COLUMBUS — Having proven for at least one game that they’re better than they’ve seemed, the No. 10 Ohio State Buckeyes now have to impress No. 3 Penn State.
“The mindset was, ‘Let’s show how good we are.’ I think we did,” guard Jim Cordle said after Saturday’s 45-7 rout of No. 20 Michigan State, undoubtedly the Buckeyes’ most impressive game of the season. “We wanted to get some momentum going for the back end of the Big Ten season.”
That “back end” of the season kicks off with a national spotlight game under the lights Saturday night at Ohio Stadium. On the line is first place in the Big Ten for both the Buckeyes (7-1, 4-0) and Nittany Lions (8-0, 4-0).
For the Buckeyes, it’s a last chance to redeem themselves after falling apart in the last two national championship games and a 35-3 blowout loss at Southern California earlier this season.
“I definitely think if we could come out with a win it would force some people to respect us again,” cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said Monday. “It seems right now they don’t have any (respect for us) nationwide. But we’re more worried about getting a win and trying to win a Big Ten championship.”
The Buckeyes had played lethargic, uninspired ball for most of the season, barely scraping by against teams such as Ohio (26-14), Troy (28-10), Minnesota (34-21), Wisconsin (20-17) and Purdue (16-3). That was not the case against Michigan State. They had more than 160 yards just in fumble return yardage in the game, and jumped on every mistake the Spartans (6-2, 3-1) made. And Michigan State made a lot of them, turning the ball over five times.
“It’s what I would term a good, tough win on the road,” coach Jim Tressel said. “This is huge. It was a ranked opponent, a team playing with a lot of confidence. It was a great atmosphere.”
The Nittany Lions, one of the biggest surprises in the nation so far, rolled over everything in their path while winning their first seven games. Faced with a Michigan team that was coming off a humiliating 13-10 home loss to Mid-American Conference member Toledo the week before, Penn State was favored to swamp the embarrassed Wolverines.
But the Wolverines not only hung around, they led 17-14 at the half and were tied at 17 late in the third quarter. Then things fell apart, with the Nittany Lions going into hyperdrive to roll to a 46-17 win.
Now there are only two teams left atop the standings in the conference.
“This week is so big for us and it’s so big in the Big Ten conference,” Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis said.
One of the reasons why the Buckeyes were clicking so well was the play of freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor. He had shown flashes of the talent that marked him as the nation’s No. 1 QB recruit last spring, but had also shown a propensity to take a lot of negative plays.
He sure didn’t against Michigan State, going 7-of-11 passing for 116 yards including a 56-yard TD throw against a blitz to wide receiver Brian Hartline — the Buckeyes’ longest play from scrimmage this year.
They raced to 21 quick points in the opening quarter and never looked back, one of the few times this season they’ve been able to put a team away early.
A week after not scoring an offensive touchdown against Purdue’s lightly regarded defense, the Buckeyes almost scored at will against Michigan State.
“If feels good to know we stepped forward as an offense,” said receiver Brian Robiskie, who caught also caught a TD pass from Pryor.
In addition, Chris “Beanie” Wells rushed for 140 yards on a season-high 31 carries and two touchdowns.
Pryor is from Jeannette, Pa., and Penn State was among his final three choices in colleges before picking Ohio State. So he knows the magnitude of what’s ahead on Saturday.
“It’s going to be fun because they’re a Pennsylvania team,” he said.

OSU has another chance to prove itself

This is another chance for the Buckeyes to redeem themselves on a big stage.
No. 10 Ohio State has crawled back into the top 10 in the polls and the Bowl Championship Series rankings after those painful, lopsided losses in the last two national championship games, along with the 35-3 beating at USC. Now the Buckeyes need to take advantage of an opportunity to show that they can win a big game when No. 3 Penn State comes to town.
“On the team there really hasn’t been too much talk about what happened at SC and playing in the big games,” cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said Monday. “For us, we’re motivated enough just off of the fact that it’s a game that has Big Ten championship implications (and) it’s a night game at Ohio Stadium.”
Adding to the aura is how rare such games (8 p.m.) are at the Ohio Stadium.
“We haven’t had that since 2005, against Texas,” Jenkins said. “Penn State and Ohio State go back a while having great games. That’s going to be hyped up there. They’re a top-3 team in the nation and we’re trying to find our way back in the rankings. So for us there’s plenty of motivation.”

Sore ‘Beanie’

Tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells said he’s still sore after carrying a season-high 31 times for 140 yards and two touchdowns in the 45-7 rout of Michigan State on Saturday.
Asked on Monday how his foot felt, he said, “It’s pretty sore.”
He said he had hoped that the foot injury that kept him out of three games might have healed faster, but he’s now come around to thinking that he may have to play with it all year.
“I hoped to be healthier. But it’s something I have to deal with,” he said.

Best Buckeyes

Ohio State’s staff selected its weekly award winners from the 45-7 blowout at Michigan State.
The defensive player of the game was linebacker James Laurinaitis, Wells took the offensive honors and linebacker Austin Spitler captured the award for the special units.

GameDay coming

ESPN’s College GameDay will be televised live outside St. John Arena on Saturday morning for the game against the Nittany Lions. The show is hosted by Chris Fowler with analysts Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and former Ohio State QB Kirk Herbstreit.

Cooooop!

College Football Hall of Famer John Cooper, coach of the Buckeyes from 1988-2000, will be honored at both Ohio State and Tulsa this weekend in honor of his induction this year.
Cooper, second on the coaching wins list at Ohio State to Woody Hayes, will be honored during the game against Penn State.
Cooper also was a head coach at Arizona State and Tulsa. He’ll be honored at Tulsa on Sunday during the Golden Hurricane’s game against Central Florida.

Red-letter night

All Buckeyes fans attending Saturday night’s game are encouraged to wear scarlet for the prime-time national television broadcast on ABC.
Scarlet rally towels, courtesy of Nationwide Insurance, will be distributed to the first 80,000 fans.
Also Saturday:
• Former Buckeyes QBs Bob Hoying and Craig Krenzel will be signing autographs starting at 2:30 p.m. at the FanFest location outside the south side of St. John Arena. Krenzel will be available from 2:30-4 p.m. and Hoying from 4-5:30 p.m.
• Following the game, 40,000 copies of an Ohio State football commemorative issue of Sports Illustrated “Game Breakers” will be handed out at Ohio Stadium exits.

SATURDAY

WHO: No. 10 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Penn State
TIME: 8 p.m.
WHERE: Ohio Stadium, Columbus
TV/RADIO: Channel 5; WEOL 930-AM, WKNR 1100-AM
 

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---