No. 15 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Miami RedHawks – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/11/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2000
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Depth Chart
%^$ Top 25 Polls%^$ Weekly Release in .PDF format%^$Coach Cooper’s Press Conference%^$ Football Quotes%^$
%^$This Week
%^$Ohio State returns home this week to face Miami (Ohio). Kickoff Saturday is set for 12:10 p.m. in sold-out Ohio Stadium (cap. 95, 346). The game will be televised by ESPN Plus and can be seen in 18 states throughout the United States.%^$
%^$Special Events
%^$This is Hall of Fame weekend at Ohio State. Fifteen former Buckeyes will be inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame Friday evening. The new inductees will be introduced to the Ohio Stadium crowd at halftime.%^$
%^$Records and Rankings
%^$Both teams are 2-0 on the year. The Buckeyes opened the season with a 43-10 win over Fresno State Sept. 2 and defeated Arizona, 27-17, this past Saturday in Tucson. This is the third-consecutive road game for the Redhawks, who downed Vanderbilt (33-30) in their Sept. 2 opener and then polished off Eastern Michigan (34-17) this past weekend. Ohio State is ranked 15th in this week’s ESPN/USA Today poll and is 17th in the latest Associated Press balloting. The Buckeyes were 18th in both polls prior to their win over Arizona. Miami is not ranked.%^$
%^$Arizona Recap
%^$In their first “big test” of the season, the Buckeyes rallied from a 17-10 halftime deficit to defeat the host Wildcats in front of a capacity crowd of 57,367. The OSU defense again came up big, recording 16 tackles-for-losses, eight sacks and allowing just 194 yards in total offense, including a mere 57 on the ground. The Wildcats renowned Desert Storm defense was no match for the Ohio State offense, which racked up 341 yards in total offense — 240 in the air and 101 on the ground.
| %^$ %^$ Sr. flanker Chad Cacchio %^$ |
The win extended Ohio State’s current winning streakagainst Pac-10 teams to five. Senior co-captain Joe Cooper led theBuckeyes with seven tackles and defensive tackle Mike Collins hadsix, including a pair of sacks. Senior flanker Chad Cacchio’s60-yard TD reception ignited a 17-point second-half outburst by theBuckeyes.%^$
%^$Ohio State All-Time
%^$This is the 111th season of football for the Buckeyes, who began play in 1890. The win Saturday in Tucson elevates OSU’s all-time record to 719-283-53. Over the years, the Buckeyes have experienced just 11 losing seasons, with six of those coming prior to 1925.%^$
%^$The Series
%^$This will be just the third meeting between the two schools and the first in the modern era. The Buckeyes won the first two games, 80-0 in 1904 and 3-0 in 1911. Both contest were played in Columbus.%^$
%^$Ohio State’s John Cooper
%^$Now in his 24th season as a head coach on the collegiate level, John Cooper is in his 13th year at the helm of the Buckeyes. Cooper has a lifetime mark of 187-79-6 and ranks sixth among active Division I coaches in terms of victories. Cooper’s record at Ohio State is 105-39-4 and includes two Big Ten championships and 10 bowl appearances. He is the second-winningest coach in Ohio State history, trailing only the legendary Woody Hayes (205 victories in 28 years). Only Hayes (1951-78) and John W. Wilce (1913-28) have enjoyed longer coaching tenures at OSU. Prior to coming to Ohio State, Cooper spent three years at Arizona State, where he was National Coach of the Year in 1986. His three-year record of 25-9-2 with the Sun Devils included a 10-1-1 mark and the school’s first ever Rose Bowl appearance in 1986. The 63-year-old Cooper also spent eight seasons as head coach at Tulsa, compiling a 57-31 record between 1977 and 1984. Cooper is a 1962 graduate of Iowa State, where he was team captain and MVP as a senior. This is his first meeting with Miami but he is 4-0 against teams from the Mid-American Conference while at Ohio State.%^$
%^$Miami Coach Terry Hoeppner
%^$RedHawks’ head coach Terry Hoeppner is starting his second season as the successor to Randy Walker, who left Miami after the 1998 season to become head coach at Northwestern. Hoeppner was the Redhawks’ defensive coordinator at the time of Walker’s departure. The RedHawks were 7-4 last year, including a 28-3 opening-day win over Northwestern in Evanston.%^$
%^$Ohio State Ties
%^$There is a definite Ohio State flavor on the RedHawks’ team. Former Ohio State offensive tackle John Peterson, a four-year letterman between 1987 and 1990 and later a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes, currently serves as the RedHawks’ offensive line coach. Additionally, Joe Palcic, the son of former OSU assistant coach Bob Palcic, is Miami’s defensive backfield coach. Buckeye fans also will recognize the name of the RedHawks’ No. 2 tailback, Calvin Murray Jr. He is the son of former Buckeye tailback Calvin Murray, who still ranks ninth on OSU’s all-time rushing list with 2,576 yards between 1977 and 1980. Like his father at Ohio State, the younger Murray wears jersey No. 43.%^$
