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

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Instant Analysis: Ohio State-Texas

CFN.com

Instant Analysis: Ohio State-Texas

By Matt Zemek
Staff Columnist
Posted Sep 9, 2006

In a game where Troy Smith made himself the 2006 version of Vince Young, James Laurinaitis literally stole the show for the Ohio State Buckeyes.


On a night when the defending national champions wished they still had their former quarterback, it was a linebacker not named A.J. Hawk who gained revenge for the school that lost to the Longhorns the year before in Columbus. With a forced fumble near his own goal line and an early second-half interception, Laurinaitis robbed Texas of both points and momentum on a night when both commodities were precious beyond compare.

Ohio State's in the driver's seat for a ticket to Glendale on Jan. 8 because Laurinaitis made the defining kinds of plays that are impossible to ignore or forget in a showdown this significant. Sure, Troy Smith was solid, but if you're analytically honest, you have to hold Laurinaitis as the man who was primarily responsible for OSU's 24-7 win in Austin. Recall Seattle Seahawk cornerback Kelly Herndon's interception return in Super Bowl Forty from this past February? That was a dramatic pendulum-swing, a play that turned an emerging Pittsburgh Steeler rout into a very close game. One team's score turned into seven points the other way, a 10 to 14-point swing on a single snap. It's hard for a play to come any bigger in a huge game on a grand stage: that much should be obvious.

With that in mind, then, it has to be Laurinaitis, not Smith or Anthony Gonzalez, who should be the MVP of this contest. His strip of Billy Pittman at the OSU 1 enabled the game to remain scoreless in the first quarter. By preventing his team from falling behind, Laurinaitis enabled the game to develop to Jim Tressel's liking... and to Mack Brown's dissatisfaction. Had the Horns been able to attain a touchdown lead, they would have stood a much better chance of running the clock to build the game around their ground attack, keeping Troy Smith off the field in the process. Laurinaitis made sure OSU would play this game tied or in the lead throughout the duration. The significance of that play can't and shouldn't be forgotten.

But Laurinaitis wasn't done. With Texas very much within striking distance at the half--and therefore able to maintain its basic game plan--the Buckeyes needed to gain a two-possession lead if they wanted to feel really good about their chances in what was, for them, a pressure-packed road game. As the second half commenced, Mr. Laurinaitis did exactly what the Bucks needed, and exactly when they needed it: he picked off Texas quarterback Colt McCoy--a gallant young quarterback who, through no fault of his own, was in over his head in this game--to set up a field goal and a 10-point Buckeye lead. From then on, the homestanding Longhorns never really made a forceful or credible response. A long field goal, if made, could have brought Texas within seven (17-10) in the fourth quarter, but when that kick swerved wide right, it was all over but the shouting, and the Buckeyes gained a nice combo platter of national championship leverage served with a steaming hot side dish of revenge.

Talk about Troy Smith and Anthony Gonzalez all you want--this just in: they're pretty good--but if you want to point to the first, second and third reasons why Ohio State toppled the defending champs, just look at the white-shirted linebacker with number 33 on his back. Laurinaitis deserves all
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cnnsi.com

