ago, when Ohio State's run to a national championship nearly veered off course in this same wind chamber of near-horrors, coach Jim Tressel looked at his football team at the start of overtime and said, "Isn't this fun?" On Saturday, with a perfect season and 17-game winning streak riding on an improbable onside kick in the final two minutes, Tressel wasn't saying much of anything.
He couldn't because his heart was in his throat. "I almost jumped out there," Tressel said, reliving how the ball squirted through the hands of Brandon Mitchell before landing in Brian Robiskie's clutches to preserve a 17-10 victory over 2-8 Illinois.

"(The ball) looked like it was available too long. It seemed like Robiskie was the umpteenth guy to touch it."
The Illini ruined OSU's bid for a second straight shutout in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled off the upset of the year on a day when No. 2 Michigan squeaked past Ball State and No. 7 Florida barely survived Vanderbilt.
"I don't know what being an 'overwhelming favorite' does for us," said Tressel, whose Buckeyes had not won by less than 17 points before Saturday. "It doesn't spot us any points or give us any first downs. What does it mean to get taken to the wall? Everybody gets taken to the wall."
For most of the game, Memorial Stadium seemed like a morgue. The Illini didn't cross midfield until the 11:21 mark of the fourth quarter. After taking the opening kickoff 80 yards in 14 plays, OSU's offense wasn't much better.
The Buckeyes (10-0, 6-0 Big Ten) basically shut down after converting a turnover into a one-yard TD run by Antonio Pittman. That made it 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Things finally got exciting -- a little too exciting -- after the Illini capitalized on a pass interference call against Malcolm Jenkins in the end zone to kick a 27-yard field goal with 8:54 left.
Blue and orange fireworks exploded over the stadium. Chip-shot field goals are usually as good as it gets in Champaign.
But the real show was just beginning. OSU dodged a couple of bullets when guard Steve Rehring recovered a fumble by Pittman and James Laurinaitis made a leaping interception -- one play after Troy Smith was picked off for only the third time this season on a deflected pass at the Illinois 35.
The toddling Illini, a team loaded with freshmen and sophomores, didn't know enough to quit. Tim Brasic, who replaced ineffective rookie quarterback Juice Williams late in the third quarter, drove his team 80 yards in 10 plays, capped by Rashard Mendenhall's 3-yard run with 1:40 left.
Just like that, the game suddenly came down to Robiskie making the biggest catch of his career.
"I told the guys on Thursday that it's going to come down to an onside kick," Illini coach Ron Zook said. "It's a critical, critical play. When I saw the ball in the air, I really thought we were going to get it, but it wasn't meant to be."
Robiskie has caught enough bullets from Smith this season. A knuckleball was probably a refreshing sight.
"I saw it bounce off somebody to my left and then I grabbed it," he said. "(Adversity) is something we haven't seen, but we prepare for it every week. Every Thursday we have 'hands team' drills."
Apparently, Chris Wells needs to participate. Untouched, he fumbled for the third time in four weeks and fourth time this season with the Buckeyes inside Illini territory and looking to pad their 14-0 lead.
But it was almost easy to gloss over his troubles on a brisk afternoon when the Illini outgained the Buckeyes 233-224 and held their heralded visitor to 29 yards in the second half.
Every inch was hard to come for Smith and Pittman. Smith, the Heisman Trophy frontrunner, was sacked three times (severely cutting into his 60 yard rushing) and mustered only 108 yards on his 13 completions. Pittman was held to a paltry 58 yards on a career-high 32 carries.
For once, when the four OSU captains talked about "taking their hats off" to the opponent in their opening post-game statements, they weren't just empty words practically scripted by their coach.
"We have an understanding that every Big Ten road game is going to be a battle," Smith said. "I'm a realist. Things are not always as good or bad as it seems. But we got through it. A win is a win, whether we score 50 or 17. "There's always going to be critics and naysayers, but my team is 10-0 right now."