No. 1 Buckeyes Return Home to Face Bearcats – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2006
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Top-ranked Ohio State, fresh off a convincing 24-7 road win over No. 2 Texas before a prime time national television audience, returns home this week to host the University of Cincinnati. Saturday’s kickoff between the Buckeyes and Bearcats is scheduled for shortly after noon in sold out Ohio Stadium (102,329). ESPN Plus will televise the game to regional audiences in the Big Ten and Big East viewing areas. WBNS Radio, the flagship station for the 73-station Ohio State network, also will carry the game.
As a result of last week’s victory, Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes are 2-0 on the year and have won nine consecutive starts, including six wins over ranked teams. The win in Austin in front of a record Texas Memorial Stadium crowd of 89,422 ended the Longhorns’ 21-game winning streak and leaves the Buckeyes with the nation’s second longest winning streak. Cincinnati is under the direction of third-year head coach Mark Dantonio, who served as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator between 2001 and 2003. The Bearcats are 1-1 on the year after losing to Pittsburgh, 33-15, this past weekend. Both that game and their opening day win over Eastern Kentucky were played in Cincinnati.
This will be the third meeting between the Buckeyes and Bearcats since 2002. The two teams are not scheduled to meet again until the 2012 season in Cincinnati.
HALL OF FAME WEEKEND
This is Hall of Fame weekend at Ohio State. This year’s class of seven men and five women will be inducted Friday evening and introduced at halftime of Saturday’s football game. Former Buckeye All-Americans Eddie George (1992-95) and Ted Provost (1967-69) are this year’s football inductees (a complete list of this year’s class appears later in this release).
KRENZEL HONORARY CAPTAIN
Former Buckeye quarterback Craig Krenzel (2000-03) will serves as this week’s honorary captain. He compiled a 24-3 record as a starter and twice was named Offensive MVP of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, first in the national championship win over No. 1 Miami and then in the victory against No. 8 Kansas State.
BUCKEYES TOP BOTH POLLS
Ohio State continues to hold down the No. 1 spot in both polls. The Buckeyes received 59 of a possible 63 first place votes in this week’s USA Today/Coaches poll and 56 of a possible 65 in the writers poll. Ohio State has been in the weekly polls for 16 consecutive weeks, has held down a top 10 spot in five straight polls and the No. 1 spot in the past three polls, beginning with the preseason polls.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Over the past four years, Ohio State has posted a 21-2 record in Ohio Stadium for a winning percentage of .913. Only the University of Southern California has a better mark in that span with a perfect 18-0 mark. Heading into this week’s game against the Cincinnati Bearcats, the Buckeyes have an all-time mark of 367-104-20 in the Horseshoe.
BUCKEYES STEER BY TEXAS
Led by Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, Anthony Gonzalez and Antonio Pittman on offense and bolstered by a young but quickly coming-of-age defense, top-ranked Ohio State solidified its place in the polls with its 17-point victory over the defending national champion Longhorns.
Smith enhanced his early season Heisman Trophy status by completing 17 of 26 passes for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns against a veteran Texas defense, giving him five touchdown passes and 566 passing yards in his first two games. After two games, the 6-1, 215-pound quarterback has completed 68.4 percent of his passes and leads the Big Ten in passing efficiency with a 194.2 figure.
Ginn, the Buckeyes’ other Heisman hopeful, was on the receiving end of five passes for 97 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown grab just before halftime that put Ohio State in front 14-7 going into the locker room. Ginn’s grab capped off a business-like 5-play, 66-yard drive that began with 1:55 remaining in the second quarter. The speedy flanker set the tone early with a 46-yard catch-and-run on the Buckeyes’ second play from scrimmage.
The Buckeyes also received a career-best performance from Gonzalez, who hauled in eight catches for 142 yards. The junior split end and honor student got Ohio State on the board with 1:04 to play in the first quarter by latching on to a 14-yard pass from Smith that put the icing on a 50-yard drive.
