Football
Buckeyes Win a Weird One
By John Porentas
The big play made a return to OSU football in a big way on Saturday as the Buckeyes (4-2, 2-1) averaged a whopping 45.4 yards per scoring play to claim a 35-24 win over Michigan State (4-2, 1-2).
The Buckeye offense struck for touchdown plays of 51 yards and 46 yards on passes to Santonio Holmes, a touchdown play of 57 yards on a pass to Ted Ginn Jr., and a blocked kick return of 72 yards by Ashton Youboty. OSU's last score from one yard out by Troy Smith brought the scoring play average average down to 45.4.
Before all those big play fireworks got ignited however, it looked for all the world like the Buckeyes were intent on bumbling their way to their second consecutive loss.
Antonio Pittman killed a good looking drive on OSU's first possession when he turned the ball over on the fumble. The Spartans were able to capitalize on the turnover for a field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
Santonio Holmes muffed the ensuing kickoff to turn the ball over to the Spartans on the OSU four-yard line. Three plays later, the Spartans led 10-0.
"We had some breaks that we would have needed to get this win," said MSU Head Coach John L. Smith.
Holmes made up for his big gaff on the ensuing possession when he took a pass from Troy Smith and darted 51 yards to the end zone to put the Buckeyes back in the game at 10-7.
The Spartans dominated the remainder of the first half, outgaining the Buckeyes 249 to 157 and running off a total of 46 plays to OSU's 17. It turned out that they ran exactly one too many.
Leading 17-7, the Spartans drove to a third and twelve at the OSU 17-yard line as the quarter was coming to an end. The Spartans lined up for an apparent field goal attempt. It turned out that somebody forgot to tell some of the Spartans.
"We were going to take a shot at the end zone and if we didn't get it we were going to spike the ball," said MSU quarterback Drew Stanton.
"That's what the offense had established because we had another down."
When Stanton was held to no gain on second down to bring up third and twelve, the MSU offense lined up to execute the spike. The problem was that the MSU bench was yelling out something different.
"Somebody yelled field goal and all of a sudden everybody was out there," said MSU Head Coach John L. Sullivan.
Half the Spartans thought the play was a spike, the other half a field goal attempt. The result was a recipe for disaster.
"Our offensive line on the left thought we were spiking the ball so they just stood there. On the right they knew we had the field goal on," said Stanton.
The gaff was apparent to the Buckeyes before the ball was snapped.
"They didn't have a wing," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.
"I'm sure the guys on the outside (of the OSU field goal block unit) were salivating because without a wing, I don't care how fast the snap and hold is, if there's not a wing there, when we saw there was no wing there, I was praying they would get the snap off on time. I was hoping it wouldn't expire. I knew we had a chance," said Tressel.
"I saw the tackle out there with no wing so we just took advantage of it. We were getting close before that," said OSU safety Nate Salley who indeed did block the kick.
Fellow defensive back Ashton Youboty was right there with Salley and picked up the blocked kick.
"I just saw it laying there and picked it up," said Youboty.
Youboty was escorted 72 yards down the east sideline by Donte Whitner, who despite his best efforts could not find a Spartan to block. Youboty got to the South end zone with no time left on the clock to turn what looked like would be a Spartan field goal into a Buckeye touchdown. Josh Huston kicked the PAT with the game clock reading 00:00 and despite the big mistakes and having been outplayed by the Spartans, the Buckeyes went into the locker room at halftime training just 17-14.
"Going in down by three is way better than going in down by 10," said Pittman.
"That field goal was an unbelievable turning point in the game, there's no question about that," said OSU offensive coordinator Jim Bollman.
The play turned around the game. After a three-and-out by the Spartans to open the second half, Smith hooked up with Ginn for a 57 yard touchdown pass to give OSU its first lead of the game at 21-17.
The Spartans were able to to respond with a third quarter touchdown to regain the lead, but the OSU defense made life miserable for Stanton the rest of the day. The Buckeyes sacked Stanton a school-record 12 times, eight times in the second half.
MSU made one last run at the Buckeyes, driving to a fourth-and-seven at the OSU 19. Clinging to a four point lead, the Spartans elected to attempt a field goal with just over seven minutes to play in the game, but the Buckeye defense had one more big play left in them. Youboty blocked the kick and OSU took over on the 20.
The Buckeye took the lead for good when Smith hit Holmes again for another big scoring play, this one covering 46 yards to put OSU up 28-24.
"We felt like our wide receives had some good matchups this and we could get them the ball," said Bollman of OSU's big play success in the passing game.
Holmes helped put the icing on the cake when his punt return put the Buckeyes in business on the MSU 19. Pittman found a seam on first down and carried down to the Spartan one-yard line. Smith went the last yard to make the final OSU 35, MSU 24.
Stanton was brilliant in defeat for the Spartans. He completed 26-of-36 for 340 yards and a touchdown. Pittman led all rushers with 101 yards on 18 carries. Smith added 42 yards on seven carries and was 10-of-15 passing for 249 yards and three touchdowns. Smith was not sacked in the game.
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