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

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Dispatch

COLLEGE FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
Wolverines are left to ponder bowl fate

Monday, November 20, 2006


FROM WIRE REPORTS




Michigan would have secured a spot in the national championship game had it beaten Ohio State. But after a 42-39 loss on Saturday, the Wolverines have no idea where they will end the season.
Michigan (11-1) could get a rematch with the top-ranked Buckeyes (12-0) on Jan. 8 in Arizona with a national title at stake. Or it might receive a relatively sweet consolation prize in the Rose Bowl, but there?s no guarantee they will end up in Pasadena because Notre Dame could prove to be too tempting to pass up against a Pacific 10 team.
Michigan likely will not fall out of the Bowl Championship Series, though, so a trip to the Capital One Bowl in Florida probably will be avoided. The Wolverines simply must wait until Dec. 3 when the BCS pairings are announced.
"It?s definitely up in the air," defensive end LaMarr Woodley said. "We lost and put ourselves in that situation where we have to sit back and wait. If we would?ve won, we would?ve known right away where we were playing and on what date."
Running back Mike Hart was more optimistic: "I?m pretty sure we?re either going to the Rose Bowl or the national championship game. I think it?s one of the two. It will be on the West Coast."
Farewell to Bo

Hundreds of maize-andblue-clad mourners filed past the casket of Bo Schembechler yesterday to pay tribute to the coach who became the face of Michigan football.
The closed casket at St. Andrew?s Episcopal Church was festooned with floral arrangements. Schembechler?s likeness was presented in a painting and in a photo of him coaching in his signature navy blue "M" cap. A plaque on an easel listed his records during each of 21 seasons as Wolverines coach.
Schembechler died Friday at age 77 after collapsing at a suburban Detroit television studio. Mourners included former players, current Michigan students and past rivals. Former Michigan State coach George Perles stopped by to pay his respects. So did former UM quarterback Rick Leach.
A memorial service honoring Schembechler is set for Tuesday in Michigan Stadium.
OSU - Michigan scores on TV

Top-ranked Ohio State?s victory over No. 2 Michigan drew the biggest television audience for any regular-season game since Florida State-Notre Dame in 1993. ABC?s broadcast pulled a 13.4 rating, which translates to 14.96 million households and 21.77 million viewers.
The 1-2 matchup between OSU and Texas on Sept. 9 had an 8.2 rating and was seen in 9.1 million households.
Pooch punts
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier attempted to quell Internet rumors by saying he is not interested in the Miami Hurricanes job, should Larry Coker be fired. CSTV.com reported early yesterday that Spurrier likely would be named Coker?s successor. "I?ve got no interest in any other job except the one I?ve got," Spurrier said. "I?m not leaving unless I get run off. I have not expressed any interest. They have not expressed any interest in me. Somebody just started a rumor about it." ... With OSU and Michigan in the BCS mix, Wisconsin (11-1) is all but assured a berth in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1 in Orlando, Fla. Officials likely will extend the Badgers an invitation as soon as they are released from BCS consideration, which could happen today. Wisconsin would face a Southeastern Conference opponent, which could include Florida (10-1), Arkansas (10-1) or LSU (9-2).
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David Guralnick/The Detroit News
Michigan quarterback Chad Henne threw for two touchdowns, but he was overshadowed by the four scoring strikes from Ohio State's Troy Smith.
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Even in defeat, Henne proves he's a winner
Angelique S. Chengelis / The Detroit News


