Scarlet reign
Above: Ohio State fans at The Big (Out)House show their support
for Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Ohio State did something on Saturday that they have done now for the sixth time in a row and eight out of the last nine years, and that’s beating Michigan as the Buckeyes defeated the Wolverines, 21-10, in Ann Arbor.
Since the euphoria of beating the “that school up north” has subsided, let’s not sugarcoat it. It was a good win, but not a great win. It wasn’t impressive by most standards, including my own.
Sure, Michigan had their backs against the wall playing for their bowl lives. They played as hard as they could in hopes for reaching six wins to become eligible for a postseason invite, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The day before the game, I stated that “Ohio State won’t have to get too fancy on offense this Saturday, considering that Michigan’s defense is not very good, particularly against the run.”
Yeah, they never got fancy. It was as plain and as vanilla as you could get.
Out of the 70 offensive plays that Ohio State ran against Michigan, 53 were rushing plays. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor attempted only 17 passes and completed nine for a mere 67 yards. His longest pass play went for 13 yards and he couldn’t connect on a few deeper ones.
The Buckeye defense did do their part, forcing five Wolverine turnovers and scored the game’s first touchdown when Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier was scrambling to avoid the rush and fumbled in the end zone, which was recovered by Cameron Heyward.
Sure, Ohio State’s defense did give up a good chunk of real estate, 309 yards to be exact, but held Michigan to just 80 yards on the ground, which made the Wolverines to be more one-dimensional.
After Heyward’s fumble recovery touchdown with 10:44 remaining in the first quarter, the Buckeyes never trailed in the game. Brandon Saine’s 29-yard TD run in the second period with 5:22 left gave Ohio State a 14-3 lead, which was the score at halftime.
Pryor’s only real mistake came early on in the third quarter when he threw an interception and Michigan cashed it in for seven points by going 49 yards in eight plays capped off on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Forcier to Vincent Smith, which was setup by Jonas Mouton’s pick.
Ohio State responded on their next possession by marching 89 yards in 11 plays to go ahead 21-10 with 4:46 to go in the third quarter after Pryor threw an 18-yard TD pass to Dan Herron for the score on a perfectly executed screen. It was the only passing attempt during the drive that featured nine running plays and one sack, which in college football is lumped into the rushing statistics.
Forcier threw three of his five interceptions on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter, two of which were deep in Ohio State territory. He was later replaced with Denard Robinson with a little over two minutes to play in the game.
The Buckeyes didn’t do much offensively in the final frame as 18 plays gained 45 yards and resulted in three punts plus a failed fourth down conversion. Two of those plays were in the victory formation to take a knee at the end of the game.
One troubling stat: Ohio State was 4-of-15 in third down conversion and on those third downs, Pryor was 3-of-6 passing, though on two occasions the completed pass didn’t get enough yardage, plus he was sacked and threw an interception.
On a positive note, the Buckeyes did gain 251 yards on the ground as Herron had 96 yards on 19 carries, Saine added 84 yards on 12 attempts, and Pryor ran 19 more times for 74 yards.
Of course, Ohio State is going to have to improve their passing game so their not one-dimensional.
Up next, the Buckeyes will either take on Oregon or Oregon State in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2010, in Pasadena, Calif. Both the Ducks and the Beavers play each other on Dec. 3 with the winner earning a trip to southern California and a date with Ohio State.
