Game Thread THE GAME: #1 Ohio State 42, #2 Michigan 39 (11/18/06)

[Best Buckeye]

The Game now showing on ESPN Classic.

Well, I suppose I can watch it again

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Wake of OSU big win: No rematch, please
Sunday, November 19, 2006
SUNDAY SPECIAL BY TODD PORTER

Count ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit among those who do not want to see an Ohio State-Michigan rematch.

For what it?s worth, we agree. The Buckeyes and Wolverines put their chips on the table Saturday in a winner-take-all game.
?The system is what the system is,? Herbstreit said. ?I think USC has put themselves in position now if they can win out. No matter what we all think, or want, USC should go to the championship.
?Notre Dame, if they upset USC at the Coliseum, they will move up because it?s Notre Dame, and voters will put them up there. I will be shocked if there is a rematch.?
Notre Dame may get poll votes from writers, but The Associated Press poll is not a factor in the BCS formula. The Irish would get help in the Harris Poll, which is one third of the equation.
Head Coaches Jim Tressel and Lloyd Carr avoided talk of a rematch like the plague. Most of the players did as well.
ADOPTION TICKETS SELL
Ken and Kristie Sigler got the going rate for their tickets, 10 rows from the field, for the Ohio State-Michigan game. The Siglers auctioned their tickets to raise money for their planned adoption of a Guatemalan child. The couple live in Columbus. Kristie, by virtue of being a graduate student, was able to buy season tickets.
There is a twist to the sale.
After eBay removed their auction because they didn?t follow its charitable regulations, the Siglers used ticket broker Dream Seats in Columbus. The tickets were sold on dreamseats.com. The company did not take a commission.
An anonymous couple bid $2,000 for the seats, then told Dream Seats to return the tickets to the Siglers.
?Yes, we?re going to the game,? Kristie said Friday night. ?I don?t think we?re going to sell them, either. ... The publicity we received from this has been overwhelming.?
The Siglers graduated from Louisville High School. Kristie graduated from Malone College and her husband was a residence director there.
They?re also selling cookbooks to raise money for the adoption. Information on that can be found at:
http://cookbooksforsale.com/displayCookbook.php?id=75591
SCALPERS
Tickets Friday night for the OSU-Michigan game varied by location. Midfield seats in the A-deck were as high as $1,200. Nose-bleeds were going for $500 to $600 according to one scalper on Lane Avenue outside the Varsity Club.
BEST SIGN
The funniest sign we saw a fan holding on a relatively easy drive from the eastern tip of Franklin County to Ohio Stadium read, ?I challenge LeMarr Woodley to a Scrabble contest.?
Woodley, by the way, doesn?t have to win a Scrabble contest. He?s a sure bet for the first round in the NFL Draft.
MORE CLARETT BLAME
While Ohio State fans are quick to throw Maurice Clarett under the bus for his off-the-field issues, they can?t forget how important he was to Ohio State?s 2002 national title season. With that having been said, here?s one more thing OSU fans can hold against him.
If Clarett had not gone to OSU from Warren Harding High School, the Buckeyes might have had Ted Ginn Jr. opposite of Mario Manningham on Saturday. Why? Manningham and Prescott Burgess are friends. Burgess, we?re told, strongly disliked Clarett, which is the reason OSU was not an option.
Had Burgess come to OSU, minus Clarett, Manningham might have followed. Of course, that means you have to take away the 2002 national championship because the Buckeyes don?t win it without Clarett.
MORGAN?S FAST START
Some McKinley fans might?ve arrived home in time from the Bulldogs? football win over Whitmer on Friday night to watch former McKinley basketball standout Raymar Morgan on ESPN.
Morgan is having the best start of a true freshman in Spartan basketball history. Michigan State lost in a controversial ending to Maryland in the title game of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament at Madison Square Garden.
The 6-foot-7 Morgan scored 13 points. He scored 18 and led the Spartans in the semifinal game. He is the first freshman to score double digits in his first four games. He is at five and counting.
HOOVER GIRLS RANKED
When the USA Today?s girls high school basketball rankings came out Thursday, North Canton Hoover coach Paul Wackerly Jr. wasn?t stunned his team was ranked. He had talked with the newspaper in the summer. He thought something might be in the works.
The Vikings are ranked No. 17 in the country by the paper. They are believed to be the first girls team from Stark County to be ranked in USA Today?s preseason rankings.
?I don?t really like it, but in a way it?s good,? Wackerly said. ?It gives you credibility as a program. It?s based more on past years than anything else.
?I?d say it?s a bull?s-eye, and it can be a dangerous thing for both players and parents.?
Wackerly has had ?the talk? with players about the ranking. Basically he told them, sure, there is potential for great things.
But they haven?t done anything this season to warrant the ranking.
?I told them it was good they got recognized,? Wackerly said. ?I also said, it means nothing because we haven?t done nothing. In my opinion, what we?ve done in the past is OK, but the last couple of years we have not gotten back to the big house (state tournament). So, based on that, I question the whole ranking myself. If we?d been in the final four a couple of times since 2002, that would be another story.?
The Vikings won the 2002 state title when they beat Cincinnati St. Ursula, 58-40.
BLOCKBUSTER GAME
Perhaps one of the reasons USA Today liked Hoover was a Dec. 9 game it will play against Christ the King, one of the best teams in the country from Queens, N.Y. Christ the King has won two USA Today poll titles the last two years, went 30-0 last year and has a 57-game winning streak. It is ranked No. 3.
But Wackerly isn?t concerned about that game now. His team opens against Wadsworth this weekend.
?Wadsworth beat us by 20 in one quarter last year. To me that?s the game we?ve got to get by,? Wackerly said. ?That?s the first step because they flat-out embarrassed us.?
After playing the Dec. 9 weekend in New York against Christ the King, the Vikings return home to face Ohio power Regina on Dec. 12.
MISSING THE GAME
Wackerly, a big Ohio State fan, didn?t stay home to watch Saturday?s game. He drove to West Virginia to watch his son, Bret, start for Canisius.
?I told him I was coming to that game and he said, ?Isn?t that the same day Ohio State and Michigan play? What, are you stupid?? ?
ANOTHER VIKING AT CANISIUS
Wackerly isn?t the only Hoover graduate who starts at Canisius. Amber Witt, a true freshman, starts for the Griffins? women?s basketball team.
MAGNACCA GETS INVITE
Perry running back Eric Magnacca, only a junior, got a rare invitation by Ohio State to attend Saturday?s game. Magnacca is being looked at as an athlete for now, but he projects as more of a receiver or defensive back at OSU.
Magnacca invited Perry coach John Miller to attend the game with him.
?It was a great gesture on his part,? Miller said.
Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter
at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail:
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Victory puts Buckeyes in title game
Sunday, November 19, 2006
By CHRIS BEAVEN


