Editors Note: I hesitated to put this up on the blog today, with Lloyd's retirement and all, but they did win on Saturday, so the Victors goes the spoils..........
Ahhh…the sweat nectar of victory…….
In a game reminiscent of 1977 rather than 2007 the Buckeyes overcame 111,000+ fans, a cold, rainy day and an emotional Wolverine team playing for their retiring coach, and came away with a hard fought 14-3 victory. The victory sealed the Buckeyes second consecutive outright Big 10 Championship as assured them of a least a trip to the Rose Bowl. Somewhere, Woody Hayes is looking down with a big smile on his face.
The stories of the game were the Buckeye defense (limiting UM to 91 net yards), the hard nosed running of Chris “Beanie” Wells, and the inability of Michigan to run, pass, and/or catch the football. Vernon Gholston (please stay for one more year) was a terror for the Buckeyes on defense recording three sacks and one tackle for a loss. Beanie ran for a career high 222 yards and two scores (abusing Brandent Englemon on both scoring runs). Playing in the rain, the banged up Mike Hart and Chad Henne were unable to overcome numerous drops by Michigan receivers to mount any serious scoring drives after the first quarter.
Todd Boekman, playing in his first OSU-UM game, was adversely affected by both the weather and the heat of the moment and was not asked to do much through the air. The Buckeyes threw the ball only twice in the second half and relied on the inspired running of Wells. In the end, Coach Tressel and the Buckeyes came away with their fourth straight win against Michigan and second consecutive win in Ann Arbor.
Random thoughts…….
-Vernon Gholston dominated the game. He lined up all over the defensive line and spent a good deal of time in the UM backfield. He even recorded the first sack of the year against All-American Tackle Jake Long. I could only laugh at his last sack of Henne.
-After last year’s scoring bonanza, I was happy to see the return of “Tressel Ball.” No need for risky throws, run the ball down their throats and punt when necessary.
-With OSU losing only three starters to graduation (plus the potential to lose up to four or five more to early departure to the NFL) the future appears very bright on both sides of the ball. Here’s hoping that Robiskie, Boone, Laurinaitis, Jenkins and Gholston take the same approach as Henne, Hart and Long and come back next year for a shot at a National Championship.
What’s next……
-OSU will take a few days off to enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends followed by exams before the holiday break.
-Practice should start again in early December.
-The opponent for the Rose Bowl is yet to be determined. I’m pretty sure it will be the winner of the USC-Arizona State game on Thursday…but I haven’t checked the standings in the Pac-10.
-There’s still a slim chance of getting to the BCS Championship game in the Sugar Bowl. Oregon and Oklahoma losing helps. Several more Big-12 teams need to lose and either West Virginia or LSU needs to lose one more game. I won’t go into all the specifics of what needs to happen. I’m happy with the rare trip to the Rose Bowl.
368 more days (11/22/2008 in Columbus)
Buckeye John
No comments:
Post a Comment