Study in maturity

Ohio State's composure biggest key in bucking 'Horns


AUSTIN, Texas -- The breathless Columbus reporter couldn't get the words out fast enough to postgame hero Anthony Gonzalez. "Career game." "National television." "Defending national champions." The writer wanted to know just how excited the Ohio State receiver must feel following his monumental performance in the top-ranked Buckeyes' 24-7 win over No. 2 Texas.
Gonzalez, a mellow, philosophical guy and aspiring Rhodes Scholar candidate, responded with about the same amount of liveliness as a construction worker who just clocked out after a double shift. "The thing is ... I try to stay relaxed in games like this," said the fourth-year junior. "I try not to get caught up in the score and the stats."
Judging by said stats, you would have guessed college football's first regular-season No. 1 vs. No. 2 game in nearly a decade was another down-to-the-wire thriller. As expected, the Buckeyes, behind star QB Troy Smith and receivers Gonzalez and Ted Ginn Jr., held a significant edge in passing. The Longhorns, as was also somewhat expected, overpowered OSU's rebuilt defense with their prolific running game. The total yardage (Ohio State 348, Texas 326) was nearly identical. The time of possession (Texas 30:26, Ohio State 29:34) was nearly identical. The third-down conversions (Texas 3-of-10, Ohio State 3-of-11) were nearly identical.
So how, then, did the Buckeyes manage to control this much-anticipated showdown nearly the entire way?
One word: composure. Ohio State, the visiting team with the veteran quarterback and the ultra-relaxed receiver, had it in abandon. Texas, the home team with the freshman quarterback and depleted secondary, did not. The Buckeyes walked into a hostile stadium and did not commit a single turnover. The 'Horns committed two particularly back-breaking ones. In a matchup of two evenly talented teams, that discrepancy was all it took for Jim Tressel's team to establish itself as the official 2006 national championship frontrunner and for Mack Brown's team to unofficially surrender its thrown.
"This was a big next step [in the championship hunt]," said Tressel. "Our defense came in and caused some turnovers. Our offensive line did a nice job of protecting and Troy made a lot of good decisions ... All in all, we did not make many mistakes."
Though not a single point had been scored and more than 47 minutes remained to be played, the Buckeyes set the tone for the evening with one monumental play late in the first quarter. With QB Colt McCoy looking like James Street on the option pitches and tailbacks Selvin Young and Jamaal Charles slashing through OSU's defense, the 'Horns were one yard away from what seemed like a certain touchdown when linebacker James Laurinaitis, one of those nine new Buckeye defensive starters, jarred the ball loose from Texas receiver Billy Pittman. Cornerback Donald Washington scooped it up and ran all the way to the 50.
Just five players later, Ohio State was in the end zone. In what would become a recurring theme during the first half, Gonzalez, the successor to departed star Santonio Holmes at split end for the Buckeyes, juked his way past confused UT cornerback Brandon Foster (who was himself filling in for suspended starter Tarell Brown) to catch a perfectly placed 14-yard Smith touchdown pass.
Texas would recover to tie the score with 1:55 left in the first half, but once again Smith and the Buckeyes' offense flexed their veteran poise, producing a five-play, 66-yard drive capped by Smith's 29-yard touchdown strike to Ted Ginn Jr., who streaked past Texas' top cornerback, Aaron Ross, like he was standing still. By halftime, Smith had already completed 13-of-19 attempts for 219 yards, Gonzalez had already caught seven passes for 122 yards and OSU had already regained the momentum after less than two minutes of game action had passed.
Clearly, the 'Horns missed Brown's presence in the secondary, but don't sell Smith, Ginn, Gonzalez and Co. short. They've made a lot of secondaries look bad going back to last season.
"They were playing their safeties high, and they didn't really have a guy over me," Gonzalez said of UT's defense. "I kind of had free reign [in the first half], but they adjusted."
Indeed, OSU's offensive production in the second half was far more modest, but once again, a crucial mistake allowed it to gain more breathing room. In what had to be every UT fan's worst nightmare scenario, McCoy, who went 19-of-32 for 154 yards in his second career start, threw an ugly interception right to Laurinaitis on the third play of the second half. He returned it 29 yards to set up a 31-yard Greg Johnson field goal, and though nearly a full half remained, it was clear the 'Horns were going to have trouble catching up. McCoy, who exhibited plenty of toughness in shaking off one brutal hit after another, was clearly flustered, and would never get back in a groove. The Buckeyes turned to their running game in the fourth quarter and eventually added one more touchdown with 6:31 remaining.
"Their ability to make plays at the end of drives and out inability to make plays at the end of drives was a difference," said Texas coach Brown. "Ohio State is a great football team. They deserve to be No. 1."
The pollsters agreed with Brown even before Saturday's game, instilling the Buckeyes as the runaway No. 1 team despite such inexperience on defense. OSU is hardly the only team that's looked good through the season's first two weeks (see USC, Notre Dame, Auburn et al.), but clearly it's also made the biggest statement so far. The Buckeyes are hardly flawless -- they gained just 79 rushing yards against Texas while allowing 172 -- but they're also not going to face too many foes as tough as this one.
"We made some mistakes," said Laurinaitis, the Buckeyes' breakout defensive star with 13 tackles, two forced fumbles and the aforementioned interception. "But we never panicked at all tonight. That's a big testament to how quickly this [defense] is growing up, because no one ever got nervous."
If OSU's defense was calm, one's got to believe the offense -- well, at least Gonazlez -- was borderline comatose in the huddle. It's hard to believe that only a year ago, Smith was a still largely raw backup fresh off suspension. Though he hates the comparison, the fifth-year senior is this year's version of Vince Young, not because he's a mobile quarterback (strangely, Brown said afterward, "We didn't think Troy would pass this much; we concentrated on his rush) but because he's become a model leader. In his past four games, he's now led a last-minute comeback at Michigan, led a Fiesta Bowl explosion against Notre Dame and knocked off the defending national champions.
"Troy was his typical self -- that's what we've come to expect of him," said Gonzalez, who notes that Smith isn't the only offensive star who's grown up. "This week, we watched a tape from two years ago, and it's strange to think how much you've matured in just two years. It's almost like you're not watching yourself on that tape."
One has to wonder whether Tressel, the same coach who rode his defense and special teams to the '02 national title, watches the wide-open '06 Buckeyes in amazement that it's his own team on the tape. If OSU is going to add another trophy this year, it may have to do so while bucking the conventional wisdom about running the ball and stopping the run.
After Saturday night's performance, it seems awfully unwise to doubt them.
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playultimate;601914; said:
Colt McCoy is a tough little SOB. The Buckeyes roughed him up pretty good in the second half and he was back on his feet before the camera could even pan back to him most of the time.