View more photos

Ohio State running back Antonio Pittman rides on the shoulderS of fans who stormed the field after the Buckeyes defeated Michigan on Saturday to secure a spot in the national championship game in Arizona on Jan. 8. More photos, stories on pages C-1, C-11.​

COLUMBUS - Hype and history came together for one magnificent afternoon of college football Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio State and Michigan, arguably the finest rivalry sports has to offer, turned their 103rd meeting into one that will be talked about for the next 100 years.
With everything imaginable on the line ? pride, the No. 1 ranking, Big Ten title, national title ? the No. 1 Buckeyes and No. 2 Wolverines went back-and-forth for nearly four hours in front of a frenzied crowd eager for exactly this type of game.
When it ended, Ohio State walked away with its third straight win over its fiercest rival ? a 42-39 victory in front of an Ohio Stadium record crowd of 105,708.
?This game is a classic,? said OSU right tackle Kirk Barton, a senior from Perry High School. ?It had everything ... I don?t know how it could get better.?
None of the Buckeyes knew exactly how to explain how they felt, but they tried.
?This is the happiest moment of my life,? senior defensive tackle David Patterson said. ?We put in so much hard work with these guys. ... It just feels so great when you work really hard for something and everybody?s all together.?
Senior quarterback Troy Smith, magnificent again against Michigan, said the feeling, ?of everybody is unparalleled.?
?You wouldn?t be able to understand it unless you ran the gases that we ran, ran the hills that we?ve ran, pushed the sleds that we?ve pushed,? said Smith, the first OSU starting QB to go 3-0 against Michigan since Tippy Dye in 1934-36.
The win puts Ohio State in the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz. It also gives OSU its first outright Big Ten title since 1984.
OFFENSIVE SHOW
To get the win, the Buckeyes outgained the Wolverines, 503-397. The combined 81 points are the most since 1902, when Michigan won, 86-0.
?There were a lot of great playmakers out there today,? Head Coach Jim Tressel said. ? ... It was a fastbreak game the whole time.?
Smith looked like the next Heisman Trophy winner, throwing for 316 yards and four touchdowns. He operated with surgical precision in the first half, completing 21 of 26 passes for 241 yards with three TDs. Seven different Buckeyes had a catch.
?We have got just so many weapons,? said redshirt freshman receiver Brian Hartline from GlenOak High School. ?You can?t game-plan for any one special person. I think any kind of defense is going to have a hard time with that.?
What Ohio State was supposed to have a hard time with was Michigan?s run defense, the nation?s best. The Wolverines entered allowing an average of 29.9 rushing yards per game. Ohio State hit them for 187. OSU junior Antonio Pittman became the first player to surpass 100 yards against Michigan, gaining 139 yards on 18 carries.
The Buckeyes gashed them twice for 50-plus-yard runs. Chris Wells went 52 yards for a TD early in the second quarter to give OSU a 14-7 lead. Pittman broke free for a 56-yard score to increase the lead to 35-24 in the third.
?Those runs will probably be shown forever,? Pittman said. ?They?re a part of history.?
It?s a history that will be less enjoyable for Michigan to savor. The Wolverines, playing one day after the death of their legendary coach Bo Schembechler, showed plenty of heart in rallying from deficits as large as 21 points. But they couldn?t do enough to come all the way back.
?I think we made too many mistakes,? Head Coach Lloyd Carr said. ?We gave up too many big plays. Any time you give up two long runs for touchdowns, and a long pass, it?s going to be hard to beat anybody, but much less a team like we played today.?
BACK AND FORTH EARLY
Michigan landed the first punch, taking the opening kick and driving 80 yards for a score. Quarterback Chad Henne went 4-for-4 for 67 yards, setting up Mike Hart?s 1-yard TD run.
Ohio State came right back with a methodical 14-play, 69-yard drive. Smith dropped back to pass on the first eight plays, mostly quick strikes on the perimeter. Ted Ginn Jr., Terry Robiskie and Hartline each caught short passes before Smith found Roy Hall for 27 yards over the middle on a third-and-16. That put the Buckeyes at the 24. Six plays later, Smith and Hall hooked up for a 1-yard TD pass.
Wells made his first impact on the rivalry the first time on the field. He took a handoff and went 52 yards for a TD with 12:29 left in the half. Michigan linebacker Shawn Crable, a former Massillon star, almost stuffed Wells in the backfield as soon as the freshman got the ball. But Wells spun away, raced through the line.
?I saw him shooting in and I knew I needed to elude him there and get away,? Wells said.
Less than five minutes later, Smith went back to work. A scrambling 39-yard completion to Robiskie ignited a 91-yard TD drive. It ended with Smith faking a handoff to Wells and dropping a 39-yard TD pass into Ginn?s hands.
The teams then exchanged 80-yard TD drives. Smith was 8-for-9 on OSU?s, hitting Gonzalez for an 8-yard TD with 20 seconds left in the half.
Ohio State?s lead was 28-14, but the Wolverines fought back. Three second-half turnovers by OSU helped, and Michigan got as close as 35-31 early in the fourth.
?We didn?t expect it to be easy,? Hartline said.
The Buckeyes responded with one final scoring drive, pushing the lead to 42-31. Smith found Robiskie for a 13-yard TD pass.
Michigan cut the gap to 42-39 with a Henne TD pass and a 2-point conversion with 2:16 left. But Ginn recovered the ensuing on-side kick and the Buckeyes ran out the clock.
?Words can?t express how I feel right now,? Smith said. ?I?ll probably be wearing this smile for the rest of the week.?
Reach Repository sports writer Chris Beaven
at (330) 580-8345 or e-mail [email protected].

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Buckeyes to play for national title
Sunday, November 19, 2006
By Todd Porter REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER


