Football
The Buckeye Watch
By Tony Gerdeman

Well, Troy Smith has opened up a bit of a lead in the Heisman race, and the Buckeyes will have a few new neighbors in the Top Five.

It wasn't the prettiest of games, but if you expected beauty, you must not have been around much the last six years or so.

The Buckeyes were once again short of their goal of 200 yards rushing, but they did rush for 166. And considering the way the game started, the way it finished was pretty impressive.

Without doing any research at all, I'm going to guess that the Buckeyes under Jim Tressel have never scored 17 points in the fourth quarter before. (I'm probably so glaringly wrong on that one.)

Wasn't it fun to watch a young, active defense? Instead of those boring old veteran defenses of the past. If I had to sit through one more Will Smith sack, I probably would have puked.

I, for one, am happy to have so many unknowns, but soon-to-be-knowns to get to know on this defense.

Until it costs us a game, that is.

Anyway, let's get to The Watch...

11:18 Desmond Howard just compared himself to Spike Lee or Martin Scorcese when he's watching game film. HAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHA.

11:22 HAHAHA. HAHAHAHAHA. Ohhhhh...that's good stuff.

11:23 "Martin Scorcese"...HAHAHAHA...I'm crying here.

11:25 Desmond, you're Martin Scorcese like Dave Wannstedt is Paul Brown.

11:33 Okay, here are five predictions for the game: 1) Mo Wells will have a 30-yard touch; 2) Four quarterbacks will play; 3) the defense will score a touchdown; 4) Ted Ginn will catch a touchdown; 5) Troy Smith will throw an interception off of a tipped pass.

11:44 I'm watching Gameday and they're doing a bit on Oregon's uniforms and one of the players said that they wanted to stun America with their uniform combinations. Mission. Accomplished.

12:11 Pettrey kicks the ball off into the end zone. I hope people realize what an advantage and weapon we've got with Pettrey's kick offs.

12:12 Buckeyes open up in the nickel, meaning they've got two redshirt freshmen starting back there. You gotta love new blood.

12:12:22 So much for that nickel. Grutza just gashed it on the playaction boot for 20 yards to Bill Poland. Is there a whiter name out there than "Bill Poland"?

12:13 Nice tackle for a one-yard loss by Antonio Smith on Glatthaar. Smith sure has come a long way since his missed tackle on Ramonce Taylor last year. He definitely doesn't look like a former walk-on.

12:13:17 Another TFL for the Buckeyes. David Patterson sniffed that screen out and stopped it for a loss of one. It's pretty impressive when a defensive tackle, who has been given a free run to the quarterback, can resist the urge and take the running back down instead.

12:14 Speaking of defensive tackles getting free shots at the quarterback, Quinn Pitcock just sacked Grutza! Cincinnati can't handle him at all. He's going to be after Grutza all day today.

12:15 The Bearcats punt the ball out of bounds. Somebody should keep track of how many punts go out of bounds no where near inside the twenty this year.

12:15:41 Antonio Pittman for a one-yard carry. Ridiculous. Get the second-team offensive line in there!

12:17 Three and out? Whew. Late pass interference penalty. That was a close one. I didn't think we could go three and out.

12:18 Kirk Barton just gave up a sack. Wait, there's more hijinks by the offensive line...a personal foul on Alex Boone. Fortunately, the personal fouls were offsetting. Sheesh, straighten up O-line. I was just joking about the second-team offensive line.

12:19 Incomplete pass to Ginn. Is there a lack of focus going on here, or is it just...mmm...pizza.

12:19:22 There you go! On third and fifteen, Troy just hit the Focused Third Down Assassin Anthony Gonzalez for sixteen yards!

12:20 False start by Tim Schafer on second and two. Maybe we do need the second-team O-line in there.

12:21 There are just too many third downs going on here. On third and seven, Troy missed Rory Nicol. Do you go for it here at the Bearcat 30? I do. But Jim Tressel doesn't. He's going with the field goal. This will give Aaron Pettrey a good opportunity to build some confidence. Unless, of course, he totally blows it. Ahh, nice and straight from 47 yards out. 3-0 Buckeyes.

12:23 That was kind of a disjointed drive. It was almost like Troy wants to get points and sit as quickly as possible and the team is pressing. I'm guessing there will be some running to calm everybody down on the next drive.

12:26 Pettrey into the end zone again.

12:26:17 Looks like we've got a base formation out there now with three linebackers. And Cincinnati went right at it with a wide receiver screen for 28 yards. John Kerr had a shot at stopping it, but he missed the tackle.

12:28 Dang. Grutza just scrambled for 23 yards. There was nobody in the middle of the field to stop him. Dantonio should put that in the playbook.