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Quarterback Troy Smith probably won the Heisman Trophy with his four touchdown passes in top-ranked Ohio State's victory over second-ranked Michigan on Saturday, but not to be overlooked was U-M quarterback Chad Henne's steady performance.
Henne faced pressure much of the game from the Buckeyes, but he completed 21 of 35 attempts for 267 yards and two touchdowns. He spread the ball among seven receivers, but he took four sacks in the Wolverines' 42-39 loss.
"In the pocket, (Henne) just knew when to throw a perfect ball," OSU defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock said.
During the first drive of the game, when Michigan scored on a 1-yard run by Mike Hart, it looked like it might be an Air Michigan type of day. Henne threw a second-and-long pass to Mario Manningham for 24 yards. The next two plays were passes, before Hart rushed for 9 yards. Then, Henne hit Manningham on a slant for a 25-yard gain, setting up Hart's score.
Henne never turned over the ball, and he threw two touchdown passes against the Buckeyes.
Adrian Arrington scored on a 37-yard reception and Tyler Ecker scored the last points of the game on a 16-yard pass with 2:16 remaining.
The Wolverines scored 39 points, their third-most this season, against a very good defense, and that wasn't enough.
"What I believe offensively is that you've got to have the kind of offense where you can score quickly, and that's really what you work on," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "You work on two-minute offense. And you have to be a great offense. And then you have to be able to buckle it up and run it when you have to.
"We go into a game feeling like we can handle offensively whatever comes our way."
Henne, who is 0-3 against Ohio State but has played well the past two games against the Buckyes, did not have a perfect game, to be sure. He missed a chance in the first quarter to give the Wolverines a 14-7 lead when he overthrew a wide-open Manningham. The drive ended with a punt.
Early in the second half, when Michigan got the ball on the OSU 25 when Smith was intercepted, the Wolverines had to settle for a field goal. They scored 10 points off three Ohio State turnovers.
"On offense, we definitely could have executed better and (taken) advantage of some of their turnovers at the end," Henne said.
There were other issues, as well, namely that Henne was sacked four times for a combined loss of 33 yards. One sack was for a loss of 18 yards.
"They were trying to bring it from every which way," Henne said.
"I was sliding most of the protection to the threat, but they're great athletes, and they're going to get by."
For the Wolverines, operating an offense in the hostile, loud environment of Ohio Stadium, which had a record crowd of 105,708, was difficult. Henne frequently changed the play at the line of scrimmage, barking the play to his linemen and tailback. Amazingly, the Wolverines were penalized only once for illegal motion.
"To come in here and only have one penalty for illegal motion, when honestly you could not hear" Carr said. "I mean, to have 11 guys on the football field and perform like they did in that type of crowd, to me, is a remarkable thing. I think our kids offensively just did a magnificent job of dealing with the pressure of the crowd.
"I admire them."
You can reach Angelique S. Chengelis at angelique.chengelis@ detnews.com.

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Telegraph-Forum


Classic was worthy of Bo, Woody

Maybe, just maybe, Woody and Bo were watching this one upstairs, from the Best Seats in the House. Can you imagine the noise, the thunder and lightning, all that ruckus from film projectors being thrown and invectives hurled? (For purposes of this spirited football discussion, we'll assume that Mr. Hayes and his newly admitted protege, Mr. Schembechler, were both seated in everlasting football paradise.)
There's Woody. Yellin' every time Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith dropped back, cocked his rifle-arm and, for cryin' out loud, passed! And Bo. Bellowing every time a Wolverines defender looked as if he were treading water in Lake Michigan trying to stay with receivers.