COLUMBUS After avoiding a bum?s rush ? from the fans and the Wolverines ? the Buckeyes finally were together in their locker room. All bodies were present and accounted for after one of the most exciting wins against Michigan was over.
Head Coach Jim Tressel was about to address the team.
POP.
Junior right tackle Kirk Barton opened a $350 bottle of Dom Perignon near his locker. He promised fifth-year seniors T.J. Downing and Troy Smith he would spend ?half a scholarship check? on the expensive bubbly.
Ohio State is going to the national championship game for the second time in four seasons.
?I think Coach Tressel was pretty surprised,? Barton said. ?He just looked at (offensive line coach Jim Bollman) and said, ?Boles, control your linemen.? It?s a mind-set. I told T.J. I was going to get the Dom. You don?t go out and buy it and bring it if you don?t expect to win.?
Ohio State expected to win. The Buckeyes just didn?t expect a shootout. They answered a game-opening score from Michigan with one of their own, then proceeded to outscore the Wolverines, 42-39.
It?s the most points for the Buckeyes in this game since 1968, when they scored 50. It?s the most points the two teams combined to score since an 86-0 Michigan win in 1902.
Seven hours before the game, a sea of humanity was visible along Lane Avenue. They dressed their dogs. They dressed themselves. And then they dressed down Michigan.
When the Michigan marching band played ?Hail to the Victors,? the decibel of boos seemed to equal that of the band.
At the Fairfield Inn in Reynoldsburg, the Cheerios were barely moist when an impromptu OH-IO chant broke out.
The 103rd meeting between college football?s greatest rivals had something for everyone. No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Michigan. An outright Big Ten championship on the line. A trip to Glendale, Ariz., for the BCS National Championship. And Michigan?s inspiration after the passing of legendary Wolverine Coach Bo Schembechler on Friday morning.
?Paul Warfield talked to our guys this morning, and he talked about those championship teams he was on and how they had the ability to focus and concentrate,? Tressel said. ?He really challenged our guys to have that ability amongst all this hoopla, and like they always do, they listened.?
Fans, however, did not. They left Ohio Stadium with chunks and chunks of recently laid sod. The field looked like an unfinished puzzle an hour after the game.
A crush of scarlet-and-gray-clad fans stormed the field to celebrate with their team. Tressel had a slick smile on his face, surrounded by strangers mixed in with his players as they sang ?Carmen Ohio.?
?That was neat,? Barton said. Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: [email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Nearly 40 arrested in Columbus after OSU win
Sunday, November 19, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Police arrested nearly 40 people and dozens of fires were set in student neighborhoods, but authorities reported a relatively smooth night following No. 1 Ohio State's 42-39 win over second-ranked Michigan.


The roughly 40 fires were set mostly on cars and furniture, along with a few in trash bins, said Lt. Dan Ranney of the Columbus fire department. Some were set before the game started, he said.

"Believe it or not, this was pretty mild so far, for as big as this game was," Ranney said.

By early Sunday, police had arrested about 40 people in the student areas around campus, including four for arson, said Sgt. Kevin Corcoran.

The city banned parking, emptied trash bins and removed couches from porches in some neighborhoods near campus in hopes of avoiding a repeat of 2002 when fans rioted after Ohio State beat Michigan en route to the national championship.

Rick Amweg, assistant university police chief, said Ohio State officers had made no arrests following the game as of early Sunday.

"We have had a very quiet night on campus," he said.
The win gave undefeated Ohio State its first outright Big Ten title since 1984 and a spot in the national title game on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz. The Wolverines can still make it to the title game if the Bowl Championship Series standings break their way.

 