12:29 In the nickel now...Grutza pressured...touchdown? Touchdown Bearcats? I did not see that coming. Grutza was pressured and he found Jared Martin, who had gotten behind James Laurinaitis on the broken play. This is probably because I predicted a shut out. Maybe this will wake them up. 7-3 Bearcats.

12:35 Yeesh. Three and out. Alex Boone was beaten badly on third down, forcing Troy into a quick throw.

12:36 This team is FLAT. Penalties, sacks, no holes, no time, missed tackles, but decent pressure by our defense. I guess it's not all horrible. But it's close. I was expecting the fourth quarter to be ugly, but not the first.

12:42 Anderson Russell just stopped Butler Benton for a game of one. If there's a ball on the field, Russell will find it.

12:42:34 Nice defense on third down. Grutza was pressured, scrambled, but was unable to find anybody open. Nice job not giving up a big play on the breakdown that time.

12:44 Finally, the second-team offensive line is in. Let's get this show going.

12:45 False start Jake Ballard. I guess it just doesn't matter.

12:46 Wow, a swing pass to Chris Wells. I thought he was going to pop the ball when he was trying to bring it in.

12:47. Third and one and Chris Wells got stuffed. There was nothing there for him. Ridiculous. Get the first-team back in there! That's the end of the quarter. The mighty Bearcats lead the Buckeyes 7-3.

12:49 So much for a quick 28. I honestly didn't think either of these teams were capable of a first quarter like this. Credit Mark Dantonio for convincing his kids that this was actually possible.

12:51 Wow, that was bad. Cincinnati just ran a wide receiver screen with Dominick Goodman for eleven yards. That wasn't the bad part. The bad part came when Earnest Jackson blocked Malcolm Jenkins down to the ground, then fell down himself. Then, as he started getting up, Marcus Freeman ran right into him, giving Jackson two blocks on the same play. He never even saw Freeman. He had his back to him. Bad.

12:51:29 That's more like it. Pitcock just put a bunch of pressure on Grutza, who was forced out of the pocket and into a waiting James Laurinaitis for the sack! We needed that.

12:53 On third and seventeen, Grutza was chased by Pitcock again. He dumped it off to Glatthaar for five. Who's got #90?

12:56 So, we have to like, uh, score a touchdown on this drive, right?

12:57 Alex Boone got beat again. At least he didn't false start, hold, or personally foul. The only thing keeping that from being a sack is Troy's strength and ability to fall forward.

12:58 Option pitch right for fourteen yards for Antonio Pittman. There were three "Boom!s" and two "Pow!s" on that carry, using the Madden Scale for Football Description.

12:58:33 Pittman just went over the left side for 23 more yards. Troy Smith was following him to block and ended up pushing Pittman in the back. He should probably get credit for the tackle.

12:59 There are some huge holes opening up on the left side of the line on this drive.

1:00 This is a much better looking drive. If we're not going to pass block, we may as well keep run blocking.

1:01 I wonder if all of the token Troy Smith running is to loosen up the passing game. The defensive line can't come crashing after Troy if there's a threat of him running. The back seven may also try to sneak peeks to make sure he's not running and then, subsequently, get beat downfield.

1:03 Third and five and Troy threw a short, ugly pass to Ted Ginn that fell incomplete. Pettrey connects on the 43-yarder to make it 7-6 Cincinnati with 9:17 to go in the first half.

1:04 Nice kicking by Pettrey. I hope he's got about seven more of those left in him today.

1:05 Pettrey kicked it to the goal line and Cincinnati returned it 53 yards. There was nobody downfield yet. That must be the hang time issue that Coach Tressel has with Pettrey's kickoffs. This is why it's important to get touchbacks, people.

1:07 Sack by Vernon Gholston! Great coverage by the back seven, giving Gholston enough time to track down Grutza. Again, good job avoiding a broken play by the defense. Cincinnati will punt.

1:09 Okay, let's march this thing down the field and get another field goal and then call it a night. Who's with me?

1:11 Oh wow! Rory Nicol just looked like Brian Leonard leaping over the defender. Nice fifteen-yard gain on the play action.

1:13 On third and three, Troy hit Gonzo for nine yards. Troy got rid of it just as the blitz got to him. He didn't even flinch.

1:15 Gonzo again!! He looked like Santonio on that 32-yard gain. He took the slant, split the defenders, then took them for a jersey ride!

1:16 First and goal from the seven...touchdown run Troy Smith! Very nice and...it's coming back because of a holding call on Doug Datish. Go figure. Datish hadn't been penalized yet. Good time to get your name called.

1:17 First and goal from the seventeen yard line. And it's 1:17. Trippy.

