Postgame Notes From No. 6/9 Ohio State vs. Miami – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 3, 2005
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Attendance: 104,695
Ohio State Notes
With the 34-14 win Saturday over Miami, Ohio State has won 22of its last 23 games at home. The win Saturday upped Jim Tressel’scareer mark to 176-68-2, including a 41-11 record at Ohio State.
Tressel’s is 26-3 at home at Ohio State.
The win Saturday over Miami marked Ohio State’s 100th victoryon opening day. The Buckeyes have an all-time opening day record of100-12-4 and have won their last 27 home openers. OSU’s lastopening day loss at home was to Penn State in 1978. Ohio State helda 20-0 lead at halftime Saturday. With the win, the Buckeyes are30-2 under Tressel when leading at the half. The Buckeyes extendedtheir lead to 34-0 after three periods. Under Tressel, OSU is 32-3overall when leading after three periods. For the 102nd-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
Saturday served as the fourth meeting between Miami and OhioState. With the win Saturday, the Buckeyes have won all fourcontests, all of which were played in Columbus. The two teams firstplayed in 1904 with the Buckeyes recording an 80-0 victory. TheBuckeyes also recorded a shutout in the next meeting, but this timeby a much narrower margin, escaping with a 3-0 win in 1911. The twoteams did not play again until 2000, when Ohio State notched a27-16 triumph. With the win Saturday, Ohio State now has posted a20-1 record against teams from the Mid-American Conference. TheBuckeyes lone loss was to Akron in 1895 by a 14-6 count. The winSaturday also boosted the Buckeyes record against teams from thestate of Ohio to 172-48-17, including a 151-27-14 mark vs.intrastate foes in Ohio Stadium. Ohio State has not lost to anin-state team since falling 7-6 to Oberlin in 1921. Since thatloss, the Buckeyes have won 27-consecutive starts against Ohioschools. Ohio State’s last loss to an opponent from Ohio was Oct.8, 1921, a 7-6 loss to Oberlin in Columbus. In Ohio Stadium, OhioState has won 37-consecutive non-conference games. The last homeloss to a non-conference foe was USC in 1990.
Offensive Notes
The Ohio State offense totaled 382 yards Saturday againstMiami, upping its streak to three-consecutive games with 350-plusyards of offense. The Buckeyes racked up 400-plus yards againstMichigan and Oklahoma State in the final two games of the 2004season. Ohio State scored a touchdown on its opening drive of thegame. Junior quarterback Justin Zwick connected with junior widereceiver Santonio Holmes for a 20-yard score. The drive covered 74yards on 12 plays and used up 5:36.
Ohio State has scored a touchdown on its opening drive in three-consecutive games. The Buckeyes opened with touchdowns on their first possession against Michigan and Oklahoma State to close the 2004 season.
The touchdown marked the first time Ohio State scored a touchdown on first offensive drive of the season since 2002 vs. Texas Tech at Ohio Stadium. Lydell Ross scored a 2-yard touchdown en route to a 45-21 Buckeye win.
In the red zone, Ohio State converted 4-of-5 scoringopportunities. Five Buckeyes shared the team lead with fivereceptions Saturday. Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes, Anthony Gonzalezand Roy Hall all hauled in five catches in the game for 211 yards.
Offensive Player Notes
Sophomore tailback Antonio Pittman made his first career startSaturday and posted his second 100-yard rushing game as a Buckeye.Pittman carried 14 times for 100 yards Saturday. His career-bestrushing performance came in 2004 against Indiana, when he gained144 yards on 20 tries. The game Saturday marked Zwick’s eighth asOhio State’s starting quarterback. With the win Saturday, hisrecord as a starter now is 5-3. Zwick finished the day 17-23 for155 yards and one touchdown, the seventh of his career. With his20-yard touchdown grab in the first quarter, Holmes extended hisstreak with at least one catch to 19 games. On the day, Holmes hadfive catches for 74 yards. In the third quarter, Ginn caught a42-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Todd Boeckman. Thetouchdown served as Ginn’s ninth of his career and seventhtouchdown of 40 yards or more.
