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| The Buckeyes D rose to the occasion Saturday night, and denied Wisconsin's RB M. Ball, of the all-time NCAA touchdowns record. |
11-OH! Wow, this season has resurfaced a number of memories from 10 years ago, when the 2002 Buckeye squad narrowly escaped in a number of games to go 14-0, winning the 2002 National Championship. The only difference, this current squad won't have the chance to play for the National Championship this season, due to a number of selfish Seniors from a season ago. The Buckeyes are banned from the postseason this season, but that hasn't kept them from winning every game (up to this point) on the 2012 schedule, and winning the Leaders Division of the Big Ten out-right.
Yesterday's, game was another "pace around the room" game that saw the two teams play some bonus football, and saw the Buckeyes come out on top once again, winning 21-14 in overtime, and beating those stinking Badgers from Wisconsin on Badgers Senior Day. In the win, the Buckeyes denied Wisconsin's Senior RB Monte Ball of the career record for touchdowns in major College Football. Besides, anyone can get a record when you play Purdue, Illinois, and Indiana, etc. once a year, haha. Now, with the win, it officially kicked off the best week of the year (or at least football year), BEAT MICHIGAN WEEK. It's going to be some sort of atmosphere come Saturday afternoon, when the Buckeyes host that team from up north in THE GAME. 11-OH! and counting...
The Offense:
It sure wasn't the prettiest of games for this unit, at least for star QB Braxton Miller, but, they did just enough (especially in overtime) to come out of Madison and Camp Randall Stadium, with the win. I liked what I saw early on from the offensive attack, and what they were doing. A really good job in moving the ball down the field with both the run and pass, but seemed to not be able to get into scoring possession, what seemed like the whole night. The Buckeyes received a big boost from PR Philly Brown, with his 68-yard punt return in the 1st quarter opening the scoring. Then they jumped out to a 14 to 0 lead after Carlos Hyde's 15-yard rushing touchdown right down the middle of the Badgers defense, and I thought they were headed to another high-scoring output. However, that would be the only scoring or offense (basically) from the Buckeyes till the overtime session, when they scored a touchdown first (also from Carlos Hyde). Give the Badgers D credit, they did a really good job in keeping Braxton Miller under control and limiting the big plays (I think, a lot had to do with the Buck's play-calling at times). Lets hope Braxton & Co. can bounce back next week in THE GAME. Hyde, finished with 87 rushing yards and two scores to pace the offensive attack for the Buckeyes, who only totaled 236 yards of offense.
The Defense:
The bend but don't break Silver Bullets showed up in a huge way yesterday. The Buckeyes D did allow Monte Ball to rush for 191 yards and a score a touchdown, tying the all-time NCAA mark for career touchdowns, but, they were not going to allow Ball to break it against them. The play of the game, goes to LB Ryan Shazier, who punched the football out of the hands of Ball, as he was leaping over the pile towards the end zone, for what would have been the recording scoring touchdown and tying the game up with less then three minutes to go in the game. Shazier, has played out of his mind in the past couple of games, as he always seems to be flying around the field collecting double-digit tackles per/game. The Silver Bullets D did allow the Badgers to score late and tie the game up at 14-14 with :08 left in the game, they came up with the "winning plays" in overtime, to end the game and send Badger Nation home with their heads down on Senior Day. This unit has improved in the past three or four games, and will have a tough challenge on their hands going up again the spread attack, that the team from up north runs.
Next Week:
The Buckeyes go for perfection in THE GAME next week, when they host the Michigan Wolverines (8-3), Saturday at NOON on ABC in Columbus.
