Ohio State vs. Cincinnati Preview

By Tony Gerdeman

Game Three.

Cincinnati and Ohio State will be meeting for the 15th time on Saturday. The Buckeyes hold the all-time series edge 12-2. The Bearcats haven’t beaten Ohio State since back-to-back victories in ’96 and ’97…that would be 1896 and 1897.

Cincinnati is 1-1 on the season, beating Eastern Kentucky in their opener; then losing at home to Pittsburgh last week.

This will be the Bearcats second ever attempt to unseat the #1 team in the nation. Their first attempt came back in 1986 when they hosted the Miami Hurricanes. Miami left Nippert Stadium with a 45-13 win.

Ohio State comes in 2-0 and ranked #1 in every poll worth arguing about.

In their history, the Buckeyes are 173-48-17 against teams from Ohio. Their last loss coming in 1921 to mighty Oberlin. Since then, the Buckeyes have ripped off 21 consecutive victories against teams from the Buckeye State.

The real trend to keep an eye on, however, is that Cincinnati is 4-3 all-time on September 16.

When Cincinnati Has the Ball

Cincinnati runs a variation of the spread and does much of it out of the shotgun. Head coach Mark Dantonio would prefer a balanced attack, but the score of the game doesn’t always allow for that.

They are still looking for reliable skill and have finally decided to stop rotating quarterbacks. Sophomore Dustin Grutza will get the nod at quarterback, having been splitting some time with senior Nick Davila. Grutza has started thirteen consecutive games, so he’s no stranger
to taking the team’s first snap.

Grutza is fairly mobile and will do some rolling out of the pocket. He’s not just a dink and dunk guy as he likes to take shots downfield. If he does that this weekend, expect the Buckeyes to get a couple of interceptions.

The Bearcats have experienced receivers, but their leading receiver is sophomore Dominick Goodman. Goodman leads the team with 12 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Goodman is Grutza’s number one target, so Malcolm Jenkins, Antonio Smith and Donald Washington should all get their shot to shut him down.

Bill Poland and Earnest Jackson are two receivers who have been around for years. They can move the chains, but they don’t necessarily scare you. The other guy in the passing game to keep an eye on will be tight end Brent Celek. Celek is second on the team with nine receptions for 107 yards. The Ohio State linebackers and safeties will need to watch Celek because Dustin Grutza certainly will be.

Trying to provide Grutza with time to throw will be a relatively inexperienced line. The left side of the line has five career starts, which would include the four they’ve made this season.

Redshirt freshman Jeffrey Linkenbach has the size to play the position (6’6” 290), but this will be his first test against high quality defenders. The way the Buckeyes rotate defensive ends and outside linebackers, Linkenbach’s head may be spinning by the time the fourth quarter rolls around.

Grutza was sacked three times last week by Pitt. Do not be surprised if that number is doubled by the Buckeyes. Even though Cincinnati runs some spread, Grutza will hold the ball longer than most spread quarterbacks.

The Bearcats have three running backs that have been getting carries, and none have really emerged as a workhorse. Bradley Glatthaar carried the ball six times for 31 yards against Pitt last Friday. Butler Benton carried it five times for sixteen yards and Greg Moore carried it five times for eleven yards.

Look for the Buckeye linebackers to become miraculously better tacklers this week.

Defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock has been the Defensive Attack Force Player of the Week for the Buckeyes in each of their two games.

He and fellow tackle David Patterson will be able to handle the middle of Cincinnati’s line, allowing linebackers James Laurinaits, John Kerr and Marcus Freeman to pick the ball carriers apart.

This is a chance for Freeman and Kerr to build their confidence and make plays that they haven’t been able to make so far this season.

As you would expect from a former Jim Tressel assistant, Mark Dantonio has developed solid special teams.

Kicker Kevin Lovell is an experienced senior who has made 16-25 field goals for his career and 62-63 extra points. Punter Brian Steel has already punted the ball 15 times this season. Nine of which have pinned the opponent inside the 20 yard line. He’s got good hang time as well, as seven of his kicks have been fair caught.

Dominick Goodman is averaging 26 yards per kickoff return, but with Aaron Pettrey’s leg, don’t expect him to get many opportunities on Saturday. Punt returns are split between Haruki Nakamura and Derrick Stewart. The long between them so far this season has been twelve yards.

