Terrelle let the gold hang during his first 100 yard game.
Photo Credit: Nick Falzerano (Bucknuts)It was another cold, windy day in the state of Illinois, but for the second straight week, the Bucks rode their star power to overcome the conditions and pull off a road victory.
Tresselball was in full effect during the second half, as Ohio State passed the ball twice after halftime, en route to a 30-20 win in Champaign.
It wasn't the prettiest defensive performance, but they made the stops when needed and watched most of the second half, as the Buckeye rushing attack turned the tables.
Beanie Wells and Terrelle Pryor each ran for 100+ yards and Ohio State controlled the ball for almost 20 minutes after halftime. It was the first time the Bucks have had two players go over the century mark since Troy Smith and Antonio Pittman did it against Iowa in 2005.
After trading punts to start the game, Ohio State created their first turnover when Tyler Moeller knocked the ball loose from Juice and Nadar Abdallah recovered the ball at the Illinois 19. Five plays later, LiC ran in from one yard out on a great bootleg play call. All five plays were runs and ate up 2:33 on the clock.
On Illinois's next drive, the Buckeye defenders reverted back to their old ways and let the Illini rush 7 straight times for 75 yards, missing numerous tackles and allowing runs of 12, 23, 24 and 11 yards. The drive was capped off by a 7 yard diving catch by Jeff Cumberland from Juice Williams, setting off visions of 2007 in the Buckeye faithful.
The Illini were only able to kick it 34 yards into a strong wind on the ensuing kickoff and the Buckeyes got the ball at their own 48. After failing to move the ball, Trapasso pinned Zook's team at the eight, setting up a momentum changing sequence. On 3 and 4, Nader Abdallah knocked down a Juice pass and Malcolm Jenkins blocked his second punt of the year, out of the endzone, giving OSU the 9-7 lead.
Another crummy 34 yard kick by Illinois gave the ball to Tressel's boys at the Illini 43. Breaking a season long trend, Pryor connected with Hartline for 16 yards on first down and then handed off to #9 on second down for an end around and a gain of 18. Two plays later, Beanie punched it in from 3 yards and the 16-7 lead.
The Buckeyes allowed Juice to march his troops down the field, as the Illini mixed in some no huddle offense and completely confused the Silver Bullets. After a much needed timeout by Tressel, Juice was pressured again by Moeller and threw a pick to Kurt Coleman at the Ohio State 6. Six plays later Pryor found Dane Sanzenbacher for a 20 yard touchdown. The drive covered 79 yards, including a 25 yard run by Pryor and 4 carries for 21 yards by Beanie.
The Illini gained another 107 yards in the final 6:30 of the second quarter, resulting in two field goals and a 23-13 halftime deficit. Illinois gained 292 yards in the first half, including 167 on the ground and had 13 plays of 10+ yards. They ran 11 more plays, but held the ball for only a 1:56 more than the Bucks.
There was an uneasy feeling across Buckeye Nation during halftime, not because we had to watch Mark May act stupid, but because the spread offense was given OSU fits once again. Credit must given to Heacock and the defense though, as they shut down the Illini in the second half, giving up only 42 yards in the third quarter and 88 in their first 4 possessions.
With the defense seemly in control after half, Tressel decided to run the ball on 31 of 33 plays in the second. Beanie electrified the crowd on the fourth play, with a three foot hurdle on an Illini defender and a gain of 25. He unfortunately fumbled the ball 5 plays later at the Illinois 18, but not before the Bucks had rushed 8 times for 58 yards, including TP's 16 yard scamper on 3rd and 13.
Luckily the Ilinni couldn't convert and after a battle for field position ensued, the Dynamic Duo lead OSU on an 8 play 84 yard drive, that ended with a 12 yard Boom Herron touchdown run. On that drive, Beanie had 5 carries for 37 yards, including a 30 yarder and Pryor had a 26 yard scamper on 1st and 15 that got the ball to the Illinois 13 yard line.
The Illini added a late touchdown to make the score more respectable, but it was the dominating second half performance by both sides that propelled OSU to their 15th straight conference road victory.
The Buckeye's ended up rushing the ball 52 times for 305 yards, including Beanie's 24 for 143 and TP's 13 for 110. Boom Herron chipped in with 11 carries 29 yards and Hartline had 2 for 24. Terrelle only needed to throw the ball 10 times, completing 6 of them for 49 yards and the aforementioned TD. Thankfully Robo (34) and Hartline (27) kept their streaks of at least one catch alive.
Ohio State ran the ball on 19 of 24 first downs by my unofficial count. I get as frustrated as anyone with Tressel's predictability on offense, but I don't blame him today. The conditions were horrible for throwing, it is mid-November on the road and you have a freshman QB.
The defense looked like a sieve during the first half, but the insertion of Tyler Moeller gave them a new blitzing dimension and I thought Nader Abdallah continued to inspire the defensive front. They missed tons of tackles, but made the stops when they had to and can now turn their attention to Michigan.