%^$The OSU Offense
%^$It took the Buckeyes a while to get untracked in the desert, but once they did, they scored 17 unanswered points against Arizona’s vaunted defense. Quarterback Steve Bellisari hit six-consecutive passes in the third quarter, good for 151 yards and a touchdown to spark the attack. His 60-yard strike to flanker Chad Cacchio and the ensuing PAT, tied the score at 17 with 7:53 to play in the second half. On OSU’s next possession, he hooked up with split end Reggie Germany on a 46-yard bomb that set up Jonathan Wells’ 2-yard TD run. Bellisari finished the night with 240 yards passing and directed the Buckeyes to scores on three of their last five possessions. Six different receivers caught passes for the Buckeyes, including flanker Ken-Yon Rambo, who hauled in five passes for the second week in a row. Senior tailback Derek Combs again led all rushers, this time with 53 yards. Wells added 34 yards. After two games, the Buckeyes are averaging 351.5 yards and 35 points a game. They have scored 16 points in the first quarter, 14 in the second, 21 in the third and 19 in the fourth. They have turned the ball over just four times, three on fumbles and once on an interception.%^$
%^$The OSU Defense
%^$The Buckeye defense has turned in two solid performances in the early going, scoring four times against Fresno State (twice on fumble recoveries and twice on interceptions) and then recording 16 tackles-for-loss and eight sacks against Arizona and holding the Wildcats to 194 yards. Neither team could top the century mark in rushing against OSU, Fresno netting 87 yards and Arizona 57. The Buckeyes recorded six turnovers in the opener, and while they just had one at Arizona, Wildcat quarterback Ortege Jenkins was under constant pressure all night. Arizona converted a scant five of 19 third and fourth down attempts. Twelve different OSU players recorded tackles-for-loss in the Arizona game.%^$
%^$Cooper on Arizona
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| %^$ %^$ Head Coach John Cooper %^$ |
%^$”I thought we showed a tremendous amount of character togo out there, make the mistakes we made in the first half, and thencome back and win in the second half in a very hostile environment.We beat a good football team. Offensively, we got some big playswhen we had to, and defensively we played very well, especially upfront. That was a very physical game, but we came out of it with nonew injuries and that’s good. We spent a lot of time last weekworking on protecting the passer and we only gave up two sacks, sothat is encouraging.”%^$
%^$Cooper on the Buckeyes
%^$”I think we showed improvement between week one and week two. They key for this team is to keep working hard and improving. We are still committing way too many penalties and that concerns me. But we have given great effort on both sides of the ball in both games.”%^$
%^$Cooper on Miami
%^$”They are 2-0 and have a veteran team. Given the recent success of the Mid-American Conference and the way their teams have played against the Big Ten this year, I am sure they will come in here excited about the game. We will need to have a good week of practice and be ready to play on Saturday.”%^$
%^$Injury Report
%^$Linebackers Jason Ott and Jack Tucker are definitely out this week. Ott, who started all 12 games a year ago and was in on 79 tackles, tore a muscle in his right shoulder Aug. 15 and underwent surgery the next day. Tucker suffered a fractured left clavicle Aug. 22. Both players are being evaluated weekly. Offensive tackle Tyson Walter continues to be listed as questionable because of an infection. Walter, a 6-5, 300-pound senior, had started 37-consecutive games at left tackle for the Buckeyes coming into the season, but has missed the first two games.%^$
%^$Cradle Robbers
%^$Miami, long known as the “Cradle of Coaches” has played a significant part in the prominence of Ohio State’s football program. Paul Brown, who coached the Buckeyes between 1941 and 1943 and led them to the National Championship, played at Miami in 1928 & `29. Woody Hayes spent two years as head coach at Miami before coming to Ohio State in 1951. Additionally, former OSU assistants Sid Gillman, Bill Mallory and Bo Schembechler all have Miami roots.%^$
%^$Making a Difference
%^$While the Buckeyes and RedHawks are battling on the field, students from both universities will be joining together to participate in Make A Difference Day, a national initiative to promote good will through community service. The national day of recognition is Oct. 28, but the Ohio State contingency is committing itself even further. In addition to the student leaders from Miami, Penn State will bring a group to Columbus Sept. 23. OSU students will travel to Purdue (Oct. 28) to assist with community service projects there.%^$
| %^$ %^$ 1950 Heisman Trophy Winner Vic Janowicz %^$ |
%^$Next Week
%^$The Buckeyes complete its two-game homestand by hosting PennState in the Big Ten opener. The late Vic Janowicz’ number (31)will be officially retired at halftime.
