Game Notes From Ohio State vs. Northwestern – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/6/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 6, 2001
Recap| Final Stats| Quotes
Tonight’s attendance of 104,042 is a stadium record.
The game tonight is just the fifth night game in Ohio Stadium history and the first Big Ten game contested at night in the ‘Shoe. Ohio State is 5-0 in night games at home.
Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel is now 3-1 at Ohio State and 138-58-2 in his career.
The Buckeyes extended their winning streak over Northwestern to 22 games. The Buckeyes lead the all-time series 53-13-1 and hold a mark of 29-8-0 in games played in Columbus. OSU has defeated the Wildcats in the last 11 meetings in Ohio Stadium.
Jonathan Wells ran the ball 71 yards on the second play of the game for the Buckeyes’ first score. It was the first time Ohio State scored on the first drive of the game this season. The touchdown run in the first quarter was the longest run for a score in Wells’ career.
This game marked the first three-touchdown outing of Wells’ career. He posted two TDs vs. Akron (2001), vs. Michigan (2000), vs. Miami, Ohio (2000) and vs. Iowa (1999).
Wells set a career high with 179 yards (on 22 carries) rushing today. His previous high was 131 yards at Illinois last season. It is the fourth time he has posted over 100 yards in a game. The others were in the 2001 season-opener vs. Akron (119) and last season at Illinois (131) and vs. Miami (Ohio) (113).
Wells recorded 109 yards in the first half. The last time a Buckeye rushed for over 100 yards in the first half was Derek Combs with eight carries for 115 yards against Wisconsin (Oct. 7) last season. Mike Nugent booted a 44-yard field goal in the third quarter for the first three-pointer of his career. He also was 3-for-3 on PATs for a total of 6 points in the game. His 44-yarder is the longest OSU made field goal since Dan Stultz converted a 49-yard attempt vs. Miami (Ohio) last season.
Michael Doss’ 30-yard fumble return for a touchdown was the third TD of his career. In 2000, he scored twice on fumble returns (vs. Fresno State and vs. Michigan State). It was the first score by the Buckeye defense this season.
Derek Ross’ interception in the second quarter was Ohio State’s second of the season. It was the third INT of Ross’ career after picking off two last season (vs. Miami, vs. Michigan State).
The Ohio State defense held Northwestern, which entered the game averaging 490.3 total yards per game, to 306 yards.
The Buckeyes scored 17 points in the third quarter, marking the highest single-quarter total this season. The previous high was 14 vs. Akron (1st) and Indiana (2nd).
The Buckeyes retired the late Les Horvath’s No. 22 at halftime of the game tonight. Horvath claimed the Heisman Trophy in 1944 and is the fourth football Buckeye to have his number retired and displayed in Ohio Stadium (45, Archie Griffin, 31, Vic Janowicz, 40, Howard “Hopalong” Cassady).
Adrien Clarke made his first start at left guard tonight.
Northwestern Game Notes
With his 89 rushing yards, Damien Anderson moved into 10th place on the Big Ten’s all-time rushing yardage list. He now has 4,194 career yards.
This was Northwestern’s worst Big Ten loss since a 34-0 home shutout to Michigan State on Nov. 13, 1999.
Damien Anderson’s first-quarter touchdown tied him for first place on NU’s career rushing TD list. He now has 35 for his career, equaling Darnell Autry.