It's been an up and down season to say the least, but this team is 9-2 and in contention for a fourth straight Big Ten title and BCS bowl game berth. It is now Michigan week and those bastards have snuck up on us before. They are having their worst season in the history of the school, but the bitter taste could all go away with a victory over Ohio State.
Notes: Beanie moved past Pepe Pearson for fifth all time and now has 3,142 career yards. Next up is Keith Byers with 3,200... Jim Tressel moved past Earle Bruce for third with 82 career wins, he is now 82-18 at OSU... Illinois 455 yards of total offense was the most given up by Ohio State this year... Kurt Coleman had a career high 11 tackles... Ohio State has recovered 12 fumbles this year.
Comments
Good game. Guesses on the line for this week?
I say it opens at 14 {42.5 o/u}.
As much as a nothing-to-lose michigan team worries me, seeing them shit down their leg today against the mildcats just proves how truly crappy they are. I want half a hundred and meatchicken blood to run in the streets.
I've never been this confident during Michigan week. The game won't be close.
pride comes before the fall... let's be careful now
I don't have an effect on the game.
Back to back weeks with an illegal substitution penalty. Also throw in an illegal formation penalty. Why, why, why, why? Sigh...
jst got off work and watched a dvr verison of the game. Beanie is a true beast and i am firmly convinced that our coaching is the problem against elite teams. I know the O-line sucks but holy shit we still ran the ball for a ton of yards with there whole defense on the LOS. Elite teams usually score alot of points and other then Michigan when has Tressel called a game to win a shootout. When has our staff ever won a high scoring game against a elite team and the Norte Dame game a couple of years ago does not count, they were not elite. Throw the fucking ball to make us aleast 15-85 pass to run seriously it makes me sick. imagine Beanie's numbers if we had a balanced offense
This Buckeye team is a class act... no celebrations at mid-field. Got That Zook man..... and suck it also. I sure as hell hope Beanie did not pull a hamstring..... we need him next week to hang 50 on the Wolvereenies....
and finally my friend Tommy Tubberville got his today.... he went on record as badmouthing Tressel and Ohio State earlier in the year.... he can suck it also,
http://jimtresselshead.blogspo...
OSU 52 UM 13
Troy is up 17-3 on LSU.
Can we get LSU this year?
JBev- The weather was horrible. This was not the game to be passing. You do not want to be throwing with the weather they had today, let alone a freshman.
OMG I was referenced.
You can watch the LSU game on ESPN360. Troy is up 24-3 now.
It's Michigan week. F'ing Michigan. I don't care what kind of year they're having. I still f'ing hate them.
Georgia squeaking out a win vs Auburn.
24-3 Troy up on LSU.
S-E-C! S-E-C!
It is now 31-3 Troy over LSU. Something tells me that Northwestern will be ranked higher than LSU after today. Take that, SEC fans.
I bet there will be little discussion of how terrible LSU after they lose, yet when Ohio State struggles against a team like Troy we are bums and it shows how bad the Big 10 is. SEC can do no wrong.
F*CK the SEC.
Uh, it's 31-24 now. Dammit, if it was Ohio State. Teams not named Ohio State actually try and come back.
Just got back from Champaign... Watching it live I didn't have any problems with the play calling, it seemed like we were doing what we needed to win.
The defense gave up big chunks of ground, which drove me nuts, but overall controlled the pace of the game. The Illini tried a number of times to pick up the pace but just couldn't seem to maintain it.
Beanie's leap was great. Would've like to have seen us throw more but it was cold, windy and Illinois has a good secondary (not a lot of opportunities for open throws).
Illinois' kicking game kept me warm from laughing.
Wow Troy... giving up 30 unanswered in the 4th and losing to LSU. I didn't watch the last quarter but do they know anything about controlling the clock? I can't even score 30 in one quarter in NCAA 09.
There is a reason we refer to it as The Game. Do not take them lightly. Do not let down. Every play matters.
It's Michigan week!
God, I hate the announcers. They could've made it more evident that they hate Ohio State..All they talked about is the loss to USC/PSU and didn't even know the player's names. Also, how about the referees not calling any Illini offensive holds? It was going on all day.
I'd jump into Mirror Lake this week but I don't want to flood Neil Ave.
hahahah http://photo.the-ozone.net/det...
and i don't know how i never noticed this before but jersey number wise..how does pryor and jenkins and then herron and freeman share numbers? god i feel dumb
browny: one for offense, one for defense. They're never on the field at the same time.
yeah..i'd figured as much..just never noticed it
there's even a couple of numbers that are split three-ways. 41 is split between offense, defense, and special teams (RB, LB, K), but 16 is held by a qb, wr, and db.
guess as long as they don't ever see the field, it doesn't really matter, huh?
ZING!
