Postgame Notes From Ohio State vs. Northwestern – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
No. 8/9 Ohio State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) 58, Northwestern (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) 7
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
Sept. 22, 2007
Attendance: 105,178
Ohio State has won 22-consecutive regular-season games. The Buckeyes last lost a regular-season contest at Penn State, 17-10, Oct. 8, 2005. Overall, the Buckeyes have won 23 of their last 24 games.
The 22-consecutive regular-season win streak is an Ohio State record. It snaps the 21-game win streak set by the Buckeyes from 1967-69.
The game Saturday vs. Northwestern was the 500th all-time at Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes boast an all-time record of 376-104-20 in Ohio Stadium. Ohio State has won 15 straight, and 19 of the last 20, games played in the Horseshoe. Ohio State’s all-time record in Columbus is 519-151-35 in 704 games.
Overall, the Buckeyes are 406-124-14 as a Top 25 team.
Jim Tressel’s record with the Buckeyes now is 66-14 and his career record is 201-71-2.
Ohio State now is 791-301-53 in its 118th season of play.
The Buckeyes have won 15-consecutive Big Ten games. Ohio State is 68-23-4 all-time in Big Ten openers and 437-187-28 overall in the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes have scored at least one touchdown in 130-consecutive games.
Under Tressel, the Buckeyes now are 50-3 when leading at the half (45-0 Saturday) and 53-3 (58-7 Saturday) when ahead after three quarters.
Ohio State is 29-2 during the last five seasons at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio State is 140-21-5 all-time in September, including a 117-10-4 ledger in home games in the month.
SERIES NOTES
The Buckeyes and Wildcats played for the 73rd time since their first meeting in 1913.
Ohio State has a 58-14-1 edge in the series, with a 32-8 advantage in Columbus.
Ohio State has been ranked in the AP Top 10 each of the last six years when facing Northwestern: 5th in 2002; 4th in 2003: 7th in 2004; 10th in 2005; 1st last season; and 8th this week.
Tressel is 6-1 all-time vs. Northwestern and holds a 39-10 mark in Big Ten play.
The final of 58-7 was the 12th time Ohio State has scored 50 or more points in the Northwestern series. The Buckeyes are 12-0 in those games. Ohio State is 31-0 when scoring 30 or more points against the Wildcats.
Ohio State has not fallen at home to the Wildcats since 1971, a streak of 15-consecututive games. The Buckeyes led the series 32-8 at Ohio Stadium and average 31.1 points per home contest against Northwestern while holding the Wildcats to an average of 8.2 points.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
Ohio State scored four first quarter touchdowns Saturday. The last time Ohio State scored four touchdowns in the first quarter was a 1995 victory over Iowa, 56-35, in Ohio Stadium. Eddie George and Terry Glenn each scored TDs in the opening period vs. the Hawkeyes.
The Buckeyes scored five touchdowns in the second quarter in a 72-0 win over Pittsburgh in 1996.
Ohio State needed just 1:10 to get on the scoreboard Saturday on a 42-yard TD pass from Todd Boeckman to Brian Robiskie. Ten of the last 12 Ohio State offensive scoring drives have taken less than 1:42.
The Buckeyes scored on drives of 57 seconds, 31 seconds, 57 seconds and 1:42 vs. Washington last Saturday. Against Northwestern, Ohio State had drives of 1:10, 52 seconds, 1:33, 48 seconds, 1:22 and 3 seconds.
The Buckeyes led by a score of 45-0 at the half. It is the most points since Ohio State posted 52 points (52-0) against Pittsburgh, Sept. 21, 1996. It is the most points scored in a half since 56 (56-7) against Iowa, Oct. 28, 1995.
The 58 points scored by the Buckeyes are the most scored in the Jim Tressel era, which started with the 2001 season. It tops the 54 points scored by the Buckeyes last season at Northwestern. The 58 points are the most since 72 scored against Pittsburgh, Sept. 21, 1996.
The 58 points are the most scored against a Big Ten opponent since a 69-18 win against Minnesota in 1983.
With 396 yards, the Buckeyes were four yards short of posting 400 yards of total offense for the third time in four games this season (417 vs. Youngstown State and 481 at Washington).
The Buckeyes were 2-for-2 on red zone chances Saturday and now are 14-for-15 this season.
Todd Boeckman found Brian Robiskie for two first quarter touchdown strikes in the Saturday, covering 42 and 28 yards. This season, Boeckman and Robiskie have connected on five passes of more than 25 yards, with four going for TDs.
Boeckman threw for a career-high four touchdowns. His is the first Buckeye to throw for four touchdowns since Troy Smith did so against Michigan last season. It’s the fifth four-TD game by a Buckeye in the last two seasons.
Boeckman now has 11 career TD passes, with 10 this season.
Brian Robiskie had three touchdown receptions in the first half Saturday. The last time a Buckeye had three touchdown receptions in a game was Joey Galloway vs. Purdue in 1994, with all three coming in the first half. Terry Glenn had four TD grabs vs. Pittsburgh in 1995 (two in the first quarter, two in the third quarter).
Robiskie now has 10 career catches for touchdowns.