Woody fussin' over those five-receiver sets ... then offering a begrudging "Atta boy!" every time Ted Ginn Jr., Brian Robiskie or Anthony Gonzalez snagged a ball.
Bo blanching at the thought of Ohio State securing a national championship game, undefeated regular season and Big Ten Conference championship at the expense of his beloved Wolverines.
Woody wigging out over three second-half Buckeyes turnovers.
Bo cringing at the number of huge, backbreaking plays the Wolverines surrendered.
And, for both of the deceased legends, this: 81 "what-happened-to-our-defense?" points.
For heaven's sake, was this any way to conduct the 103rd meeting of college football's best rivalry?
You'd better believe it was.
The game, pitting No. 1 vs. No. 2, not only lived up to its hyperbole as the latest incarnation of the "Game of the Century," it exceeded any realistic expectations. Unbeaten Ohio State topped off its monstrous regular season by outlasting Michigan 42-39 before 105,708 fans.
The Buckeyes were feisty enough to land the last few counterpunches. Smith turned The Horseshoe into a veritable landing strip with an impressive aerial performance.
"Tomorrow, when you wake up, everyone will know this game is a classic," said OSU's Kirk Barton.
And unquestionably worthy of a bona fide national championship rematch in Arizona in January, particularly if Southern California falters against Notre Dame.
"You know," said Wolverines running back Mike Hart with self-assurance, "if we played them again, it would be a whole different game. Guarantee that."
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr bit his tongue, perhaps hoping voters will chew on the notion that, even in defeat, the Wolverines might very well be the nation's second banana.
"It will be very interesting to see what happens in the polls as we go forward," he said. "I don't care to speculate. It will be what it will be. It probably will be controversial either way. That's what we (all) like."
Carr despised Chris Wells' 52-yard touchdown bolt, Ginn's 39-yard TD catch and Antonio Pittman's 56-yard blast up the middle for a score. Too easy. The Wolverines' worst mistake was a momentum-killing personal foul against linebacker Shawn Crable for hitting Smith high and late out of bounds, enabling Ohio State to keep the football with less than seven minutes left in the game.
Carr loved his team's effort. It would have made Bo proud. His Michigan boys displayed a collective big ticker one day after he died of a heart attack at 77.
The Wolverines hit.
They played hard.
They were tough-minded.
Just like Bo.
"It was definitely difficult for us," said quarterback Chad Henne. "I mean, Coach Carr loves him dearly, and so do we."
Carr served 15 seasons under Schembechler, and their close relationship cannot be understated.
"I'm a little mad at him because he didn't stay around for this game," Carr said wistfully. "But it wouldn't be fair to him to use that in any way, and we don't. And all I can say about him is I loved that man."
The Michigan coach told his team Wednesday that "nothing was going to distract us from this game." When Carr informed the Wolverines on Friday that Schembechler had succumbed, "I told our team we weren't going to use Bo and his passing away as a motivational deal. 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." Somewhere, Bo is mighty proud of the maize and blue. But let's be honest, with Woody perhaps somewhere in the vicinity, you know he's not smiling.
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ToledoBlade

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Offensive line key to Buckeyes' victory

By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER


COLUMBUS - As the darkness of early evening settled in outside Ohio Stadium Saturday, Buckeyes running back Antonio Pittman burst through that vaunted Michigan defensive line and saw nothing but fresh turf between himself and the end zone some 56 yards away.

The ocular powers of every person present in the record crowd of 105,708 were locked in on Pittman, Ohio State's junior tailback. Players from both teams formed looping picket lines on the opposite sides of the field as they moved to follow the play. The television cameras and the audience of untold millions were transfixed on Pittman.

Out near midfield, T.J. Downing lifted his 305 pounds off the deck after throwing one of the blocks that freed Pittman, saw what was developing in the distance, and froze in an upright position. As Michigan's players gave futile chase, and the rest of the Ohio State offense moved downfield, Downing raised his arms high, like a heavyweight champ standing over a fallen opponent.

While Pittman outran everyone and pushed the Buckeyes' lead to 35-24 with eight minutes left in the third quarter of what turned out to be a 42-39 Ohio State victory, Downing, an Ohio State senior offensive lineman, stayed locked in his Rocky

Balboa pose.

There was not another player within 20 yards of this 6-foot-4 behemoth, who looked all of nine feet tall with his helmet, suit of armor and his limbs skyward.

And when victory was finally in hand, and the small nation of media that covered this showdown crushed in close to talk with two of the most accredited heroes of the day - Pittman and Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith - those two wanted to talk about the guys with the work boots and hard hats, like Downing.

"I can't say enough about the job those guys did out there, all day long," said Smith, who threw for four touchdowns and tightened his stranglehold on the Heisman Trophy.

"It was a battle. It was a war out there on every play. Michigan never quit fighting, and my guys never did either. They deserve all the credit in the world for this victory, this 12-0 record, and this Big Ten championship. I feel like I owe them a lot."