1:17:22 Nice six-yard gain by Pittman on the fake fullback dive and pitch left. Nice burst of speed by one-half of the Akron Attack! (Nope, still doesn't sound good.)

1:18 Second and goal from the eleven...touchdown Ted Ginn!! Ginn came all the way across the field and Troy waited for him to clear the defenders and held off the sack. Great poise by Troy to stand in the face of the defense and tell them, "Just hold on a sec."

1:18:35 Kick the extra point here. I hate it when teams go for two early in the game. Never go for the two until you have to. The only time it should even be a decision is when you're deciding to win or tie at the end of the game. Good, Coach Tressel is kicking it. And it's good. 13-7 Buckeyes.

1:19 Let's get a three and out here with 3:00 left in the half. Get the ball back and make it 20-7 at the half.

1:20 And Pettrey's kick is a touchback. Troy was 6-6 on that drive. If you cared.

1:22 So much for three and out. Grutz just scrambled and found a receiver 21 yards downfield. These broken plays are the only way Cincinnati is moving the ball. You can't be too hard on the defense for that.

1:23 Laurinaitis interception!! You could see that one coming. Grutza rolled out and threw back across the field. Laurinaitis tipped it, then snagged it! The Little Animal is looking like the Little Hawk. Maybe we should just call him the Little Legion of Doom.

1:26 That's the end of the half. The Buckeyes lead 13-7.

1:27 I like what the defense has done. Cincinnati's only positive plays have basically been on broken plays where Grutza has been pressured and forced to leave the pocket. Laurinaitis learned from the Bearcat touchdown, however, to keep an eye on the deepest guy. His man still got behind him, but not far enough.

1:28 The last offensive drive should give our guys the necessary groove coming out of the half. But we also have to remember that Mark Dantonio is a killer adjuster out of the locker room.

1:32 The second half will feature Pittman left and Pittman right, wouldn't you say?

1:45 Watching this Iowa State/Iowa game, 85% of Iowa State's offense is the quarterback draw. Something to keep in mind when we play in a couple of weeks.

1:48 Ugh. Cincinnati has five plays of 20 yards or more. Eeesh.

1:52 Play action option fake and Troy finds Gonzo for 14 yards. I love that play when it works. Troy was pressured again from the right side. Kirk Barton had a little trouble there.

1:54 Finally, Troy gets tons of time to throw on third and four, and he hit Robo for 19 yards. In a spot where Dantonio usually blitzes, he only rushed three, dropping everybody else into coverage and Troy found the open man.

1:55 Ted Ginn sweep. Forty-three flags thrown. Holding. Block in the back. This, that, the other. All of the penalties were declined because Dantonio decided to go with the loss on the play.

1:58 The sad thing about that play is that with all of those penalties, you would've expected the outcome to be a 36-yard touchdown, not a six-yard loss. That's like embezzling three bucks over a period of six years and going to prison for life.

2:00 I guess we'll just have to get our back-ups quality time next week against Penn State.

2:03 Three and out for the Bearcats. Nice to see the Buckeye defense reassert their dominance.

2:07 Nice option right pitch to Antonio Pittman for thirteen yards. I can't remember the last time we ran this much option and actually pitched the ball. Probably early '90s or late '80s, I'm guessing.

2:09 Four straight carries for Pittman. The aforementioned thirteen-yarder, then a sixer, an eighter and a nice elevener. Hmm...because beer doesn't come in eleven-packs, I don't actually think "elevener" is a word. Too bad.

2:11 Gonzo with another slant. This one for thirteen yards. He's starting to exhibit some YAC (yards after catch) abilities.

2:12 Yow! Troy overthrew the ball into the end zone on a play action. If UC would've intercepted it, they would've taken it back about 104 yards for six.

2:12:41 Second and goal from the nine...Touchdown Teddy!! Ginn on the in!! Troy waited for Ted to open up and then he hit him. Troy locked onto Ted both times today and waited for him to get open. He'll have to be more cognizant (aware) of that against more talented opponents, as a linebacker may magically appear for an interception.

2:15 Just switched over to the Iowa game in time to see Drew Tate shove a football in the face of some Cyclone standing on the sideline. Classy as ever, Tater.

2:16 Play action bootleg by Grutza, to Celek for 28 yards. The last six of that were with Anderson Russell and Malcolm Jenkins on his back. Celek looked like Mark Bavaro there.

2:18 Pitcock. Sack. Simply unstoppable. He's a human chain-reaction. Once he gets started, there's no stopping him.

2:19 Cincinnati shanks the punt. Somebody with time on their hands should keep track of all the shanks against us this year. I don't know what you'll do with that info once you've got it, but you'll be the only one with it.

2:21 Three and out for the Buckeyes.