Pittman led the Buckeyes in rushing for the second consecutive week, finishing with 74 yards on 16 carries, an average of 4.6 yards per attempt. His 2-yard touchdown run with 6:31 to play capped off the scoring and put the game out of reach. The Buckeyes, who took over the ball at their own 28-yard line after a missed Texas field goal, marched 72 yards in 10 plays for the score.
The Buckeye defense limited the Texas offense to 326 total yards and just the one touchdown and set up two OSU scores with timely takeaways.
Sophomore linebacker James Laurinaitis was involved in both turnovers. First, he forced a first-quarter fumble at the OSU 1-yard line that cornerback Donald Washington scooped up and returned 49 yards to set up the Smith-to-Ginn touchdown pass. Then, on the first play of the third quarter, he intercepted a Colt McCoy pass and ran it back 25 yards to the Texas 31-yard line. Kicker Aaron Pettrey gave the Buckeyes a 10-point cushion with a 31-yard field goal.
With the aggressive defensive front keeping the pressure on throughout the evening, Laurinaitis finished with a game-best and career-high 13 tackles to go along with two forced fumbles, his first career interception and a pass broken up. Safety Brandon Mitchell was credited with nine stops, while Washington, who was making his first start at corner, had five. Cover corner Malcolm Jenkins and nickel back Antonio Smith each had five stops as Ohio State kept Texas under 40 points for the first time in 13 games.
Sophomore punter A. J. Trapasso kept the Longhorns corralled in their own territory by averaging 50.8 yards per punt on six kicks – the third best single-game performance in Ohio State history. That average includes a 39-yard punt at the end of the game that rolled out-of-bounds on the Texas 6-yard line. The Longhorns’ average field position after a Trapasso thumper was their own 21-yard line.
The victory squared the series at 1-1 and gave Ohio State an all-time record of 4-0 in the Lone Star state.
BUCKEYES STAY PERFECT IN NO. 1 VS. NO. 2 SHOWDOWNS
Saturday’s showdown in Austin was the earliest regular-season match-up in college football annals between a No. 1 and a No. 2 team. Ohio State has been involved in two such games previously, the first in the 1969 Rose Bowl and the second in the 2002 national championship game at the 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. OSU won both, downing the University of Southern California, 27-16, in the former and Miami of Florida, 31-24 in two overtimes, in the latter. On both occasions, the Buckeyes were the No. 2 ranked team.
TRESSEL ON LAST WEEK
“I was pleased with the effort we gave and the way we played. We knew going in it wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t. Texas is a fine football team and I thought it was a terrific environment for our players to compete in. We all know we still have a lot of work to do, but I was certainly proud of our team and the way every player we put on the field competed. I think the fans who were there and the ones watching on TV saw two teams giving it all they had.”
TRESSEL ON Troy Smith
“I thought Troy made some great decisions out there. He was clearly in command from start to finish. I said all along that he can make all the throws and he did that against a very good Texas defense. On the drive just before halftime, he marched us down the field and really took control of the game.”
Troy Smith ON HIS PERFORMANCE AGAINST TEXAS
“Whatever I do out there is because of how well the players around me play. I couldn’t complete passes without the offensive line giving me time to throw and our receivers running great routes and getting open. You saw that against Texas. They gave me time to throw and Gonzo (Anthony Gonzalez) and Ted got open and made some great catches.”
LAURINAITIS AND TRAPASSO NAMED BIG TEN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Following a 24-7 win over second-ranked Texas, two Ohio State players have been selected for Big Ten player of the week honors. Middle linebacker James Laurinaitis was named Defensive POW after recording 13 tackles, including 10 solos, forcing two fumbles, picking off his first career interception and batting down a pass. The 6-3 244-pound sophomore led both teams in tackles and set up two OSU scores, the first with his first forced fumble and the second with a 25-yard return on his first collegiate interception.