Downing and company on the Ohio State offensive line helped the Buckeyes and the Wolverines turn the college football world on its head for a few hours.

Ohio State faced the top-rated run defense in the country, one that had limited 11 opponents to an average of less than 30 rushing yards per game.

The Buckeyes ran for 187 yards against Michigan, with two touchdown runs in excess of 50 yards - Pittman's, and a 52-yarder in the second quarter by freshman Chris "Beanie" Wells.

"Pittman and Wells were good," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "And those guys blocking for them did a good job. I think Beanie's run, he broke a tackle right in the line of scrimmage and everything else was blocked, and he was gone. And then Pitt's, he hit a crease. I don't know if anyone got a glove on him. Those guys have another gear, and our guys know how to block."

Pittman led Ohio State with 139 yards rushing and that long touchdown, on 18 carries. A week ago against Northwestern, Pittman went over 1,000 yards for the second straight season, and the 5-11, 195-pounder now has 15 games with 100 or more rushing yards in his career.

"We knew Michigan had a great run defense, but I trusted my offensive line, and they came through, like they always do," Pittman said.

"Nothing came easy - it never does - but those guys have a lot of heart. They accepted the challenge of running the ball against Michigan. They took it personal. Those guys take pride in getting me my yardage, and I take a lot of take pride in the way they block for me."

For its part, Michigan made a shambles of Ohio State's scoring defense, which had been No. 1 in the country, allowing only 7.82 points per game.

The Wolverines (11-1) put up 39 in this one, but could not escape the bottom line - Ohio State remained unbeaten, won a 19th straight game, and claimed an outright Big Ten championship for the first time since 1984. And it will be the Buckeyes playing in the national championship game in Arizona.

Those 42 points and the 503 yards of offense Ohio State had really stung Michigan senior defensive end LaMarr Woodley.

"I never expected that to happen," Woodley said.

Contact Matt Markey at: [email protected] or 419-724-6510.
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Note another different between llllloyd and Coach Tressel: LLLLLoyd protested crable's illegal helmet hit on TS, arguing TS was out of position for the foul. In Texas game (I think), one of our linemen got helmet to helmet call (some claimed bad call by ref). JT accepted the marginal call and remarked ref. wanted to protect the player (qb).

When you watch llllloyd's composure on sidelines, compared to JT's calm demeanor, the contrast must make an impact upon recruits and their parents.:osu:
 
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here's something to chew on:

tOSU - outright b10 champions and ranked #1 wire to wire.
scum - national champions

not shared big then champs, outright big ten champions. in 02 we were undefeated and purdue had a loss out of the conference and still people said we didn't deserve a shot at the title because we didn't even win our conference. we WON a share of the big 10 and were undefeated. scum can't even say that much. not only does scum have a loss, but they have absolutely positively ZERO claim to the big 10 crown. yet they are deserving of a national championship berth?

ok, lets say scum's only loss is to tOSU and that loss really shouldn't count against them because it was a "good" loss. what about wisky and notre dame? shouldn't they get a shot at the national championship? they are 1 loss teams. if we're playing the "a loss to tOSU shouldn't drop you cause tOSU is ranked #1" game, then why would a loss to a team whose only loss is to tOSU drop you any? since these losses obviously shouldn't be counted, they both might as well still be undefeated right? double standards anyone?

lets face it, the outcome of "THE GAME" is NEVER a fair representation of how to rank a team nationally. 1 team can be 0-11 and the other 11-0 and blow everyone out by 60+. nothing you can put on paper means a damn thing in "the game".

scum:
vandy (w), central scum (w), nd (w), wisky (w), minny (w), scum light (w), penn state (w), iowa (w), nw (w), ball state (w), indy (w), tOSU (L)

florida:
s. miss (w), ucf (w), tenn (w), kentucky (w), bama (w), lsu (w), auburn (L), georgia (w), vandy (w), s. carolina (w), western carolina (w), florida state (n/a), championship game (w)

usc:
arkansas (w), nedbraska (w), arizona (w), washington state (w), washington (w), arizona state (w), oregon state (L), stanford (w), oregon (w), california (w), notre dame (n/a), ucla (n/a)

im too lazy to post the rest of the hopefuls, but will if requested.
 
