Postgame Notes From No. 9/9 Ohio State vs. San Diego State – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 17, 2005
Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery
Attendance: 104,533
Ohio State Notes
With the win Saturday, Ohio State has won 23 of its last 25games at home. The losses came against Wisconsin in 2004 and Texaslast week. Ohio State now has won 37 of its last 38 home gamesagainst non-conference opponents. With the win Saturday, JimTressel’s career mark moved to 177-69-2, including a 42-12 recordat Ohio State. Tressel now is 27-4 at home at Ohio State.
After the win Saturday, Ohio State now is 10-2 following a loss under Tressel.
Ohio State held a 14-6 at halftime Saturday. With the winSaturday, the Buckeyes now are 31-3 under Tressel when leading atthe half. The Buckeyes extended their lead to 17-6 after threeperiods. With the victory, Tressel moved to 33-3 overall at OhioState when leading after three periods. For the 104th consecutivegame, Ohio State scored at least one touchdown. The last time aBuckeye team was held without a touchdown was a 13-9 loss toMichigan in the 1996 season.
Series Information
Ohio State and San Diego State met for the third time in theseries Saturday. With the win Saturday, Ohio State now is 3-0 vs.the Aztecs all-time. The Buckeyes had a 27-12 decision in 2001 andthen a 16-13 victory in 2003.
With the win Saturday, Ohio State now is 8-1 all-time vs. teams representing the Mountain West Conference. The lone defeat was to Air Force (23-11) in the 1990 Liberty Bowl. The Buckeyes own a 3-0 record vs. BYU and have single victories against Utah and Wyoming.
Offensive Notes
Ohio State had three rushing touchdowns vs. SDSU, marking thefirst game Ohio State had three team rushing TDs since Oct. 25,2003 at Indiana. Former Buckeye Lydell Ross rushed for all three TDscores in that game. For the game, Ohio State rushed for 179 yardson 46 carries. The 179 yards rushing serves as a season high,topping the 160 yards the Buckeyes had against Miami in the seasonopener. Brandon Schnittker’s 1-yard touchdown run in the fourthquarter was the Buckeyes’ first fourth-quarter score this season.It was his second 1-yard TD run of the season and marked his secondcareer touchdown. Ohio State had 82 plays in the game, doubling the41 the Aztecs ran from scrimmage. Ohio State held a decided edge intime-of-possession at 38:14 to 21:46. The Buckeyes also converted10-of-19 opportunities on third down and also converted 3-of-4scoring chances in the red zone. Ohio State outscored San DiegoState 7-0 in the second quarter to up its season advantage to 30-3in the second stanza in three games this season. The Buckeyes alsoupped their third-quarter scoring advantage to 23-3 after aconverted field goal.
Ohio State tacked on 10 points in the fourth period, marking the Buckeyes’ first points in the final stanza this season.
On Saturday, seven Buckeyes recorded at least two receptions.Santonio Holmes and Roy Hall led the Buckeyes with four catches.Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, Ryan Hamby and Brandon Smithrecorded three grabs each and Erik Haw added his first two careergrabs as a Buckeye.
Offensive Player Notes
With the win Saturday, junior quarterback Troy Smith now is 5-1in six career starts at Ohio State. Smith rushed 14 yards for atouchdown in the first quarter and reached the end zone from 1-yardout in the second period, marking his first career game with tworushing touchdowns. With the two scores running, Smith becomes thefirst Buckeye quarterback to run for two touchdowns in a game sinceCraig Krenzel ran for two touchdowns Aug. 30, 2003 againstWashington.
Smith now has five rushing touchdowns in his career and finished the game with 14 carries for 87 yards. The 87-yard game counts as the second-highest total in his career. Last season, Smith ran for 145 yards against Michigan.
Freshman Maurice Wells set a career high with nine carries for32 yards. He also recorded a career-best 13-yard run in the fourthquarter.
Several freshmen recorded career firsts in the fourth quarter. Brian Robiskie hauled in his first career catch on a 13-yard gain, Brandon Smith recorded his first reception in the fourth quarter and tailback Erik Haw posted his first career rush and reception Saturday.
Santonio Holmes had four catches for 42 yards Saturday. Holmes’numbers Saturday helped him reach two career milestones. For hiscareer, Holmes now has 100 receptions for 1,507 yards. He now ranks11th on the all-time list for receptions at Ohio State and 12th inall-time receiving yardage. On Saturday, Holmes surpassed BrianStablein (96) and Jeff Graham (99) for career receptions.