Punter A. J. Trapasso claimed Special Teams POW honors after averaging 50.8 yards per kick on six punts. Trapasso had four punts of 50 or more yards, including a season-long 59-yard boot in the first quarter. Two of his punts were inside the Texas 20-yard line, another was fair caught on the 22. Trapasso’s performance at Texas ranks as the third best single-game showing in Ohio State history, surpassed only by Tom Skladany (52.3 vs. Michigan, 1976) and Brent Bartholomew (51.6 vs. Toledo, 1998). Andy Groom (50.2 at Wisconsin in 2002) is the only other Ohio State punter to average 50 yards or more per punt in a game.
Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith also was nominated for the award after completing 17 of 26 passes for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Longhorns. Smith won the award the previous week following the Buckeyes’ win over visiting Northern Illinois.
MORE HONORS FOR LAURINAITIS
In addition to Big Ten Player of the Week accolades, sophomore linebacker James Laurinaitis has been named by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and the Sporting News as those organization’s National Defensive Player of the Week. Laurinaitis forced a pair of fumbles and recorded his first career interception last week at Texas. Two of those turnovers led to OSU scores en route to a 24-7 win over the second-ranked Longhorns. A native of Hamel Minnesota (Wayzata High School), the 6-3, 245-pound linebacker has 17 tackles on the year.
OSU IMPROVES RECORD AS NO. 1
With the victory over Texas, Ohio State is now 53-8-1 when ranked as the nation’s No. 1 team. Overall, the Buckeyes are 285-68-9 when carrying a Top 10 ranking and 392-123-14 as a Top 25 team. Ohio State has opened the season No. 1 seven times, second only to Oklahoma (9). The Buckeyes own the record for most appearances (53) in the first 57 years of the Associated Press poll.
SMITH NOTCHES ANOTHER WIN
Senior quarterback Troy Smith is now 15-2 as a starter. Smith, who made his first collegiate start against Indiana in 2004, was 4-1 that year, 9-1 in 2005 and 2-0 thus far in 2006 for the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes. Some other Buckeye quarterbacks who have enjoyed success over the years include: Ramblin’ Rex Kern, who led the Buckeyes to a 27-2 record between 1968 and 1970; Cornelius Greene; who fashioned a 31-3-1 record during the last three years of the Archie Griffin era (1973-75); Bobby Hoying whose resume included a mark of 30-7-1 while at the controls from 1993 to 1995; and Craig Krenzel, who was 24-3 and led Ohio State to a perfect 14-0 mark in 2002.
TROY ON TARGET
Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith is completing 68.6 percent of his passes (35 of 51) and has not thrown an interception in his last 122 attempts, dating back to last year’s Northwestern game. Smith has five touchdown passes this year, giving him 29 for his career against seven career interceptions.
OHIO STATE AWARDS CANDIDATES
Several Ohio State players are listed on the various postseason awards watch lists. Senior Troy Smith and junior Ted Ginn Jr. both are preseason Heisman Trophy candidates. The pair also is listed on the 2006 Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list. Additionally, senior center Doug Datish (Rimington, Lombardi), Ginn Jr. (Biletnikoff), Smith (Manning), junior offensive tackle Kirk Barton and senior defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock (Lombardi), and junior running back Antonio Pittman (Doak Walker) have been listed on various watch lists as major awards candidates.
TED GINN NAMED TO BILETNIKOFF WATCH LIST
Ohio State flanker Ted Ginn Jr. is on the initial watch list for the Biletnikoff Award announced last week. The speedy junior has nine catches for 220 yards and three touchdowns in his first two games and is averaging 110 yards per game and 24 yards per receptions. Terry Glenn is Ohio State’s lone Biletnikoff recipient, winning the award in 1995.