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When looking back at The Game it seems more apparent now that the pressure to beat tOSU was just too great for them to over come.

They (and the rest of the college football world) have been on the bottom looking up at tOSU all year.

Think about how that would feel goin the other way.

If they didn't have to move up the rankings and try and come from behind to beat tOSU and it were the other way around, who knows...

Throw in the fact that your head coach's mentor and University Legend passes away the day before the biggest battle the series has ever seen and the entire scUM nation looking to you to come out on top...

That's a pretty tall order....not impossible but the Mike Hart sour grapes after the game says alot more than just being a sore loser.

He's trying to make up for six years and five losses, 0 bowl wins in what 3 or 4 years too?

I just don't think scUM was up for that type of pressure and they won't be until they start to really dominate teams that includes tOSU.

I just don't see it happening.:osu:
 
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k_stone_69;666898; said:
When looking back at The Game it seems more apparent now that the pressure to beat tOSU was just too great for them to over come.

I just don't think scUM was up for that type of pressure and they won't be until they start to really dominate teams that includes tOSU.
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i saw scum go blow for blow with a team that in my mind was superior. when i look at the game tape i see a scum team that is overacheiving. they didn't buckle under any pressure. they more than rose to the challenge, but came out on the loosing end to a better team.
 
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martinss01;666907; said:
i saw scum go blow for blow with a team that in my mind was superior. when i look at the game tape i see a scum team that is overacheiving. they didn't buckle under any pressure. they more than rose to the challenge, but came out on the loosing end to a better team.
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i saw Ohio State lead for the final 42 minutes of the game, and by double digits for 26 of those 42 minutes... i saw a game squad from TSUN not quit when the going got rough, and Ohio State go to sleep in the 3rd quarter (minus 1 play), which allowed TSUN back into the game. i saw M have ONE possession in which they could regain the lead in the second half, and Ohio State stop them cold and force a 3 and out. i saw Ohio State dominate the best team that TSUN has fielded in the last 10 years- too bad the final score does not bear that dominance out. and now i'm seeing morons everywhere crow that TSUN is somehow deserving of a rematch.

let's face it. if the Buckeyes don't get sloppy in the 3rd quarter (4 dropped passes, 2 bad snaps, shanked punt) that game is a blowout.
 
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lvbuckeye;667019; said:
and now i'm seeing morons everywhere crow that TSUN is somehow deserving of a rematch.
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This is also driving me nuts. And what is pushing me over the edge is listening to bruce hooley and kirk (Me I am not biased - to the point of sounding like I am for the other team) herbstreit is clamering for it all over the radio today.

They played the game they tried and they lost. plain and simple. NO REMATCH
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks;667043; said:
Jesus..... It's going to be a long couple of weeks.....

Listen, this shit has a way of working out. If you can't deal with talking heads and what they're saying, listen to something else.
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Well I am sorry for making a comment. And by the way I have stopped listening to them. Except I would like to hear what Troy Smith has to say. Besides I live in Texas and unfortunately I do not get to hear a whole lot of Buckeye news other than 1460 and the boards. Sorry to sound as if I can not deal with it.
 
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texasbuckeye;667054; said:
Well I am sorry for making a comment. And by the way I have stopped listening to them. Except I would like to hear what Troy Smith has to say. Besides I live in Texas and unfortunately I do not get to hear a whole lot of Buckeye news other than 1460 and the boards. Sorry to sound as if I can not deal with it.
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Don't take it personal. Didn't mean you specifically.
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks;667057; said:
Don't take it personal. Didn't mean you specifically.
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sorry, just tired of dealing with these texas fans who feel that they have some right to rag on me about the game being close. 1. like I had anything to do with the outcome. 2. who cares if it was close TOSU ONE. They drive me crazy down here.
 
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