[k_stone_69]

It's 9:19 am



and meeeechigan still sucks!!!!

:osu:

 

[smartone]

Early Rankings

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt06.htm

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

One title down, another title to go


Sunday, November 19, 2006 Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus -- He'd beaten Michigan for the third straight season, led his team into the national title game and all but wrapped up the Heisman Trophy. Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith sat down Saturday evening, turned his Big Ten champions hat backward, leaned on his elbows next to Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel and smiled.
"What more can I say, man?"
The senior said it all on the field in a 42-39 OSU victory as the highest-scoring Ohio State-Michigan game in more than 100 years came down, as it had the past three years, to Ohio State's No. 10. A game featuring the defense giving up the fewest points in the nation -- Ohio State -- and the fewest rushing yards in the nation -- Michigan -- turned into a sprint up and down the field at Ohio Stadium, "a fast-break game," as Tressel called it, and Smith ran the anchor leg.
Throwing for 316 yards and four touchdowns, he led a final touchdown drive that put the Buckeyes up by 11 with 5:38 to play when anything other than a touchdown would have left open the door for a Michigan offense on a roll.
"We knew we had to have a long drive," Ohio State guard Steve Rehring said, "and we knew we had to get seven. That's what Troy loves. The pressure was on and Troy came out with a smile. Most guys would be cringing, but he wants to be in that situation."
While Tressel moved to 5-1 against the Wolverines with the win, the first Buckeyes coach to win five of his first six in the rivalry, Smith became just the second OSU quarterback to beat the Wolverines three times. The other was Tippy Dye from 1934 to '36, and the 91-year-old was in Ohio Stadium to watch Smith work his way into history.
"I'll probably be wearing this smile for the rest of the week," Smith said. "Some things didn't go the way we wanted them offensively, and constantly I was being reminded by teammates that we follow you. That meant everything in the world to me."
After completing 29 of 41 passes with one interception and touchdowns to four different receivers, Smith now has 857 passing yards, seven touchdowns and one interception against the Wolverines in his career. And while completing a 12-0 regular season and breaking Ohio State's single-season record with his 30th touchdown pass, he likely secured the seventh Heisman Trophy in Ohio State history.
"I would think he clinched the Heisman Trophy," Tressel said. "I don't think there'd be any question. I think he's the best player in college football."
As Smith insists, he didn't do it by himself. No man could have outscored a Michigan offense that featured 142 rushing yards and three touchdowns from Mike Hart and 267 passing yards and two touchdowns from Chad Henne all alone.
Six different Buckeyes scored touchdowns -- Roy Hall, Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez and Brian Robiskie on receptions, and Chris Wells and Antonio Pittman on simple bursts up the middle that they turned into backbreaking gallops to the end zone. The Wolverines were giving up 30 rushing yards per game and hadn't surrendered a run longer than 25 yards before Wells hit them for 52 yards in the second quarter and Pittman added a 56-yard run in the third.
Other than Pittman's run, the Buckeyes offense totaled minus-2 yards in the third. And when Hart scored from a yard out early in the fourth quarter to cut Ohio State's lead to 35-31, it looked like the Wolverines were grasping the opportunity they'd been waiting three years for.
Then Smith came out smiling, and an 11-play, 83-yard, five-minute drive was kept alive by a huge break when Michigan's Shawn Crable gave Smith a helmet-to-helmet hit on the sideline after a third-down pass had fallen incomplete. Rather than being forced to punt, the Buckeyes had new life just 23 yards from the end zone.