OSU “FUN BUNCH” CUTTING UP
The Buckeye “Fun Bunch” of quarterback Troy Smith, wide receivers Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez and tailback Antonio Pittman is off to a rollicking start. Smith leads the Big Ten in passing efficiency and passing yardage and is second in total offense. Ginn has a team-high three touchdown grabs and Gonzalez leads the team in receptions after hauling in eight Smith passes against Texas to up his season total to 12. Pittman is the Buckeyes’ leading ground gainer with 185 yards on 35 carries and has a pair of touchdowns to his credit. The hard-running junior is averaging 92.5 yards per game and 5.3 yards per carry. A fifth member of the group, split end Roy Hall, has missed the first two games with an ankle injury, but is expected to be back in action this week against Cincinnati.
SERIES INFORMATION
Saturday’s game will be the 15th meeting between the two schools since the series began in 1893. The Buckeyes have won 12 of the previous 14 games, including the last nine, and are 7-0 against the Bearcats in Columbus. In the last meeting between the two teams, Ohio State downed the visiting Bearcats 23-6 in 2004 in Columbus. It was a lot closer that that in 2002, however, the Buckeyes escaping with a 23-19 win in a game played in Paul Brown Stadium. Following that game, the Buckeyes went on to capture the 2002 National Championship. Cincinnati’s wins came in 1896 (8-6) and 1897 (24-0). In the 2002 game, Chris Gamble began his career as a two-way player for Ohio State and picked off his first career interception as a cornerback.
Ohio State vs. the Big East
| Cincinnati | 12-2 |
| Connecticut | 0-0 |
| Louisville | 2-1 |
| Pittsburgh | 19-5-1 |
| Rutgers | 0-0 |
| South Florida | 0-0 |
| Syracuse | 4-2 |
| West Virginia | 5-1 |
| Totals | 42-11-1 |
BUCKEYES HOLD COMMANDING EDGE AGAINST OHIO OPPONENTS
Ohio State has an all-time record of 173-48-17 against teams from the state of Ohio. The Buckeyes last loss to an in-state school was a 7-6 reversal to Oberlin in 1921. Since that loss, OSU has won 21 in a row against in-state opponents.
BUCKEYE BENCH COMES THROUGH
Coach Jim Tressel wanted to play 57 players in the first quarter at Texas, a strategy he hoped would help keep the Buckeyes fresh late in the game in the sweltering Austin heat. The Buckeyes almost reached that goal with 52 players seeing action in the first period, including the second unit of the offensive line which was on the field when the Buckeyes scored their first touchdown and took a 7-0 lead with 1:04 to play in the first quarter.
SEPTEMBER SUCCESS
The Buckeyes are now 19-2 under Jim Tressel in the month of September, the only setbacks coming at UCLA (9/22/01) and to visiting Texas (9/10) last year.
BUCKEYES GET HIGH GRADES
A league-best 18 Ohio State football players were named to the Big Ten’s All-Academic team last fall, marking the fourth year in a row the Buckeyes have led the conference in that area. Additionally, a record 46 Ohio State football players qualified for last spring’s annual OSU Scholar-Athlete Dinner, which requires a grade-point average of 3.00 or better for the past academic year. As a team, the Buckeyes have an overall GPA of 2.83. A total of 52 football student-athletes earned a 3.00 or better during Ohio State’s spring quarter and 46 had a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 after spring grades were calculated.
BUCKEYE GRADUATES
Quarterback Troy Smith (communications), center Doug Datish (history), strong safety Brandon Mitchell (political science) and fullback Stan White Jr. (finance) all are working toward graduate degrees while playing football for the Buckeyes this season. Two most recent student-athletes to earn their degrees are All-America linebacker A.J. Hawk and Richard Schafrath, who lettered from 1956-58. Both were awarded degrees following the 2006 summer quarter. Other 2005-06 graduates include Bobby Carpenter, Angelo Chattams, R.J. Coleman, John Conroy, Ryan Hamby, Rob Harley, Mike Roberts, Anthony Schlegel, Brandon Schnittker, Rob Sims, Steve Winner and Ashton Youboty.