Robiskie has caught a pass in 16-consecutive regular-season games. He finished the game with three catches for 89 yards. Robiskie has two 100-yard receiving games in four outings this season (153 vs. YSU and 107 at Washington). He has topped 80 yards receiving in five of his last six games.
In Robiskie’s last thee games at Ohio Stadium, he has totaled 23 catches for 413 yards. In the regular season finale last year vs. Michigan, Robiskie had seven catches for 89 yards and a TD. He had nine catches for 153 yards in the season opener vs. YSU.
Ray Small recorded several career firsts and career highs Saturday, most coming in the first quarter when he had first career kick return (21 yards), first career start, first career carry (19 yards) and first career punt return (21 yards). In the third quarter, Small scored his first career touchdown on a career-long catch of 48 yards.
Maurice Wells’ two touchdowns against Northwestern matched his career total coming into the game Saturday.
Sophomore Chris Wells ended the game with 100 yards on 12 rushes marking his third-consecutive and third-career 100-yard rushing game. Antonio Pittman is the last to record three-consecutive 100-yard rushing games contests against Cincinnati (155 yds), Penn State (110 yds) and Iowa (117 yds) last season.
Quarterbacks Antonio Henton and Rob Schoenhoft both entered the game in the second half. Henton was 2-of-4 for 20 yards and Schoenhoft was 1-of-2 for six yards.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
Ohio State has yet to allow an offensive touchdown in three home games this season. Northwestern’s kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter is the first TD allowed by an opponent in Ohio Stadium and just the third touchdown overall this season.
The Ohio State defense has held three of four opponents without an offensive touchdown. For the season, the Buckeyes have allowed just two offensive TDs.
The Wildcats had zero yards rushing on 33 attempts. The last time the Buckeyes held an opponent to zero yards rushing was against San Jose State (0 yards, 13 attempts), Oct. 12, 2002.
For the game, the Wildcats converted just 6-of-17 third-down chances.
Ohio State opponents have totaled 25 first-downs in three games at Ohio Stadium this season, an average of 8.3 per game. The Wildcats had 11 Saturday.
With a team-high seven tackles against the Wildcats, James Laurinaitis has tied or led the Buckeyes in tackles in 12 of the past 16 games.
Three Buckeyes recorded their first career interceptions: Anderson Russell in first quarter, Chimde Chekwa in the second quarter and Nick Patterson in the fourth quarter.
Russell also forced a fumble on his first-career sack that Vernon Gholston returned 25 yards for his first career TD. It was the first defensive touchdown for the Buckeyes since they faced Northwestern last season.
Ohio State’s second defensive captain Saturday was Malcolm Jenkins.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The blocked punt by Larry Grant in the third quarter was the second by a Buckeye this season. Tyler Moeller also had one in the season-opener against Youngstown State.
Grant also blocked a field goal last week at Washington.
Ryan Pretorius made his one field goal Saturday, a distance of 40 yards for a season-long. For his career, Pretorius is 7-of-10, including 6-of-8 in 2007.
A.J. Trapasso had one punt in the game for 34 yards.
The Wildcat touchdown came in a kick-off return by Stephen Simmons to open the third quarter. The last time an opponent scored on a kick-off return was DeAndra Cobb of Michigan State who ran for 93 yards for a TD in 2003.
MISCELLANEOUS
A crowd of 105,178 attended the game Saturday, the 12th largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history. Ohio State has had 37-consecutive games with crowds of more than 100,000.
Ohio State’s honorary captain for the Northwestern game was Raymont Harris, a running back for the Buckeyes from 1990-93 who played six seasons of professional football.
At halftime, Ohio State recognized former Buckeye basketball players Michael Redd and Scoonie Penn. Also, Ohio State honored the 1942 national championship team, Ohio State’s first national championship team.
NORTHWESTERN NOTES
Northwestern fell to 2-2 overall, 0-1 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats return home next week, hosting Michigan at 11 a.m. CT (Big Ten Network).
For the second straight game, Northwestern’s fifth all-time leading rusher, RB Tyrell Sutton, was forced to sit out a contest due to an ankle injury. Sutton played in his first 26 career games before being sidelined with his latest injury.
RB Omar Conteh made his first collegiate start, in place of the injured Tyrell Sutton.
CB Sherrick McManis collected his first interception of the season and the second of his career. His first collegiate interception came last year against Ohio State and QB Troy Smith.
RB Stephen Simmons returned his first career kickoff return for 99 yards and a touchdown. It was NU’s first KO return for TD since Jeff Backes returned a 97-yarder at Minnesota on Sept. 25, 2004. The 99-yard KO return is tied for second longest (with Curtis Duncan vs. Indiana, 1984) in NU history behind Jason Wright’s 100-yard return vs. TCU (2002).
QB C.J. Bachr passed Otto Graham (2,072 career yards) on NU’s career passing yardage list and now sits in 17th place with 2,189 career yards.
WR Eric Peterman finished the game with a career-high six receptions for 61 yards.
LB Adam Kadela finished the game with a career-high 13 tackles.
Northwestern recorded two takeaways, the McManis interception and a fumble recovery by SAF Reggie McPherson. Kadela forced the fumble that McPherson recovered.
