Players Preview Saturday’s Game with New Mexico State – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Members of the football Buckeyes met with OhioStateBuckeyes.com and the local media Tuesday evening after practice to talk about last week’s win over Minnesota and to preview Saturday’s non-conference game with New Mexico State (Noon ET, Big Ten Network).
Players included Doug Worthington, Jake Ballard, Bryant Browning and Chimdi Chekwa. You can also watch a video clip of Big Ten co-defensive player of the week Thaddeus Gibson from Tuesday’s media luncheon.
NEW MEXICO STATE AT A GLANCE
The New Mexico State Aggies are 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) coming into Saturday’s game. Its three wins have come against Prairie View A&M (21-18), New Mexico (20-17) and Utah State (20-17). They enter Saturday’s game coming off a 34-3 loss at the hands of Fresno State Oct. 24.
On offense, the Aggies average 13.2 ppg. Running back Seth Smith is the Aggies leading man on the ground, rushing for 87.9 yards per game. Quarterbacks Jeff Fleming and Trevor Walls have split time behind center this season, both completing just over 50 percent of their passes. Defensively, junior Ross Connor ranks third in the WAC in tackles with 70 while junior Jason Scott ranks sixth with 67. Meanwhile, junior return man Marcus Anderson leads the WAC in punt returns with an 11.4 yard average, including a season-long 56-yarder.
DeWayne Walker is in his first season as head coach after spending the previous three seasons as UCLA’s defensive coordinator. He also was an assistant in the NFL for eight seasons before that.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Ohio State has the 4th-best home winning percentage (.909/50-5) among FBS schools since 2002
- Ohio State leads the Big Ten in scoring offense in conference games with 30.0 ppg.
- Ohio State is 52-0 when scoring 30 points or more since 2001