SMITH INCLUDED ON MANNING AWARD WATCH LIST
Troy Smith is one of several quarterbacks listed on the Manning Award watch list released Aug. 23. The award, won a season ago by Vince Young of Texas, is presented following the bowl season to a quarterback in honor of the accomplishments of the Manning family (Archie, Peyton and Eli). Both regular season and bowl performances are considered by a national media panel and each of the Mannings when selecting the winner.
THE BUCKEYES ALL-TIME
Ohio State enters this week with an all-time record of 777-300-53 in 116 seasons of competition. That includes a Big Ten record of 425-162-24 since 1913, an Ohio Stadium slate of 367-104-20 since 1922 and a bowl mark of 18-19. The Buckeyes have winning records against 91 of the 105 opponents they have played since 1890.
COACH Jim Tressel
Jim Tressel is in his sixth season as head coach at Ohio State. His record with the Buckeyes is 52-13, including a 30-10 slate in the Big Ten, and his career ledger now stands at 187-70-2 (.726) in 20 previous seasons as a head coach.
Tressel took over the Buckeyes in 2001, directing them to a 7-5 record that year. In 2002, he led Ohio State to a 14-0 record and the school’s first consensus national championship since 1968 and was nearly everyone’s choice as National Coach of the Year following the season. In 2003, the Buckeyes won their first five games to extend their winning streak to 19 and finished with an 11-2 record. The 2004 squad, which had to replace 14 NFL drafted players, won five of its last six games en route to an 8-4 finish.
A season ago, Tressel guided the Buckeyes to a 10-2 overall record with seven-consecutive victories down the stretch, which included a 34-20 victory over Notre Dame in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in January. The current nine-game win streak is second only to the 19-consecutive wins under Tressel in 2002 (14-0) and 2003 (5-0 to start season).
Tressel’s teams have appeared in five bowl games and are 4-1 in those contests, including three BCS wins in the Fiesta Bowl over the last four seasons. They also are 4-1 against Michigan in one of the most intense and storied rivalries in all of sport.
Eleven of Tressel’s players have won first-team All-America honors and four have won major awards, including linebacker A.J. Hawk, the recipient of the 2005 Lombardi Award. He was the 36th recipient of the honor and sixth Buckeye to be recognized as the top lineman (offensive or defensive) in college football. Ohio State leads all of college football in Lombardi awards ahead of Nebraska and Notre Dame, each with four.
Tressel is a master in close games. Since coming to Ohio State, he is 17-9 in games decided by a touchdown or less and 4-1 in overtime games.
He is at his best against the best with a 22-7 record against teams ranked in the Top 25 and a 7-2 mark against teams ranked in the Top 10.
The 53-year-old Tressel is a 1975 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College.
BUCKEYE CAPTAINS
Seniors Troy Smith, Doug Datish, Quinn Pitcock and David Patterson were voted by their teammates as captains of the 2006 Ohio State football team. Smith (QB) and Datish (C) will lead from the offensive side while Pitcock and Patterson represent the defense from the defensive tackle spot. The four entered the season with 128 games of combined experience as Buckeyes.
SMITH, GINN MOVE UP OSU CAREER CHARTS
Quarterback Troy Smith is the all-time completion percentage leader in Ohio State history. He has connected on 61 percent of his passes (252-410) to date. He also is ninth all-time at Ohio State in career passing yardage with 3,744 yards entering the game this week against Cincinnati (Craig Krenzel with 4,493 career yards from 2000-03 is eighth). Smith’s also ranks tenth in career total offense with career 4,694 yards. Smith has thrown for 200 or more yards in eight of his last nine games.
Receiver Ted Ginn Jr. is in 16th place on the all-time OSU receiving list with 85 receptions. He is 15th in career receiving yardage with a total of 1,382, an average of 16.2 yards per reception.