With his four catches, Holmes now has caught at least two passes in 21 consecutive games.
Ted Ginn Jr. finished the game with 102 all-purpose yards oneight touches. He totaled 30 yards on kickoff returns and 42 yardson punts. Ginn also caught three passes, extending his streak ofcollecting at least one catch to 10 games and two catches in eightgames.
Defensive
The 80-yard touchdown pass San Diego State recorded in thefirst quarter is the longest touchdown allowed from scrimmage byOhio State since Purdue connected on an 86-yard touchdown passagainst the Buckeyes on Oct. 19, 1996 at Purdue.
Overall, the 80-yard passing score by SDSU is the longest allowed by Ohio State since giving up a 93-yard kickoff return by Michigan State Nov. 8, 2003 in Ohio Stadium.
Since San Diego State’s 80-yard scoring pass on its openingplay, Ohio State held the Aztecs to just two first downs and heldSDSU to just a 1-for-12 mark on third-down conversions. TheBuckeyes did not allow the Aztecs a first down rushing. Headinginto Saturday, SDSU has two straight games of 400-plus yards. TheBuckeyes halted that streak Saturday, allowing the Aztecs just 179total yards and just 99 yards of offense after the 80-yard score.The Buckeyes had three sacks Saturday and have 11 through threegames. The Buckeyes had 24 sacks last season.
Defensive Player Notes
Senior linebacker A.J. Hawk recorded eight tackles and now haseclipsed 300 for his career. His total of 303 tackles ranks 13th onthe all-time Ohio State charts. Hawk’s eight stops vs. the Aztecsled the Buckeyes. Hawk has led Ohio State in tackles in all threegames this season. Senior linebacker Anthony Schlegel recovered anAztec fumble at the 1-yard line Saturday. The recovery is his firstas a Buckeye and second of his career. Schlegel recovered onefumble in the 2001 season while playing with Air Force. Seniorlinebacker Bobby Carpenter had two sacks Saturday, totaling 15yards in losses for SDSU. The sacks upped his season total to threeand his career mark to five. Senior Mike Kudla recorded a sackSaturday. The sack is his second this season and seventh of hiscareer. Freshman Malcolm Jenkins recorded his first career startSaturday at corner back. He finished the day with three tackles andone pass break up.
Special Teams
Santonio Holmes returned a SDSU punt 35 yards in the firstquarter. In his last two games, Holmes has registered three returnsfor 30-plus yards. Last week against Texas, Holmes had kickoffreturns of 36 and 47 yards. Senior place kicker Josh Hustonconnected on a 25-yard field goal in the third quarter and a38-yarder in the fourth. For the season, Huston now is 9-for-10 inthe field goal department and 9-for-9 from inside 50 yards.
On kickoffs, Huston booted five kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.
Freshman punter A.J. Trapasso booted a 49-yarder in the firstquarter to set a career best. His previous career-long punt covered44 yards against. For the game, Trapasso averaged 41 yards on sixattempts. Three of his punts were downed inside the Aztec 20-yardline.
Other Notes
A sell-out crowd of 104,533 attended the game Saturday vs. SDSUat Ohio Stadium.
The Buckeyes now have played in front of 22-consecutive sell-out crowds at Ohio Stadium. During the last two seasons, Ohio State has played in front of sellout crowds in 15 straight games overall.
The Buckeyes first fielded a football team in 1890. With thewin Saturday, Ohio State has posted an all-time record of766-299-53 in 114 years. With the win Saturday, Ohio State’sall-time record moved to 357-103-25 in Ohio Stadium (opened in1922). At halftime Saturday, the Ohio State Varsity “O” associationhonored 12 inductees into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.Ohio State also presented former director of athletics Andy Geigerwith an honorary Varsity “O”.