I'm torn on Pryor getting down the field to block for Beanie Wells. On the one hand I love the fire and the passion, even Troy Smith wasn't that sort of fiery player and leader at such a young age. On the other hand, I question the value of these blocks if Pryor ends up busting his throwing hand trying to throw a block on a hard charging safety. I know, I know, you can't play the game of football looking to avoid injury, but there is also a smart way to play where you minimize the risk. Unless it's a very close game, I think Pryor should hold off on running down the field to lay out defenders, he's already earned the respect of his teammates.
He just really wants to make the most out of every play. I wish the receivers *cough Robiskie* could block downfield as well as Pryor.
video of beanie's hop on youtube..haha making quite a highlight reel for himself
Teddy Ginn has a reverse for a 40 yard TD and 2 catches for 32 yards.
I love it... so many Dolphins fan in my area talked about how much Ginn sucked.... looks like the differnce is Coaching and Motivation because Cam Cameron sucked ass as a head coach. Ginn is awesome!
He just wants to show off another 11W Buckeye NFLer of the week award to his friends.
I know some of you knock Tressel. However, when you have a beast as a power RB, I say hammer the SOB's. The knock against him really comes at making adjustments and seeing the match-ups on the field to take advantage of it. For example, when Illni had a certain package on the field and it ran off a big play against a certain defensive package, they did two things very effective against our defense early on. 1) They trapped the defense through a hurry up offense. 2) I am assuming they had plays designated to take advantage of certain packages, in which they were able to call plays quickly to exploit the situation that they preferred. That is very good game planning. Thank god Heacock went blitz happy later in the second qtr and second half to offset the Illni strategy. When trapped early in the game, the defense became confused and passive. Hopefully Heacock realized this when his defense is trapped in an ambush; you have to attack to escape. Overall the defense would have done a lot better if did not have so many missed tackles. To my point about Tressel, he sometimes appears to get into instinctive grooves where it is hard for him to go away from his bread and butter. Despite the fact that his bread and butter is being taken away with 8 to 9 in the box. Hopefully, Pryor’s maturation in his ability to read and to throw the ball more effectively will allow him to open up a bit. In addition, he has to anticipate what other defenses will do and counter his tendencies; thereby using his tendencies to setup situations to exploit. One thing he did do was come up with a better pulling and trapping game in the front line, to give his O-line a chance. Especially on a day where there were poor field conditions and everybody knew he was going to run the ball. I thought O-line graded out to a solid B to B+. I would still like the offense to attack more and exploit situations where defense is stacked in the box.
In regards to next Saturday, let this be a warning to ALL of OSU’s Coaches, the dickheads from up north will throw everything they can think of at you. Expect to see the hurry up offense at times if not all day especially if it proves successful. Our defense has to be prepared mentally for this challenge. We will still have to stop the run but expect a fast tempo from their offense, especially if they see whatever the Illni saw in our manpower. Also, there will be a handful of reverses, discipline football and SOLID tackling is needed. In addition, if they are 4th and short on our side of the fifty, expect them to go for it.(see the Panther vs. Detroit game from today) Our offense has to expect the same, 9 in the box will be a common sight with all out blitzes. They will force Pryor to beat them with his arm. Special teams may see two or three trick plays. Guys, their season is pitiful so they have nothing to lose. Coach Tressel, when find yourself up two touchdowns late, make sure you unleash the offense to put the proverbial “ ‘silver’ bullet in the head” to finish them off. It is that time of the year where we take no prisoners.
Tress plays to the team strength and that's running the ball and having a very good D that keeps everything in front of them. Yes, it is conservative, but it does make for consistency. This is enough to beat 95% of the teams out there.
With the elites, this one-dimensional nature can be exploited and the run game can be slowed down (by stacking the box), especially when you don't change up the play-calling (both sides of the ball) to keep them honest. In 2002, we WERE able to throw the ball decently with Krenzel (to go along with our strong rushing attack). Also, Dantonio could mix up the D to keep teams honest. Same went for the O.
There is no doubt in my mind that regardless what plays are called, this team will crush UM. Make no bones about it. However, this will need to change in whatever bowl game the Bucks play in if they are going to get a 'W'.
This team is forced to rely very heavily on the D and it is very good, but it has been shown quite clearly to be not sufficient when you can't pass the ball, because the elites will just stuff the run. It's too easy.
On the bright side, TP adds threats (mostly on the ground) past teams have not had. Will that be enough this year? Or, will Tress open up the passing playbook when it's time to bowl? My hope is that he does, because it hasn't against USC, Florida, and LSU. I have my doubts a conservative game will get the job done, even with TP's speed and elusiveness.
How about the Hawkeyes, they have one of the leading rushers in the nation and I do not see any love on this website.
hmmm... i wonder if that's because this is a buckeye website. Plus the fact that we don't play iowa this year, so who cares...
Probably because this is an Ohio State blog, but you're right, Greene is a beast, and Iowa is kinda better than their record.
I'd like to see Iowa make it to the Outback bowl. I think that's the best they hope for. They've beaten both Florida and LSU in bowls this decade, so I think they would be a fine representative.