No. 16 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Arizona Wildcats – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/4/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 4, 2000
Depth Chart
Top 25 Polls Weekly Release in .PDF format CoachCooper’s Press Conference
This Week
Ohio State travels to Tucson this week to take on the University of Arizona Wildcats. Saturday’s kickoff is set for 7:10 p.m. MST (10:10 p.m. EST) in Arizona Stadium (capacity: 56,500). The game will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net.
TV and Radio
Steve Physioc and Tom Ramsey will describe the action for Fox Sports Net. The game also will be broadcast by WBNS Radio in Columbus (1460 AM and 97.1 FM), the flag-ship station for the 71-station Ohio State Radio Network. Paul Keels (play-by-play), Jim Lachey (color) and Jim Karsatos (side-lines) comprise the broadcast team.
Records and Rankings
Both teams were 6-6 last year and both are 1-0 after the first week of the season this year. Ohio State opened its season Saturday with a convincing 43-10 win over visiting Fresno State. A record Ohio Stadium crowd of 96,583 was on hand to watch the Buckeyes record their 22nd consecutive victory in a home opener. Arizona launched its 2000 season Saturday night with a 17-3 victory at Utah. The Buckeyes are ranked 16th in this Week’s ESPN/USA Today poll and 18th in the Associated Press voting. Arizona is not ranked in the top 25.
Ohio State All-Time
This is the 111th season of football for the Buckeyes, who began play in 1890. Saturday’s win over Fresno elevates Ohio State’s all-time record to 718-283-53. Over the years, the Buckeyes have had just 11 losing seasons, with six of those coming prior to 1925. The Series
This is just the fourth meeting between Ohio State and Arizona and the first ever in Tucson. The Buckeyes lead the series 2-1, losing in 1967 (14-7), but bouncing back with win in 1991 (38-14) and 1997 (28-20). This will be Ohio State’s first trip to Arizona since a 28-23 win over Pittsburgh in the 1984 (Jan. 2) Fiesta Bowl.
Ohio State Coach 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 186-79-6 and ranks sixth among active Division I coaches in terms of victories. Cooper’s record at Ohio State is 104-39-4 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. He is 3-2 against Arizona. Cooper is a 1962 graduate of Iowa State, where he was team captain and MVP as a senior.
Arizona Coach Dick Tomey
Like his Ohio State counterpart, Tomey also is in his 24th year as a head coach. Tomey, a 1964 graduate of DePauw University, has a lifetime record of 154-104-7, including a 91-58-4 mark as he starts his 14th year at Arizona.
The Coaching Fraternity
Cooper and Tomey spent six years together as assistant coaches at Kansas. Additionally, Dino Babers, who currently serves as offensive coordinator at Arizona, was an assistant coach at Tulsa under Cooper.
Fresno State Snapshot
Apparently the best offense really is a good defense. The OSU defense stole the spot-light Saturday by scoring a modern-era school-record four touchdowns — two on fumble recoveries and two on interception returns. Senior cornerback David Mitchell, making just the second start of his career, recorded two of those scores, running 34 yards with a recovered fumble and jetting 51 yards with his second career interception. On the day, the Buckeyes intercepted four passes. All-America candidates Nate Clements at the cover corner and Mike Doss at strong safety recorded 10 and 7 tackles, respectively, with Doss also recovering a fumble in the end zone for the Buckeyes’ first score. The OSU offense rushed for 223 yards, including 88 by senior tailback Derek Combs, and finished with 389 yards on the day.
Mitchell Honored
Senior cornerback David Mitchell has been named as this week’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Mitchell, who prepped at nearby Westerville South High School, made the most of his second career start by scoring two touchdowns and recording 5.5 tackles. He also was credited with a pass broken up.
“I was a little nervous last week. Saturday’s game really helped my confidence,” Mitchell said. “And to be chosen Big Ten Player of the Week is a great honor. But it is an honor I share with the entire defense. We played well as a unit and did what we had to do to stop Fresno. Hopefully, we will continue to play well and make big plays that help the team win.”
The Buckeye Offense
The Buckeyes rushed for 223 yards and passed for 166 more in the win over Fresno. Combs led all rushers with 88 yards, while junior quarterback Steve Bellisari completed 8 of 14 passes for 95 yards and one touchdown. Flanker Ken-Yon Rambo caught five of those passes and was one of six OSU receivers to haul in a reception. The Buckeyes had the ball 15 times and scored on six of those possessions.
