Vernon Gholston set quite the goal for himself over the summer.
“If I had 15 (sacks),” he said, “I knew I was going to have a pretty good season.”
Yet the man who only started playing football as a high school sophomore – because the sport’s weightlifting aspect appealed to him – had a little catching up to do. He entered the seasons tenth game Saturday with just 5-and-a-half sacks.
Improbably, the goal still lives.
Overwhelming Wisconsin’s offensive front with an All-American blend of speed and preternatural strength, the junior defensive end turned in a historic showing.
Gholston’s four sacks tied a school record, matching Bobby Carpenter (Michigan State in 2005) and Jason Simmons (Washington State in 1991).
“He can be as good as he wants to be,” cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. “What an amazing athlete.”
Talk about being in the zone.
“If I got in a zone, I would have had a sack on every play,” Gholston corrected.
But now with 9-and-a-half sacks, one more than his total last season, might the target still be in reach?
“I don’t know,” Gholston said, smiling. “We’ll see.”
Look out.
Surprise, coach
Surprised by Wisconsin’s fake punt early in the fourth quarter?
So was Badgers coach Bret Bielema. It seems as though everyone but punter Ken DeBauche thought the punt was on.
“I didn’t get a signal that it was on or off,” DeBauche later told reporters. “So I thought it was still on.”
With OSU ahead, 24-17, and Wisconsin facing a 4th-and-3 on its own 27-yard line, DeBauche ran right before being smothered for a two-yard loss by junior linebacker James Laurinaitis.
Nice job, Ken.
“I don’t know for sure if it was a fake or I don’t know,” said coach Jim Tressel, adding the Buckeyes were in a punt-safe formation. “If it was, it didn’t work.”
The play snuffed nearly all hope for a Badgers comeback.
“It wasn’t the game-ender for us,” said Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema. “But it did place a big damper on our team.”
Newest Buckeye?
“Pryor, Pryor, Pryor,” chanted the students in “Block O.”
“Hey, you’re going to be a champion if you come here,” another fan shouted at the star.
A victory safely stashed away, OSU’s fans turned their attention to a more pressing matter late Saturday: Luring Terrell Pryor to Columbus.
The nation’s top-ranked recruit, a 6-foot-6 quarterback from Jeannette, Pa., made his official recruiting visit to OSU Saturday.
Pryor, who would also like to play basketball in college, has said he doesn’t plan to commit before February’s signing day.
Quotable
“(Our) season’s kind of like the (Ultimate Fighting Championship). I’m a really big UFC guy and if a guy drops, because they only fight like four times a year, they fall way down the ladder. You work your way up fight after fight after fight to become a contender and then you finally get a shot at the belt. But if you lose one, you’re back to the bottom rung. That’s how college football is. Teams can lose early in the year and build their way back up and get a shot at the title. But if you lose late in the year, you’re done. There is no second chance” – Senior right tackle Kirk Barton philosophizing on the parallels between cage-fighting and football.
Buckeye extras
OSU is 67-9-1 when ranked No. 1 in the country … Saturday’s crowd of 105,449 was the fifth-largest in Ohio Stadium history. OSU has now played 40 straight games at the ‘Shoe in front of more than 100,000 fans … Quarterback Todd Boeckman has thrown at least two touchdown passes in every game this year … The Buckeyes retired the No. 99 jersey of Bill Willis during halftime Saturday. Willis, OSU’s first black football All-American in 1943 and 1944, is the seventh player in school history to have his number retired.
David Briggs can be reached at [email protected].
