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Game Thread Game Two: #1 Ohio State 24, #2 Texas 7 (9/9/06)

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CPD

Next for OSU: Texas

Sunday, September 03, 2006



He's still a freshman quarterback, but Texas signal- caller Colt McCoy got at least a taste of success under his belt before Ohio State comes to Austin next week, completing 12 of 19 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday's 56-7 win over North Texas.

Ohio State and Texas meet at 8 p.m. Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Minus star Vince Young, but returning 16 starters from last season's national champions, the Longhorns flexed some muscle on defense, limiting North Texas to 95 total yards. Texas also got a big game from Buckeye arch enemy Limas Sweed, who caught the game-winning 24-yard touchdown from Young with 2:37 to play in last season's 25-22 Texas win in Columbus. Sweed caught five passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

And now everything's out of the way for the game the Buckeyes have been waiting a year for.

"We all think about that loss," OSU safety Jamario O'Neal said Saturday. "That loss, it sticks with us, because it was a great game."

- Doug Lesmerises
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Cincy

Buckeyes now get deep to heart of the matter
BY DUSTIN DOW | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS - The states of Ohio and Texas are separated by some 750 miles. But the passion for college football in both states is virtually indistinguishable when the top teams in both states are ranked in the top five and headed toward an early-season showdown.

And so it was that as Ohio State opened its season Saturday with a 35-12 victory against Northern Illinois, analysis of that game gave way soon enough to discussing the next opponent - the University of Texas - not that anyone hadn't been thinking of the upcoming road trip already.

"It's always on your mind," said Ohio State running back Antonio Pittman, who rushed for 111 yards Saturday. "Everywhere you go, someone is going to try to talk to you about it."

On Saturday in Austin, Texas, Ohio State will show up ranked No. 1.
Texas, a 56-7 winner against North Texas on Saturday, probably will be No. 2 or 3.

The winner will be inherit secure positioning for a spot in the Bowl Championship Series title game in a sport in which major success early in the season can translate well in the rankings for teams that continue to win.

"It's going to tell it like it was last year for the championship," said Ohio State receiver Ted Ginn Jr. "Who's going to go and who's not."

It was this game last season at Ohio Stadium in which Texas became the contender to challenge Southern California for the national title. The Longhorns, ranked second the entire regular season, defeated then-No. 4 Ohio State here and won their title against USC in the Rose Bowl in January.

Twelve months later, the OSU-Texas rematch could provide an even more definitive answer as to which school can claim unofficial bragging rights as the country's best college football team for the moment. The fortuitously timed two-year series has produced consecutive matchups with title implications as the teams have ascended to the top of the sport concurrently. Ohio State won its seventh national championship in 2002, and Texas' title last season was its fourth.

"It just shows how college football is," said OSU defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock. "You match up two powerhouse teams, it means a lot."

Of course, even a loss is unlikely to drop either team out of the title picture, considering the current rankings of both teams.

"But it's really big," Pitcock said, lamenting the 25-22 loss to Texas in 2005, "because I don't want to go out 0-2 against them."

Despite entering the season as the top-ranked team in the country, Ohio State has plenty of uncertainty about its own strengths and weaknesses.

The defense, for instance, returns just two starters from last season and yielded 171 rushing and 114 receiving yards to Northern Illinois' Garrett Wolfe Saturday. Ohio State's kicking game is also unproven after both kickers, Aaron Pettrey and Ryan Pretorius, missed field-goal attempts.

The offense, led by quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Troy Smith, dominated the first quarter but scored just seven points after halftime.

And the light defensive pressure Smith faced in firing three touchdown passes - two of them to Ginn - is hardly going to be so forgiving when the Buckeyes face the Longhorns on the road.

"We have to show that last year was a fluke," Ginn said of the Texas loss, in which he caught just two passes for 9 yards.

But OSU coach Jim Tressel - who claimed Saturday to have not watched any Texas film - was encouraged with the win and how it set his team up for the trip to Austin.

"We took a step today," Tressel said. "The next step is higher, and we understand that."

E-mail [email protected]
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Texas

From what i saw UNT should just take up quilting. I had to laugh at their DB's. No wonder texas /McCoy/receivers looked so good. They had at least two 4 yard plays that went for td's and the Db's werent even close.
In other words that game was so easy it was hard to tell just what Texas has. But dont start thinking McCoy is the next coming.
 
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xrayrandy said:
That's funny, the N Ill. DBs were even worse, and I thought the front 7 for UNT was much better than N. Ill.
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Any stats to back that up? Just curious because I watched both games and it seemed like the UNI guys at least had a pulse. Not to mention that OSU had as many points in the first 16 minutes as Texas had in the first half before they shut down offensively in preparation for your Longhorns. I do appreciate Mack going for it on fourth down ahead 42-7 because it was that subsequent score that covered the spread.

From what I saw Northern Illinois was a better team than North Texas in every facet. There is more than one reason why Northern Illinois is favored to win the MAC and North Texas is predicted to fight for the Sunbelt Conference basement.
 
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