The Buckeye Defense
The “Silver Bullets” scored twice in a 21- second span (both on fumble recoveries) at the end of the first quarter to put Fresno in a hole that it could never dig out of. In addition to six turnovers, the OSU defense registered five tackles for loss. The starting secondary of Clements, Doss, Mitchell and Donnie Nickey collected 26 tackles.
The Kicking Game
Senior co-captain Rodney Bailey, a defensive end by trade, helped set the tone early by blocking a field goal attempt on Fresno State’s opening possession. Buckeye field-goal kicker Dan Stultz converted his only attempt, a 34-yarder, and converted four of five extra points. His lone miss came after OSU had been assessed a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration.
Cooper on the Buckeyes
“I could not be more pleased with our effort against Fresno State. We made some mistakes on both sides of the ball, but we can learn from those mistakes and become a better football team. Probably the most disappointing aspect of the game was our failure to convert in short-yardage situations (two of six on third-and-fourth-down conversion attempts). You just cannot squander those opportunities. But after looking at the films, our offensive line played better than I thought. Defensively, the No. 1 thing we preach to our players is for the defense to score. It was great to watch us take advantage of those turnovers. That is something we didn’t do a year ago. We have a win under our belt against a scrappy team and we were able to play a lot of players. I expect great effort in practice this week.”
Cooper on Arizona
“I have known Dick Tomey for a long time. He is a very good football coach. Traditionally, his teams are very strong defensively, and run to the ball very well. This year appears to be no exception. Offensively, they give you a lot of different looks. They have a number of excellent players returning, including Ortege Jenkins at quarterback. This game will be a real test for us, there is no question about that.”
Cooper’s Keys
“We need to learn from our mistakes last week and get better. This is our first trip of the year and we need to be mature enough to handle playing on the road. It will be hot out there, but it was hot last Saturday. Our mind-set has to be `nothing should keep us from winning.'”
Injury Report
Linebackers Jason Ott and Jack Tucker will not play 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. He is expected to miss about three weeks. Tucker suffered a fractured left clavicle Aug. 22. He will be evaluated on a weekly basis. Offensive tackle Tyson Walter is listed as questionable because of an infection that kept him out of the Fresno State game, snapping a streak of 37-consecutive starts.
Walter Nominated
Senior offensive tackle Tyson Walter has been nominated for a National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholarship. The award is presented annually to the nation’s top senior football scholar-athletes. Ohio State’s Ahmed Plummer received the award last year.
Captains Chosen
Seniors Ken-Yon Rambo, Joe Cooper and Rodney Bailey, and junior Steve Bellisari are the co-captains of the 2000 Buckeyes. Bellisari, whose brother Greg was a co-captain of the 1996 Buckeyes and is now a graduate assistant on the OSU staff, is the first junior to be so honored since Pepper Johnson in 1984.
Buckeye Notes
Dan Stultz’ 34-yard field goal against Fresno was the 41st of his career, tying him with Vlade Janakievski (1977-80) for second place on OSU’s all-time list behind career leader Tim Williams (1990-93), who had 49 during his career. Saturday’s crowd of 96,583 broke the Ohio Stadium record of 95, 537 against Notre Dame in 1995. Senior split end Chad Cacchio hauled in his first career touchdown catch Saturday, a 23-yard grab in the second quarter. Tailback Jonathan Wells, left tackle Ivan Douglas, middle linebacker Matt Wilhelm and tight end Darnell Sanders all notched their first starts on Saturday. Wilhelm responded with his first career interception, which he returned 25 yards for a touchdown. True freshmen Will Allen, B.J. Barre, Bobby Britton, Marco Cooper, Michael Jenkins, Robert Reynolds, Darrion Scott, Will Smith and Alex Stepanovich all saw game action against Fresno State
Homecoming for Brown
Senior defensive tackle Joe Brown is probably the only Buckeye considering this weekend’s contest a home game. Brown was born in Columbus but moved to Tucson, Ariz. as an infant. He attended Catalina Foothills High School and earned all-state hon-ors on both offense and defense.
Next week
Ohio State returns home to host Miami (Ohio). Game time is 12:10 p.m. The weekend’s activities include the induction of 15 new members into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame. This year’s HOF class includes former football All-Americans Chris Spielman, Keith Byars and Ollie Cline. This year’s class will be available to meet with the media at 4 P.M.. Friday in the Atrium of the Woody Hayes Athletics Center. The class will be introduced at halftime of Saturday’s game.