"We didn't do that well on that play, but when I saw that flag I knew we had another opportunity," Rehring said.
Three plays later, Robiskie pulled in a 13-yard TD pass. After Michigan drove for a touchdown and a two-point conversion to cut the lead to three, Ted Ginn Jr. recovered an onside kick.
And it was on to the national championship game in Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 8. But first the Buckeyes wrapped themselves in the glory of this victory.
"These are the things dreams are made of," Buckeyes safety Brandon Mitchell said.
What more can you say?
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email protected], 216-999-4479

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

<H1 class=red>Big game, big win, big thrill

</H1>Scarlet, gray and still No. 1

Sunday, November 19, 2006 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus -- It ended with a circle of gray helmets thrust into the air in victory, red-clad fans streaming out of the stands at Ohio Stadium to join the celebration. The first No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the 103 years of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry had just been given to history, the outcome as over-the-top as the pregame hype.
Ohio State's 42-39 victory Saturday over the Wolverines will send the Buckeyes to the national championship game on Jan. 8, but what mattered in the moment, as running back Antonio Pittman was hoisted onto the shoulders of the mob, was a third straight win in the game that defines every Ohio State season.
"To be in the air in this stadium," said Pittman, one of six Buckeyes to score touchdowns, "that means it's big."
The winner of the contest, promoted as one of the biggest games in college football history, wasn't decided until the Buckeyes recovered a Michigan onside kick with just more than two minutes to play. Quarterback Troy Smith threw four touchdown passes, but no lead was safe, the combined 81 points the most scoring in this game since Michigan won, 86-0, in 1902.
In victory there were hugs and tears, and in the locker room the presentation of the Big Ten trophy. And there will be more, a chance at Ohio State's fifth national title awaiting the 12-0 Buckeyes in Glendale, Ariz.
On this day, before a record crowd of 105,708 in Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes couldn't have asked for anything more.
"It kind of lived up to its billing," Ohio State receiver Anthony Gonzalez said. "Afterward, it was a little bit scary out there with the fans, because you never know what they're going to do. But first, you're so overwhelmed and so excited and proud, really. It's something that you'll never forget for the rest of your life, and I'm honored to be part of it."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email protected], 216-999-4479

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Run to title game starts with well-grounded attack


