He’s baaaaaaaaaack!
Right: Beanie Wells leaps over a defender in the Ohio State’s 34-21 win over Minnesota.
AP Photo
After spending the last three games on the bench due to a toe injury, Chris “Beanie” Wells announced his presence with authority in Ohio State’s first possession of the game.
That first scoring drive also showed how explosive the backfield can be with Wells and freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor both on the field at the same time.
After receiving the opening kickoff, the Buckeyes’ marched 75 yards in five plays while taking just two minutes and 13 seconds off the clock to put the first touchdown on the scoreboard.
On the fourth play of the drive, Beanie raced around the left end for a gain of 28 yards down to the Gophers’ 33 yard line. On the very next snap, Pryor ran down the right side virtually untouched on a option play until he reached paydirt.
Before some fans were even in their seats the Buckeyes were up 7-0.
Minnesota scored its’ first points of the game following a fumble by Wells at the MINN 24. The Gophers only netted eight yards on three plays before a 33-yard field goal by Joel Monroe cut Ohio State’s lead down to 7-3 with 7:01 left in the first quarter.
Both teams traded puts before Ohio State mounted their next scoring drive.
Going 14 plays and 82 yards, the Buckeyes had to settle on a 22-yard Ryan Pretorius field goal.
Keys plays of that drive include a 38-yard run by Pryor on third-and-3 from the OSU 42. On third-and-18 on the MINN 28, Boom Herron gained 17. Then on the very next play, Boom got two yards and a first down to keep the drive alive. On third-and-goal at the MINN 3, Heron tripped over his own feet for a loss of one. Facing a fourth-and-goal at the 4, Tressel decided to kick the field goal. In bigger games against better competition, red zone field goals are not going to cut it.
The Buckeyes added another field goal with 4:10 left in the second quarter, a 44-yarder by Pretorius, that gave Ohio State a 13-3 advantage.
The Buckeyes caught a break when Gophers’ Jack Simmons fumbled the ball in a scrum and it was recovered by OSU’s Anderson Russell at the MINN 35.
On the second play of the drive, Wells ran up the middle for a gain of 21, which included him leaping over a Minnesota defender. Three snaps later, Pryor connected with Brian Robiskie on an 8-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone that put Ohio State ahead 20-3 with 33 seconds before halftime.
Minnesota added three more points on the first possession of the second half before Ohio State went 74 yards in six snaps capped off on a 1-yard run by Pryor on a bootleg play around the right end.
The Buckeyes scored on the first play of the fourth quarter when backup quarterback Todd Boeckman threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Robiskie following a fumble by Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber that gave Ohio State great field position at the MINN 25 yard line.
Leading 34-6 in the fourth quarter, the Gophers scored two touchdowns against mostly second-teamers.
Somewhere up above, Woody Hayes is looking down and smiling. Ohio State rushed for 279 yards in the game, including 106 yards on 14 carries by Beanie, while Pryor added 97 yards on eight carries with two touchdowns. Pryor was also 8-of-13 passing for 70 yards and a TD.
Sort of reminds me of the Ohio State teams during the mid-70s with Cornelius Greene and Archie Griffin.
Boeckman was 5-of-9 passing for 65 yards and a score.
Overall, Ohio State’s offense gained 414 yards while holding Minnesota to 268.
Up next, Ohio State travels to Madison to take on an overrated Wisconsin team, Saturday night, with kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m. Yesterday, the Badgers lost to Michigan in Ann Arbor, 27-25.