The speedy Ginn has caught at least one pass in 21-consecutive games (beginning with Iowa in 2004) and has multiple catches in 19-consecutive games.
Ginn, who led the nation in punt returns as a freshman and kick returns last year, has returned six kicks for touchdowns – five punts and one kickoff. He needs three more scores on punt returns to break the NCAA record in that category.
THEY WILL BE UPSTAIRS
Offensive coordinator Jim Bollman and quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels will be in the press box for the Buckeyes during the game as will cornerbacks coach Tim Beckman and co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell.
2006 OHIO STATE HALL OF FAME CLASS
There are seven men and six women in this year’s Ohio State Hall of Fame class. Both groups will be inducted Friday evening – the men at the Holiday Inn on Lane Ave. and the women at the University Plaza on Olentangy River Rd. Both ceremonies are open to the media and begin with a 5:30 reception followed by a 6 p.m. dinner.
This year’s class: Men — Ken Akins (Track, 1979-82), Adam DiSabato (Wrestling, 1989-91, 1993), Alex Eckelman (Baseball, 1994-97), Eddie George (Football, 1992-95), Ron Nischwitz (Baseball, 1957-58), Ted Provost (Football 1967-69), Kip Simons (Gymnastics, 1991-94); Women – Kate Hedman (Swimming, 1992-95), Annette Kraml (Rifle, 1984-87), Donica Merriman (Track, 1998-01), Patricia Szelle (Fencing, 1995-98) and Lindsey Vagedes (Gymnastics, 1998-01); Honorary Varsity “O” – Jim McDonough (Head Cross Country and Assistant Track Coach, 1976-84).
CINCINNATI’S LAST GAME
Pittsburgh receiver Derek Kinder caught a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes from quarterback Tyler Palko to break open a 7-0 game at the half. Kinder caught just three passes for 172 yards as Palko completed 11-of-21 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns. Cincinnati pulled within 26-15 late in the fourth quarter but Pitt scored on an interception return with four seconds left in the game. Bearcat QB Dustin Grutza was 21-for-35 for 189 yards and a touchdown. He was picked off twice, but was not sacked. Dominick Goodman finished with eight catches for 70 yards.
HEAD COACH Mark Dantonio
Mark Dantonio (South Carolina, 1979) is 12-13 in his third season as the head football coach at Cincinnati and as a college head coach. Dantonio spent three seasons (2001-03) as the defensive coordinator at Ohio State. In 2004, Dantonio’s first year leading the Bearcats, his team finished 7-5, including 5-3 in Conference USA, good enough for a second-place finish. That team concluded the season with a 32-14 victory over Marshall in the Fort Worth Bowl. Dantonio led Cincinnati into the Big East in 2005. In his two previous seasons with the Bearcats, he has had 15 all-conference selections. Dantonio has 27 years of college coaching experience that also included stops as an assistant at Michigan State (1995-2000), Kansas (1991-94), Youngstown State (1986-90), Akron (1985) and was on Earle Bruce’s Ohio State staff in 1983 and 1984.
BUCKEYES-BEARCATS CONNECTIONS
Several members of the Cincinnati coaching staff have Ohio State ties. Bearcats head coach Mark Dantonio was a graduate assistant at Ohio State from 1983-84 and later served as defensive coordinator under Jim Tressel from 2001-03. Dantonio coached under Tressel at Youngstown State from 1986-90, as did Bearcats offensive coordinator Don Treadwell from 1986-91. UC linebackers and special teams coach Mike Tressel is the son of OSU running backs coach Dick Tressel and was a G.A. at Ohio State from 2002-03, as was UC tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Mark Staten. Bearcats running backs coach Tim Hinton was a G.A. at Ohio State in 1985-86. Ohio State tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator John Peterson was a graduate assistant coach at UC in 1991 and 1992.
NEXT WEEK
Ohio State opens the Big Ten season by hosting Penn State. Saturday’s kickoff time is 3:30 p.m.