Sunday, November 19, 2006 Bill Livingston
Plain Dealer Columnist

Columbus - The older running back came to the sideline after running a streak through the Michigan defense. The younger running back, who had gone almost as far earlier, grabbed him and lifted him like an explorer about to plant a flag.
You would not have suspected that junior Antonio Pittman, who was being elevated, and freshman Chris Wells, who was carrying the exuberant burden, are rivals at tailback at Ohio State.
"We were friends before football in Akron. We are friends in college. I love him to death," said Wells, the short-yardage pile-driver at 225 pounds who had gone 52 yards, untouched except for the Wolverine he disdainfully stiff-armed, in the second quarter.
"We challenge each other," said Pittman, the 195-pound inside-out runner who seems forever to be bouncing outside a wall of tacklers and running to starlight. He went 56 yards in the third quarter without a Michigan fingernail nicking him.
"We broke their hearts there," said OSU right tackle Kirk Barton. "No one had run on them, and then we put up 200 yards."
There is no substitute for the Buckeyes' balance on the ground and in the air. There is also no substitute for the unity of purpose coach Jim Tressel has created in a team that seemed to have lost too many great players from last season to reach the heights symbolized by Wells' hoist of Pittman.
"We have just one agenda. It's not just a phrase. Guys on this team have no egos," said Ohio State senior captain David Patterson after the Buckeyes' 42-39 victory in Saturday's instant classic that well could set up a distant replay in the Arizona desert for the national championship.
Ohio State won because of quarterback Troy Smith, of course. The Cleveland Glenville High product made the plays that Heisman Trophy winners get bronzed for. No Buckeye has ever played against Michigan like this. He deserves to have a month named after him, like Reggie Jackson owned October.
But it is also a Sweet November for the Buckeyes because of their depth. No one else in college football, in an era of downsizing in scholarships, in a year of parity in the major conferences, has understudies who emerge from the star incubator and do such prodigious things.
The depth of the receiving corps has been a yearlong theme, so four guys catching a touchdown pass each from Smith was nothing new. Roy Hall Jr. and Brian Robiskie are supporting players for Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez, but only in the sense that the third and fourth plagues of Egypt vividly strengthened the effects of the first pair.
But running against Michigan was supposed to be a choice between the rock and the hard place.
"We blocked them up," said Barton, who was ostentatiously smoking a victory cigar.
Not all of them, though. The fumble-prone Wells, whose development as the short-yardage back Tressel saw as essential for his team to realize its potential, took a handoff at the OSU 48 and found linebacker Prescott Burgess crashing into the way.
Wells' spin move left Burgess as frustrated as he had been when whiffing on Troy Smith during the Buckeyes' thrilling comeback last year in Ann Arbor, Mich. On the other side of the line, Wells found only safety Jamar Adams between him and the goal line, and he shoved him aside.
He did not stumble as he did last week in the open against Northwestern. He did not fumble when defended by yard stripes, as he did at Illinois. Instead, he gave Ohio State a lead, at 14-7, which it would nurse to the finish.
The margin grew to two touchdowns on the next possession, when Smith faked to a leaping Wells at the Michigan 39 on second-and-inches and threw deep to Ginn. "We baited them into thinking we were just going to get a first down. The offensive line did a good job of protecting, Beanie [Wells] did a good job of jumping up there, Troy kept his head down, and Teddy's fast," summarized Tressel.
Pittman's dash came at a more perilous time, with the lead only 28-24 midway through the third quarter. He ran off tackle, popped free like the cork on the $350 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne Barton said he had bought to celebrate, and ran 56 yards untouched. "A legacy run," Pittman called it.
He meant it will live in the lore of The Game, like Wells' will, like their heartfelt embrace will when the Buckeyes tried to touch the stars.
To reach Bill Livingston:
[email protected], 216-999-4672
Previous columns online:
cleveland.com/columns