2:23 But we got it right back with an awesome interception by Malcolm Jenkins! He went up for the jump ball and pulled it down. He's looking more and more like a bigger, stronger Shawn Springs every day.

2:24 Alex Boone held again. He didn't even try. He just stuck his left arm out there and grabbed a jersey. He didn't even move his feet. He looks completely overmatched against the smaller, faster defenders. He's coming out now.

2:28 That's the end of the third quarter with the Buckeyes leading 20-7.

2:29 If Jim Tressel wants it to, this game will stay 20-7 the rest of the way out. But I don't think he does. He can't be happy with the offensive line right now and I imagine he'd like to see some consistency for the rest of the game, and if 14 points happen to come from it, I don't think he'd mind.

2:31 Swing pass by the Bearcats for twelve yards. I hate that play. I miss Donte Whitner.

2:34 Quinn Pitcock with another sack! They'll give him a half a sack on that because Kerr jumped on the pile late.

2:36 Pitcock was just mugged like a tourist on third and fifteen, but UC was still short.

2:37 Ginn gets zero on the punt return again. I think maybe he's trying to do too much east and west and just needs to go upfield. More than likely, something good will happen.

2:41 Antonio Pittman just went up the gut for twelve yards--he's over 100 now.

2:45 Rory Nicol with a nice ten-yard catch. There's been a lot of tight end and fullback today. I like it.

2:45:19 Gone! Antonio Pittman just took it up the left side for a 48-yard touchdown. Very similar to his Fiesta Bowl clincher last season. I think I even saw Zbikowski get into the picture. Wow, that was some serious speed. Pittman is now at 16 carries for 155 yards. Once he got the corner, he didn't give it back.

2:47 Nice block on the end of the run by Ted Ginn Jr. 27-7 Buckeyes.

2:50 Anderson Russell interception! I told you. If there's a ball out there, he'll find it. Though I'm a little disappointed that he stole the ball from Malcolm Jenkins. You can't get beat like that, Malcolm.

2:52 Justin Zwick is in. I think I can probably write the rest of the Watch without watching. The next pass will be to a tight end or running back.

2:53 Ha! Dump off to Dionte Johnson, incomplete. The third down pass will be to the tight end four yards downfield.

2:55 Ha! I'm gleefully wrong. Zwick was pressured and threw it up to Ray Small who was in one-on-one coverage, and Small pulled it down for a 36-yard gain. Very nice play by both of them.

2:56 Oh snap! Justin Zwick rolled right, stopped, and threw back to Brian Hartline over the middle. Hartline then zipped down the sideline for 27 yards down to the nine yard line.

2:57 Maurice Wells: Power Back!! Wells finished the drive with a nine-yard touchdown run right up the gut. Nice drive by the second-unit. Though Jim Tressel kept the first-team offensive line in there, probably to get them straightened out. 34-7 Buckeyes.

2:59 Hartline has put on weight. Or maybe that's just how everybody looks when they wear David Boston's number.

3:01 Robert Rose is standing up on the defensive line between Joel Penton and Todd Denlinger. Interesting. He then dropped back into coverage.

3:02 Robert Rose gets his first sack! But they'll probably only give him a half.

3:03 Homan gets a sack! Back-to-back sacks by true freshmen! Nice coverage downfield allowed Homan to get to the quarterback.

3:05 Boeckman is in now. Boeckman is fumbling now.

3:06 Chris Wells just ran the ball for eight yards. Every time he runs it, Cincinnati is trying to rip the ball out. Looks like folks think Beanie is a fumbler.

3:08 Rob Schoenhoft is in now. Schoenhoft is fumbling now. He scrambled, then fumbled. Is that a scrumble? A framble?

3:10 Pretorius is lining up for a 52-yard field goal...Got it!! Great to see. He seems pretty pleased with himself. 37-7 Buckeyes.

3:14 Ryan Williams is now in for the Buckeyes. It's been a long road for him. Good to see him out there.

3:14:27 Robert Rose with another sack! It's amazing that this kid can't get on the field yet. That's the eighth sack by the Buckeyes. Throw in the three interceptions, and that's a pretty full day for a defense.

3:15 That's the ballgame, folks. A nice 37-7 win over the Bearcats.

3:16 Rob Schoenhoft is talking to Roy Hall about his first career completion. Probably asking Roy why he didn't take it to the house on his four-yard reception.

3:18 Well, I thought it would be a shutout and if not for those two broken plays, it would've been. So I'm going to go ahead and count it as a shutout, forcing me to acknowledge my 38-0 prediction. I was only one-point off. Pretty impressive.

3:22 If we came out sluggish this week because we were looking ahead, then I feel bad for what's coming Penn State's way next week.

3:22:01 Not really.

Return to the-Ozone Columns and Features

Return to the-OZone Front Page