As a defensive unit, the Cincinnati special teams only allow six yards per punt return and 19.7 yards per kickoff return.

When Ohio State Has the Ball

Per usual, it all starts with Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith. Smith has a career record of 15-2 as a starter. For comparison’s sake, Rex Kern had a 27-2 career record; Corny Green had a 31-3-1 record and Craig Krenzel had a 24-3 record. Troy Smith also owns the Ohio State all-time record for career completion percentage with his 61% mark.

Look for that completion percentage to go up slightly this week.

Cincinnati likes to blitz and Troy Smith would probably welcome it. The Bearcats will blitz at most any opportunity, but especially on third down and less than eight yards.

It’s the best way for them to neutralize the lack of talent. It’s also the best way for them to give up a big play when that blitz gets picked up.

Smith should have all of the necessary time to throw the ball, so look for him to find receiver Ted Ginn early on. Since it’s likely the both players won’t play more than three quarters, they will have to post “Heisman numbers” in the first half.

Because of all of the blitzing the Bearcats do, their defensive backs are frequently left in one-on-one situations. Not helping the matter is the fact that they have shown a tendency to be weak tacklers. If they don’t get Ginn or Anthony Gonzalez or any of the Buckeye receivers when they’ve got a shot at them, they will be in for a bad day.

The Bearcat corners have talent and speed, but they are still overmatched. The safeties are experienced, led by senior strong safety Dominic Ross, who is in his third season as a starter. Free safety Haruki Nakamura has a knack for the ball and is fun to watch.

However, they aren’t always able to get in position to help out on the deep ball.

The Ohio State offensive line figures to be okay against an undersized defensive line for Cincinnati. Defensive tackle Tony Carvitti leads the team in sacks with two, but he’s listed at 6’0” 235. Don’t expect interior linemen Tim Schafer, Doug Datish or T.J. Downing to have too much trouble with the Cincinnati front. The other tackle is Terrill Byrd, who is listed at 6’1” 285. He probably would have gotten plenty of other scholarship offers had he been 6’4” instead of 6’1”.

The Buckeyes should start out the game passing and then go to the running game in the third and fourth quarters. It may be difficult for running back Antonio Pittman to get enough attempts to get 100 yards, unless he breaks a long one.

Backups Maurice Wells and Chris Wells look to get a decent amount of carries in the second half. Do not be surprised if they amass 150 yards between the two of them.

Ohio State played 52 players in the first half against Texas last week. There’s no reason that they can’t top that number by the end of the game on Saturday.

In fact, maybe we’ll get to see redshirt freshman quarterback Rob Schoenhoft make his Buckeye debut. At any rate, watch the young guys in the second half, it will give you a glimpse at what’s on tap at The Ohio State University.

Place-kicker Aaron Pettrey finally hit a field goal for the Buckeyes, after two bad misses. His confidence should begin to improve and there is no doubt that the strength of his leg is a plus. The accuracy will have to come with time.

Punter A.J. Trapasso was the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week last week and he seems to be continuing in the recent legacy of terrific punters at Ohio State. Don’t expect Cincinnati to have much success returning any kicks Saturday afternoon.

Do, however, expect the Buckeyes to have success returning kicks.

How It’ll End Up

The Bearcats will win the toss, they’ll defer, the Buckeyes will take the ball, and five plays later it will be 7-0 Ohio State.

Troy Smith will throw for a quick couple of touchdowns, one to Ted Ginn, the other to Rory Nicol.

Antonio Pittman will have a leisurely day, around 13 carries for 70 yards or so.

The common belief is that Jim Tressel won’t embarrass his good friend Mark Dantonio. While this is true, there’s not much you can do when your opponent turns the ball over again and again. It will be those turnovers that contribute to a short touchdown drive or two.

Cincinnati won’t move the ball on the ground at all and will have to throw the ball 65% of the time.

They still won’t move the ball.

There will be a special teams touchdown, but to tell you who it’s going to be would spoil the surprise.

There may even be a defensive touchdown involving Anderson Russell.

This one will get ugly early and stay that way all day long.

Ohio State 38 – Cincinnati 0

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