BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Searching for it’s missing offense, No. 8 Ohio State used the Big Ten’s most lopsided match-up finally fired up its scoring machine in a 35-6 romp of Indiana Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Just as the Buckeyes started to pick-up some momentum in the romp, they must now continue to search for answers on offense with an injury to one of their biggest play-makers.
Wide receiver Drew Carter, who appeared to finally overcome his rash of injuries this season saw his career come to an end just as quickly. The senior injured his right ACL for the second time in his career in the second quarter.
“Drew’s been a warrior for us and I think he’s had more plays this season than Michael (Jenkins) has,” OSU coach Jim Tressel said. “To replace Drew Carter will be a tremendous challange.”
Junior running back Lydell Ross returned to Indiana and used it as a springboard to a big second half of the season. He nearly equaled his season total by carrying the ball for 167 yards and three touchdowns on 23 tries.
While the offense took a huge step forward, the Buckeyes took a huge step backwards with the loss of Carter. They then went to Plan B and started spreading the pigskin to its corp of young receivers.
The offense racked up 603 total yards, with 216 on the ground and 387 through the air to win its 16th straight over the Hoosiers.
Meanwhile the nation’s best defense against the rush held Indiana to -12 yards on the ground and just one touchdown.
Ohio State went right to the running game and Lydell Ross picked up 13-yards on the first from scrimmage. They used an overpowering effort by the offensive line to maul into the Indiana side of the field on a 25-yard scamper. On a key third down, Craig Krenzel found Michael Jenkins for a 12-yard way.
The game got a chance to get back to traditional OSU football, and it paid off in just under three minutes into the game. Out of the shotgun Krenzel handed off to Ross, who found the end zone from 11-yards out.
Ross, who ran the ball for 67 of the 79-yards on the drive, took pressure off the passing game early. With gaping holes at the line of the scrimmage, Ross was able to bust into the secondary and nearly broke loose on several occasions until the Hoosiers made a touchdown saving tackle. “I felt like we where doing things right as a whole, I was reading the holes and the offensive line was doing a great job because I had choices,” Ross said. “When I cut back one, I could have cut back the other way so I had choices out there.”
Indiana quarterback Matt LoVecchio had his hands tied early from the opening snap. Senior linebacker Fred Pagac, Jr. exploded into the backfield and immediately took down the passer. IU was forced to punt and OSU took over possession just shy of midfield.
Krenzel converted on a the third down to Carter for a gain of nine yards. Indiana started to bring more pressure at the line of scrimmage and made the passing game beat it. The Hoosiers forced a punt, but the OSU special teams shined as Steven Moore downed BJ Sander’s punt at the IU 2-yard line.
With their backs up against the wall, the hosts were forced to the running game, which could only muster three yards on two plays.
Taking possession with a short field ahead of them the Buckeyes went back to Ross, who nearly scored again on a 30-yard gain. He fumbled on the next play and the loose ball was recovered by IU’s Joe Gonzalez.
Once again, the Hoosiers found themselves deep in their own territory. This time IU managed to move the chains for the first time on a 7-yard pass by LoVecchio to the Indiana 21-yard line. A holding penalty pushed Indiana back and it could not convert on the OSU defense.
Even though Indiana kept heavy pressure up at the line of scrimmage, the Buckeyes kept the pressure on its running game. Ross picked up a first down and then Krenzel found the big play Indiana has been prone to give up all season. He found Carter again for a 49-yard pickup just five yards short of another score.
Following a Hoosiers’ offsides penalty, Ross went around the left tackle and went untouched from 2-yards out for his second touchdown with 14:01 left in the half.
Indiana stacked its offensive line to help its running backs get a push past the line of scrimmage and it started to make some progress. They picked up a first down thanks to Brian Lewis, which brought the IU rushing total up to 11 yards by the early second quarter.
The Silver Bullets began preying on LoVecchio with a pair of sacks by Simon Fraser and Will Smith to force another punt.
OSU took over again with Krenzel found Carter for a 17-yard play, but the receiver injured his right knee on the play and was carried off the field with ACL injury to his right knee. It was the same injury the senior suffered in 2001 in practice preparing for Indiana.
With its emerging receiver on the bench, Krenzel went to some of the second string receivers with 12 and 4-yard passes to Bam Childress and Santonio Holmes respectivily on short routes late in the first half. Ohio State continued with the short routes with two toss to Branden Joe for a pair of first downs.
Krenzel returned to his running ways to earn another first down at the IU 24-yard line, but another of the Buckeyes pitfalls all season, the holding penalty, stopped the drive. Things got worse for OSU as Mike Nugent hooked his 35-yard attempt wide left. It was the All-American kicker’s second miss of the season.
Lovecchio’s problems continued after getting the Hoosiers near midfield, freshman Donte Whitner picked off his first interception as a Buckeye, giving OSU another shot at scoring before the end of the half.
OSU put its two-minute offense plan after taking over in its own 41-yard line. Krenzel picked apart the defense, but the Buckeyes needed a big fourth down play with 31 seconds left to keep the drive going. Krenzel found Childress for a 15-yard hook-up to stay on the field.
The Buckeyes pick up right where they left off in the first half with the passing game. A scrambling Krenzel with great protection found Holmes for a 39-yard gain deep into IU territory. On the next play, the duo found each other again for eight more yards. That set-up a 15-yard Krenzel scoring strike to Holmes with eight seconds remaining to run the score to 21-0.
Krenzel was intercepted on a freak interception for the Buckeyes second turnover in the redzone. He rolled out looking for Holmes, but with an IU defender at the goal line the ball was intercepted by Cedric Henry, who was tackled on the 1 yard line. After the Hoosiers could not do anything in the shadow of their own goal posts, they were again forced to punt.
Without Carter, the Buckeyes continued to spread the ball around and found Chris Gamble on a 15-yard gain to set-up Ross’ third touchdown of the game. The junior running back pounded it in from a yard out to put OSU up 28-0 with 6:17 left in the third.
Indiana appeared to finally have a chance to break onto the scoreboard after a defensive pass interference against OSU’s Dustin Fox brought them down to the OSU 58-yard line. LoVecchio fumbled the next play and was then sacked by A.J. Hawk to force another punt.
TheBuckeyes appeared to have another touchdown to Holmes, this time from McMullen. After stopping a fake punt by the Hoosiers, the back-up quarterback found the freshman receiver, who fumbled the ball just before crossing the goal line. Indiana recovered the loose ball in the end zone for the touchback.
IU moved the chains for a quick first down, but then LoVecchio became reacquainted with Will Smith for a 9-yard loss on the sack.
The Buckeyes took over to keep their numbers on the scoreboard moving in a positive way. That included the visitors side of the score. Hall was able to rush for 12 yards on the drive. The passing game also worked as McMullen connected with Childress, Roy Hall and Holmes. A 47-yard touchdown pass to Holmes made the difference and redee
med Holmes from his previous fumble.
The Hoosiers realized they were on the wrong side of a one-sided battle and used the rest of the fourth quarter in the way the Buckeyes were, to give the inexperienced some experience. It turned out to be a positive move for IU as it scored for the first time. Freshman quarterback Graeme McFarland came in and passed the ball effectively down field. The touchdown throw was made after the OSU defense hurried McFarland. However, Taylor grabbed the ball out of the air and brought it into the end zone. Bryan Robertson came onto the field for the first time in the extra-kick role and failed to convert.
Zwick and Troy Smith finished out the clock at the quarterback spot for the Buckeyes. The visiting team left the field with a 35-6 advantage over the Hoosiers.