Ohio State Men: Richard Castillo – Soccer (1980-83), Artie Wolfe – Swimming (1960-63), Patrick Jeffrey – Diving (1984-86, 1988), Steve Groves – Golf (1970-73), Kurt Schumacher – Football (1971-74), Bob Momsen – Football (1950), Jamie Macoun – Hockey (1981-83)Ohio State Women: Gabriele Jobst – Volleyball (1991-94), Audrey DiPronio – Volleyball (1988-90), Peggy Palumbo – Field Hockey, Basketball, Laura Profumo – Diving (1988-90), Stacia Goff- Swimming (1989-92)
SDSU Football Postgame Notes
ALL STATS IN THE FOLLOWING NOTES ARE THROUGH THE THIRD QUARTER. Final notes will be posted on the SDSU official website www.goaztecs.com later tonight.
SDSU middle linebacker Freddy Keiaho reached double-figures intackles in the first half alone with 11 (5 solo, 6 assists) and isflirted with the single-game school record. Keiaho had 17 totaltackles through three quarters. The school’s all-time top 10 listis below … it is Keiaho’s second consecutive game this season andhis second career game with 10 tackles or more (he had acareer-best 13 vs. Air Force)… the 11 tackles by Keiaho at thehalf already matched the most by an Aztec player in any completegame against Ohio State (11 by Will Demps in 2001). SDSUSINGLE-GAME TACKLES RECORD BOOK
Player Tackles Season 1. Alan Dale 21 vs. Iowa St. 10/10/81 Ty Youngs 21 vs. Iowa St. 11/27/71 3. Lee Brannon 20 vs. Hawaii 10/15/88 Whip Walton 20 vs. Tulsa 10/29/77 5. Heath Farwell 19 vs. AFA 11/13/04 Kirk Morrison 19 vs. AFA 11/13/04 4 more players tied with 19
Aztec senior split end Jeff Webb has caught at least one passin each of his last 24 games and has three receptions or more in 19straight contests… Webb needed 39 more yards in the fourthquarter to became the 11th player in Aztec history to reach the2,000 mark in career receiving yards… Webb moved into sixth placeby himself on the SDSU career receptions list. San Diego State’slast three meetings with Big Ten opponents have all been closerthan expected. A year ago, No. 17 Michigan held a slim 21-17 leadon the Aztecs at the half in Ann Arbor, and went on to win 24-21.In 2003, No. 2 ranked Ohio State was up on SDSU by just six points(13-7) at the half and later claimed a three-point victory, 16-13.In 2001, the Aztecs led by Buckeyes 12-6 at the half in Columbus,but still fell, 27-12. The Aztecs’ 80-yard touchdown from KevinO’Connell to Brett Swain is SDSU’s first completion of at least 80yards since Kassim Osgood found J.R. Tolver on an 87-yard toss onDec. 7, 2002, at Hawaii…. the 80-yard pass is the longest throwof Kevin O’Connell’s career (prev. 58 yards vs. Colorado State(10/16/04)) … the 80-yard reception is Swain’s longest of hiscareer (prev. 31 at Wyoming (10/9/04)). For the second consecutiveseason, San Diego State scored on its first offensive play of agame… in 2004, Michael Franklin ran for 67 yards and a score onthe opening play versus Idaho State on Sept. 4, 2004 (also theseason-opening game). SDSU has scored first in each of the threegames of the all-time series between the two schools… in 2003,Matt Dlugolecki found Wesley Williams on an 11-yard pass to put theAztecs up 7-0 (the TD was set up by a 14-yard Jacob Elimimianinterception on the first offensive play of the game)… in 2001,SDSU was the first team to put points on the board with a 29-yardfield goal by Tommy Kirovski. SDSU quarterback Kevin O’Connellextended his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass tonine… SDSU wideout Robert Ortiz has caught a pass in 24 straightgames in which he has played. SDSU cornerback Donny Baker recoveredhis first career fumble in the second quarter… Aztec nose tackleJonathan Bailes forced the second fumble of his career … theturnover gained was just SDSU’s second of the 2005 campaign (alsofumble recovery at Air Force last week). Donny Baker added histhird career interception and his first of the 2005 season in thethird quarter… Baker’s INT is SDSU’s first of 2005. Two Aztecsmade their first career starts against Ohio State with one comingon offense (flanker Chazeray Schilens) and one on defense (safetyT.J. McKay) … for the season SDSU has had nine players (twooffense, seven defense) make their first career starts in 2005…the Aztecs had nine underclassmen (6 on offense) start in today’scontest. Other Aztec notes: Michael Hughes’ 58-yard punt in thesecond quarter matched his previous career long… Hughes had a58-yarder against both Michigan and Air Force a year ago.
