Right: Antonio Pittman heads into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter against Michigan.
(Jim Davidson/The O-Zone)

From the 2005 Ohio State-Michigan game:

How do you quickly silence 111,591 people at a “Big House” party? Try going on a twelve-play, 88-yard scoring drive that is capped off by a three-yard touchdown run with 24 seconds left in the game.

That worked really well for the ninth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, who came away with a 25-21 win over their hated rival, the 17th-ranked Michigan Wolverines, on Saturday at Michigan Stadium. The scarlet and gray clad Buckeyes made the “Big House” seem more like a big library.

Ohio State’s winning scoring drive began when Michigan head coach Lloyd Cooper, er, I mean Lloyd Carr, decided to pooch punt when faced with a fourth-and-4 on the OSU 34 yard line, instead of letting kicker Garrett Rivas try a field goal into the wind. That punt went out of bounds on the 12 yard line, setting up the Buckeyes’ march to victory.

It would take three minutes and 54 seconds to go the distance for the clinching touchdown as OSU quarterback Troy Smith passed for 77 yards, completing seven out of eight attempts during the drive. The Buckeyes methodically moved down the field on short passes in the middle of a soft Michigan zone, until Ohio State had the ball on the UM 30 yard line and a first down.

Following a timeout, Smith scrambled to his right, stepped back and lofted a pass to a leaping Anthony Gonzalez who hauled it in at the Michigan 4. After Smith could not find anyone open, Gonzalez sped down the far sideline to make himself open.

“Guys came off the edge, and I was just trying to stay alive,” Smith said. “I saw Gonzalez pop open down the sideline, and I just tried to get him the ball as fast as I could.”

Two plays later, tailback Antonio Pittman bolted in from three yards out for the winning score.

All this after Ohio State trailed 21-12 with 7:49 left to play in the game after Michigan’s Rivas connected on a 19-yard field goal.

But the Buckeyes struck quickly to get back into the game by going 67 yards on five plays in a minute and nine seconds as Smith would go 2-for-4 passing, one was a 27-yard pass play to Gonzalez to start the drive, and the other was a 26-yard connection to Santonio Holmes for a touchdown that finished the drive and narrowed the Michigan lead to 21-19 with 6:40 left.

Ohio State would have to overcome a slew of mistakes to reach that point of the game. Two fumbles, one by tailback Maurice Wells at the OSU 36-yard line, setup Michigan’s first touchdown on a two-yard pass play from Chad Henne to Jason Avant that cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 9-7 with 5:18 left in the first half.

The other fumble occurred when Smith was sacked and the ball came loose at the OSU 20. That turnover resulted in a Rivas 27-yard field goal that sliced into OSU’s lead to 12-10 with 10:01 remaining in the third quarter.

A shanked, 18-yard punt by A.J. Trapasso led to another score as Michigan would get great field position once again, needing just four plays to go 37 yards that was capped off on a two-yard touchdown run by Kevin Grady that put Michigan out in front for the first time in the game with 1:20 left in the third following a two-point conversion.

Ohio State’s other mistakes came on a missed extra point following the opening drive of the game as the Buckeyes’ went 80 yards in 13 plays as Smith would go the final four for paydirt on a touchdown run that gave OSU an early 6-0 lead with 8:44 to play in the first quarter.

Michigan would drive down the OSU 28-yard line on their first possession, only to be stopped by the Buckeye’ defense on a fourth-and-1 when Henne’s pass was incomplete.

The Buckeyes took a 9-0 lead after their next possession on a 47-yard field goal by Huston.

Out of Michigan’s four scoring drives, only one went for more than 40 yards, with three of those starting in OSU territory.

Of Ohio State’s five scoring drives, four of those went for 67 yards or more, with the only other one going 42 yards and it resulted in a field goal.

Statistically, Ohio State dominated in every aspect of the game, except for turnovers. Ohio State had 25 first downs to Michigan’s 17. Ohio State had 418 yards of total offense with 300 passing and 118 rushing, while Michigan was able to manage just 255 yards of total offense, and 223 of those yards coming from the passing game.

The biggest stat of the game was the fact that Ohio State held Michigan to just 32 yards rushing, with Mike Hart getting 15 yards on nine carries, and Kevin Grady netting nine yards on six attempts.

Smith finished the game going 27-of-37 passing for 300 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 37 yards and another score.

“There will be a lot of No. 10 jerseys and a lot of kids on Thanksgiving weekend trying to make those moves in a pile of leaves,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.

“Troy is probably the best we’ve seen,” Wolverines defensive tackle Pat Massey said. “Troy was a difference maker out there.”

Pittman had 85 yards on 23 carries and the game-winning touchdown.

Ted Ginn Jr. had nine receptions for 89 yards, but muffed two punts that luckily were recovered both times by Holmes, who is also a deep-back in the punt return formation. Holmes finished with six catches for 72 yards an a TD.

“I just think we wanted it more than those guys,” said Holmes.

And how nice is it to see Coach Tressel and the boys sing “Carmen Ohio” at Michigan Stadium?

Tags: Buckeye Football //