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

A perfect day for Buckeyes

Whooping fans watch OSU bounce that team up north'
Sunday, November 19, 2006 John Horton
Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus -- They stood together at the doorstep to Ohio Stadium, huddled around a television glowing in the open rear hatch of an SUV. They stood together in the cold night air and counted.
Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . .
Pandemonium.
"This is why I came!" screamed Matt Hardy, 20, of Berea, as he slapped hands and bear-hugged anyone within reach. "You don't get this at home. There's nothing like being here."
And there's nothing like this: Ohio State 42, Michigan 39.
The top-ranked Buckeyes hung on and edged "that team up north," winning the Big Ten title and securing a spot in this year's college football national championship game. Cue the celebration.
Whooping fans immediately hit the streets, hailing the victor with impromptu group spelling: O-H! I- O!
Not a bad ending to a perfect day.
It seemed all of Buckeye Nation descended on Columbus for the game, coming from all corners of the state and far beyond.
A sign on one car said, "We drove 856 miles from FL to watch OSU destroy UM."
Mike Gearhart, 34, dropped $300 to fly in from Dallas. And he did not even have a ticket. He just sat outside and soaked up the atmosphere.
"Worth every penny," he said.
A record crowd of 105,708 crammed into Ohio Stadium for the epic battle, but that was just a fraction of those who descended on Ohio's capital for "The Game" with Ohio State's biggest rival.
Fans turned the streets around campus into frothing rivers of scarlet and gray. The crazed masses stretched from curb to curb and spilled over onto sidewalks and parking lots.
Who was there? Who wasn't. The ESPN crew set up a stage and broadcast live outside the 'Shoe. Old Buckeye legends popped up to wild cheers. The Goodyear blimp floated overhead.
(Note to Goodyear: Blue and gold as colors? Yuk!)
Even Bigfoot made the scene.
Standing 10 feet tall and wearing a gray helmet and scarlet jer sey, the hairy one clomped down Lane Avenue.
From his right claw dangled the last Michigan player to get in his way. Apparently, Wolverines taste great.
The carnival atmosphere surpassed every game in memory for Jack Werner, 83, who wore his team's colors from head to toe.
I don't miss any games," said Werner, a 1948 Ohio State grad and season-ticket holder who lives outside Toledo. "And this here's the biggest crowd I've ever seen. Ever."
They got what they wanted, too.
Well, except for those folks who made the drive down from Michigan. Those who arrived blue left blue.
"I was hoping for a better outcome," said Tom Frazier, 46, of Midland, Mich., as he walked out of the stadium to the ringing of victory bells.
"A great game, except for the score."
Of course, that's all in the eye of the beholder.
Buckeye fans were not the only ones celebrating Saturday.
Shortly after Ohio State wrapped up its 42-39 win, the Ohio Lottery announced the winning numbers for its Pick 4 game. The winning numbers, with a $2.2 million payout, were 4-2-3-9.
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[Best Buckeye]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt06.htm

Just as I thought, USC gets the nod because of strentgh of schedule. If they win out they get to get beat by us in the NC game.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

OHIO STATE INSIDER
To Michigan, a rematch looks good


Sunday, November 19, 2006 Jodie Valade
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- One locker room thought it would be a swell idea. The other one didn't mind either way.
After this battle between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan ended in a high-scoring, hard-fought 42-39 victory for the Buckeyes, a rematch of the two Big Ten schools for the national title suddenly wasn't as implausible as it might have seemed.
"I think it was a great game," Michigan running back Mike Hart said. "I think it was a close game. I think anyone could have won that game. Do I think there should be a rematch? Probably. I think we're both the top teams in the country, regardless of what anybody says. On a neutral site, it would be a big game."
Hart had one small admission to go along with that opinion, though.
"If I won, I'd probably say, 'No. I don't want a rematch,' " he said.
But since the Wolverines didn't, they'll certainly take another shot. The highest-scoring game since Michigan claimed an 86-0 victory in 1902 proved the two squads are evenly matched. Neither Michigan's stifling defense nor Ohio State's flashy offense dominated.
Ohio State right tackle Kirk Barton can't envision the rematch actually occurring, though.
"It could happen, but with a team coming off a loss in what was basically the conference championship game, I can't see it," Barton said.
Michigan already has a plan for what it would do differently if it gets another chance.
"We'll correct the mistakes that allowed them big plays, and it won't be a score like that," Michigan defensive end LaMarr Woodley said.
Bo's impact:
Stubborn and tough until the end, Bo Schembechler wouldn't listen to Lloyd Carr on Thursday. The great Michigan coach was to address the football team in the afternoon that day, but when Carr went to fetch the man who hired him as a defensive backs coach in 1980, Schembechler said he was having difficulty breathing.
He had had trouble breathing since a second pacemaker was inserted after a cardiac episode Oct. 20, Carr said. Carr tried to persuade Schembechler to rest instead of speaking to the team, but the former coach refused to listen.
Less than 24 hours later, Schembechler died of heart failure.
"I'm a little mad at him because he didn't stay around for this game," Carr said. "All I can say about him is I loved that man."
True to his blue-collar nature, Schembechler spoke to the team about the importance of playing hard and controlling the line of scrimmage Saturday.
After telling his team of Schembechler's death Friday afternoon, Carr said he refused to allow the team to use it as an excuse, a distraction or motivation.
"He would not have wanted to be a distraction," Carr said. "And I told our team we weren't going to use Bo and his passing away as a motivational tool. That would have been to dishonor him. I simply told them the way we could honor him is to coach and play in a way that would have made him proud."
Top defense?
Michigan's defense was ranked the third in the nation entering Saturday's game, and tops in rushing defense, surrendering an average of 29.9 rushing yards per game. Ohio State's defense was No. 1 in scoring, and eighth in rushing, allowing 90.2 yards per game.
Somehow, both those vaunted defenses allowed a combined 81 points Saturday. At least one Michigan player thought the Buckeyes' defense was overhyped.
"Their defense was good, but they're not as good as people thought," Hart said. "We knew we were going to be able to run the ball, but we didn't put enough points on the board. There's nothing special about that defense."
Briefly:
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has now won five of six meetings against Michigan. . . . The Buckeyes' outright Big Ten championship is their first since 1984. . . . Eight Ohio State players had at least one reception Saturday. . . . Michigan's opening-drive touchdown was the first opening-drive score Ohio State has allowed this season, and only the second first-quarter touchdown they've allowed this year. . . . Ohio State ended its 11-game streak of at least one interception against Michigan.
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