For the game, Ginn led the Buckeyes with 75 yards receiving on five catches. He totaled 121 yards on 11 total touches, including three rushes, two punt returns and one kick return.
Gonzalez ran an end-around in the first quarter for a 9-yardgain, marking his first career rush at Ohio State. Gonzalez alsoset a career-high with five catches Saturday for 39 yards.
Hall also tied a career-best with five catches. He last had five receptions against Wisconsin in 2004.
Freshman tailback Maurice Wells toted his first carry as aBuckeye in the third quarter. He gained 6 yards. Senior tailbackBrandon Schnittker made his debut at tailback and scored his firstcareer touchdown in the third quarter on a 1-yard plunge. Boeckmanalso made his Ohio State debut Saturday, entering the game in thethird quarter. He completed his first pass attempt to Gonzalez fora 13-yard gain. His second attempt went for a 42-yard touchdown toGinn. Boeckman finished the game 5-for-7 for 67 yards.
Defensive Notes
The Buckeyes allowed Miami just 48 yards rushing on 30 attemptsfor a 1.6 yards-per-carry average. That total is the lowest by anopponent since Ohio State limited Michigan State to 5 yards on 17tries at in a 33-23 win at Ohio Stadium Nov. 8, 2003. Ohio Staterecorded five sacks Saturday. That total is the most by a Buckeyedefense since posting six sacks against Indiana last season.Overall, the Buckeyes had nine tackles-for-loss totaling 45 yards.
Defensive Player Notes
Junior safety Donte Whitner intercepted a pass in the secondquarter and scored a touchdown on a 26-yard return. Theinterception counted as the fourth of his career and the touchdownis the first of his career. The 26-yard return is the longest ofhis career, topping a 24-yard return he had in the win at NorthCarolina State in 2004.
Whitner’s interception return for a touchdown served as the first time the Ohio State defense scored since senior Tyler Everett returned a pick into the endzone from 24 yards out against Penn State last season.
Whitner recorded his second career sack in the first quarter.
Senior defensive end Mike Kudla sacked Miami quarterback JoshBetts in the third quarter and forced a fumble. Kudla now has sixcareer sacks and second career forced fumble.
Senior defensive tackle Marcus Green recovered the fumble, the second of his career.
Each of the starting linebackers recorded a sack as well.Seniors Bobby Carpenter, A.J. Hawk and Anthony Schlegel all hadsacks. For Carpenter and Schlegel, the sacks upped their total to7.5 for their careers. Hawk now has 6.5 for his career. Hawk ledthe Buckeyes with 10 tackles Saturday. He now has totaled at least10 tackles in five of his last six games and nine contests duringthe last two seasons. Junior defensive back Ashton Youbotyregistered eight tackles Saturday, which tied for second most inhis career. He had 12 stops at Michigan State last season. Youbotyalso broke up a Miami pass attempt.
Special Teams
Ohio State extended its lead in the first quarter to 10-0 on a20-yard field goal by senior place kicker Josh Huston. Theconverted field goal is the first for Huston since the 2001 season,when he made a 44-yard field goal against Wisconsin on Oct. 13,2001. Freshman punter A.J. Trapasso booted his first punt as aBuckeye at the start of the fourth quarter. The punt covered 44yards. He averaged 40.5 yards on two punts Saturday.
Other Notes
The Buckeyes first fielded a football team in 1890. With thewin Saturday, Ohio State has posted an all-time record of765-298-53 in 114 years. With the win Saturday, Ohio State’sall-time record moved to 356-102-25 in Ohio Stadium (opened in1922). A sell-out crowd of 104,695 attended the game Saturday. TheBuckeyes have played in front of 20-consecutive sell-out crowds atOhio Stadium. During the last two seasons, Ohio State has played infront of sellout crowds in 13 straight games overall.
