Tuesday Post-Practice Interviews – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Following Tuesday’s practice, three players stopped and talked with members of the local media and OhioStateBuckeyes.com to share their thoughts on the win over Illinois and the upcoming game at Indiana Saturday in Bloomington, Ind. (7 p.m. ET/Big Ten Network).
Players included Dexter Larimore, Jake Ballard and Jon Thoma. In addition is a video interview with Doug Worthington from Tuesday’s media luncheon.
The Buckeyes currently hold a 15-game win streak in Big Ten road games. That’s the longest such string ever by an Ohio State football team. The conference record is 17 games, set by Michigan between 1988-92.
INDIANA AT A GLANCE
The Hoosiers are off to a 3-1 start (0-1 Big Ten) after suffering their first loss of the season last Saturday to Michigan, 36-33, in Ann Arbor when UM’s Tate Forcier hit Martavious Odoms on a 26-yard pass with 2:29 left. Indiana redshirt freshman running back Darius Willis had a career-high 152 yards on the ground.
The Hoosiers’ defense is solid, ranking second in the Big Ten in rushing defense, giving up just 94.7 yards per game. Senior Jammie Kirlew leads the Big Ten in tackles-for-loss with 8.5.
The offense is led by junior QB Ben Chappell who has completed 84-of-130 (64.6 percent) passes for 944 yards and three TD’s. Willis, meanwhile, averages 73.7 yards per game on the ground while sophomore Tandon Doss is the team’s leading receiver with 26 catches for 374 yards.
Head coach Bill Lynch is in his third season with Indiana. In his first season in 2007, Lynch led the Hoosiers to a 7-6 record and a trip to the Insight Bowl. He is the only head coach in Hoosier history to guide a team to a bowl game in his debut season.
SERIES RECORD
Ohio State leads the all-time series with Indiana 65-12-5 and has a 42-10-4 edge when the two teams play in Columbus. The two teams did not play in 2007 or 2008 due to the Big Ten schedule rotation.
The Buckeyes have won 14 straight from the Hoosiers since a 41-7 loss in 1988 in Bloomington that represents the most lopsided setback for Ohio State in the 108-year-old series (first played in 1901). The Buckeyes have put together several winning streaks during the series, the longest of which was a 23-game stretch between 1960 and 1986.
IN NIGHT GAMES
Ohio State is now 6-3 at home (26-13 away from home) in night games (games starting 5 p.m. or later local time) since 1959 and 32-16 in night games all-time. Under Coach Jim Tressel, the Buckeyes are 14-10 in night games and 7-3 in Big Ten night games away from Ohio Stadium. Tressel’s teams are 2-3 at home in night games.
SILVER BULLETS
The back-to-back shutouts of Toledo and Illinois were the first time since 1996 that the Buckeye defense recorded consecutive shutouts. In 1996, Ohio State whitewashed Minnesota (45-0 at home) and Illinois (48-0 at Illinois) in November of that season.
The last time Ohio State had two shutouts in a season was 1998, also against Toledo (49-0) and Illinois (41-0). Ohio State last recorded three-consecutive shutouts in 1973 under legendary coach Woody Hayes.
The 1973 and 1977 Ohio State squads each recorded four shutouts, a season record since WWII.
Ohio State’s defense has allowed fewer than 10 points 22 times since the start of the 2006 season. The Buckeye defense has allowed zero points over its last eight quarters of play and only one touchdown over the past 11.
The 38-0 shutout of Toledo (which had averaged 42.5 points in its first two games) was the first by the Buckeyes since a 43-0 shutout of Youngstown State in the 2008 season opener and the fourth shutout of the Tressel era. The Buckeyes held the Rockets to just 210 total yards, only 13 of those on the ground.
Ohio State’s defensive squads have held opponents to fewer than 21 points 42 times since 2006, the best among FBS teams. The Buckeyes are 40-3 in those games.
Against the USC Trojans, Ohio State’s defense did not allow a first down until the 13:15 mark of the second quarter and held the Trojans to only 5 yards of total offense on its first three possessions. The previous week, USC totaled 620 yards of total offense against San Jose State.