<H1 class=red>Background receivers have hands-on role

</H1>

Sunday, November 19, 2006 Jodie Valade

Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- Roy Hall doesn't mind being overlooked sometimes. It tends to happen when his receiving teammates include some of the speediest (Ted Ginn Jr.) and some of the craftiest (Anthony Gonzalez) in college football.
The senior is willing to run his routes, bide his time and wait for quarterback Troy Smith to find him.
Like Smith did three times early in the Buckeyes' 42-39 victory over Michigan on Saturday, spotting Hall for one particularly pretty 27-yard connection on third-and-16, once more on a slant for a 10-yard gain on third-and-5, and finally, for the 1-yard touchdown pass that evened the score, 7-7.
If everybody does their job, somebody's going to be open," Hall said. "I happened to the guy making the first couple of plays, and other guys came through later."
On a receiving corps with such talent that Hall went from a third option early in the season to a fourth or fifth as the year wore on, it was the less-heralded receivers who made some of the biggest plays Saturday.
"Everyone on the team knows what I can do," Hall said. "They see me every day in practice. It just so happens that we have the best receiving corps in the nation."
Brian Robiskie, a sophomore out of Chagrin Falls, typically isn't recited among the most dominating Buckeyes receivers, but his 13-yard reception proved the winning touchdown against Michigan, and one of the most athletically deceptive.
As he sped toward the end zone, Robiskie said he looked back and saw Smith waiting.
"Any time the quarterback holds the ball like that, he wants you to do something," Robiskie said.
So Robiskie stopped abruptly after he crossed the goal line, causing Michigan cornerback Morgan Trent to slip and freeing Robiskie up for the catch - even as he carefully made sure his right foot was inbounds on the reception.
Together, Hall and Robiskie collected 10 passes for 127 yards.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

<H1 class=red>Bests from the OSU-Michigan game

</H1>

Sunday, November 19, 2006



Best fake

Jim Tressel said the team worked on the play all week. On second and 1 in the second quarter, the Buckeyes faked a dive to short-yardage back Chris Wells. He flopped into the line, and quarterback Troy Smith hid the ball behind his leg. Then, hello, there was Ted Ginn Jr. He beat Leon Hall deep, and Smith hit him for a 39-yard touchdown for a 21-7 lead.
"We thought maybe we could bait them into thinking we were just going for the first down," Tressel said.
. . . We hurried, they were a little confused and we made things happen," Ginn said.

Best break

Everyone was waiting for Ohio State to have problems with blown coverages early in the year with a young secondary. But the Buckeyes had few breakdowns, and teams like Texas and Iowa didn't take advantage of the Buckeyes down the field.
But before hitting a wide-open Adrian Arrington for a 37-yard second-quarter touchdown, Wolverines quarterback Chad Henne overthrew an even more wide-open Mario Manningham. After corner Malcolm Jenkins let Manningham go and no safety came to help, Manningham was 10 yards behind the defense, but Henne missed a sure touchdown.

Best escape

Buckeyes quarterback Troy Smith had his share of Heisman moments and avoided big losses, getting sacked just once by a Michigan defense that had 40 sacks coming in. His greatest evasion was on second and 6 from his own 12-yard line late in the second half. He slid away from a sack attempt by Michigan's Rondell Biggs and found Brian Robiskie for a 39-yard gain.

Best catch

There were plenty of big plays, too many of them, but no catch was bigger than Brian Hartline's grab on third and 5 on Ohio State's final scoring drive. The Canton GlenOak graduate fought through corner Johnny Sears on a slant and pulled in a Troy Smith laser that was a bit behind him for an 8-yard gain. If he drops that, OSU has to punt with just a four point lead.
Best celebration
Offensive tackle Kirk Barton walked into the postgame interviews smoking what he said was a $125 cigar. That followed the $350 bottle of Dom Perignon he said he bought to celebrate the victory with his teammates.
But $350 for champagne must set back a college student.
"That's about half my scholarship check," Barton said. "I'll be eating Spam for the next three weeks."

- Doug Lesmerises