I can't wait for the videos of those hits to pop up online.

Did anybody else say to themselves "Here we go again" after settling for a FG (that we missed) on the opening drive? Chris Wells is on this team to pick up 3rd and 3's! I really can't imagine Chris Wells not getting 3 yards if you give him 3rd and 4th downs to do it.
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well I did notice his eyes roll back into his head a cpl times. for a moment after the Richardson hit I thought he was out.
 
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NOTREDAMECHIEF;601922; said:
CONGRAT'S EVERYONE! OSU proved it deserves the number one ranking.

That linebacker ( L??? ) looks to be a big playmaker and was very impressive as was Smith and your WR's.
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Thanks ND! and a "well done" to your team for knocking the snot out of PS
:osu:
 
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Give me a few minutes to get this ready for all of Laurinaitis haters from last week...not a d-1 LBer huh? :slappy:

EatCrow.jpg
 
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lvbuckeye;601749; said:
holy smokes, i'm rewatching it and Troy just overthrew Teddy on a sure 70 yard TD... i didn't think that it was possible to overthrow Ginn... Troy has the biggest arm in Ohio State history...
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honestly, I had been a little worried about Troy underthrowing teddy (in the past, most of teddy's fly route TDs required him to slow down a little... which is dangerous against Texas dbs).

That Ginn td was a thing of beaty, step for step.

It's a great day to be a buckeye! Bring on the 9/23 beatdown with tons of great recruits watching!
 
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A few thoughts from last night:

1: Pizza at Minelli's is pretty good
2: The chicks working at Expressway are really cute
3: SIMV is a fucking pimp
4: jwins and his fiance(wife?) are really great people.
5: Cold beer is good.
6: Shots after a Buckeye Touchdown are even better
7: I have to do this more often


Great win for our boys and our program.
 
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There is nothing sweeter than revenge, especially against such a storied program as Texas. We simply were the better team last night.

I was very impressed with our defense last night.

All in all, we made a very good football team look very average, on their home turf. That is one of the calling cards that you've got a special football team. Enjoy the ride this year folks, I think it's going to be a fun season. :)
 
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