Throughout the week, Ohio State starting quarterback Craig Krenzel faced so much scrutiny it was almost as if the fickle Buckeye Nation had forgoten all about last year’s national championship. Still very much in the hunt for another title, the quarterback and the rest of the offense roared back to life by downing Michigan State 33-23 Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Krenzel rebounded from last week’s injury by going 12-of-23 through the air for 213 yards and three touchdowns. While Krenzel threw one interception back-up Scott McMullen did not see any action until the Buckeyes were up 30-17 midway through the fourth quarter.
“I wasn’t motivated by being replaced, I was motivated by offensively we haven’t done as well as we should have all year long,” Krenzel said. “And we know down the stretch of this season that we’re going to need to put some points on the board to help our defense out and our special teams out.”
Aiding Krenzel in his return was running back Lydell Ross, who finally had a big game against a tough defense. He ran through the Spartan’s defense, which had only been allowing 101 yards per game for 127 yards.
“We want to be balanced,” said OSU coach Jim Tressel. “We want to run for 200 and throw for 250. I’m not sure how it ended up. We want to score 40 but we were forced to kick four field goals and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Following halftime, the Buckeyes brought out the offense they have been waiting to see all season. On eight plays, they rolled down the field to score on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Krenzel to Ryan Hamby with 11:42 left in the third. Krenzel started the quarter with tosses of 29 and 18 yards to Jenkins and Roy Hall respectively. Then OSU went back to Ross, who ran the ball 21 yards on five tries on the drive.
Just 12 seconds later, DeAndra Cobb returned his third kickoff of the season for a touchdown, this one was for 93-yards to make it 24-17. It was the first time OSU let up a kickoff return for a touchdown since 1984.
The shootout continued when the Buckeyes added three more points on a 24-yard field goal by Nugent with 6:14 left in the third. Again the drive was about Krenzel and Ross. A trio of passes to Branden Joe, Chris Gamble and Michael Jenkins moved the ball 24 yards. Ross carried for 14 yards on two tries to set-up the score.
Michigan State’s offense started spuddering and things did not get better when sophomore offensive tackle Stefon Wheeler had to be taken off the field on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulence. The injury halted the game for 10 minutes.
Wheeler was taken to The Ohio State Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition and will remain overnight for observation. Michigan State team Dr. Randy Pearson said Wheeler had no broken bones ih his neck and regained feeling in his arms.
OSU kept firing into the fourth quarter. A big third down completion from Krenzel to Hartsock moved the Buckeyes into Spartans territory – setting up another Nugent kick, this one from 40 yards out.
Smoker was extingished again with 12 minutes to play when Dante Whitner picked off the quarterback at the OSU 40-yard line. The Buckeyes moved down the field to give Nugent another field goal for 24 yards.
MSU continued to struggle and after an 18-yard punt by Rayner, the Buckeyes took over in enemy territory.
With McMullen in the game, OSU continued to feed the ball to Ross. He sprinted 35 yards on the first play of the drive to get down to the 14-yard line. The Buckeyes rumbled down to the 1-yard line, but could not cross into the zone. Nugent split the uprights for the fourth time on a 18-yard boot.
Smoker was able to lead his team to one final touchdown leaving OSU with only a 10-point edge. After connecting with Aaron Alexander in the end zone, Smoker went for the two-point conversion but was stopped by the Buckeye defense. As time wound down the Spartans attempted an onside kick as their final hope of coming back. Jenkins, however, grabbed the ball up for OSU.
Despite his usual wide-out attack, McMullen was limited to keeping the game on the ground by handing the ball over to Ross and Joe. On third-and-seven the Buckeyes opted to give the ball to Ira Guillford instead of playing a pass route.
Opening up the first quarter, Michigan State went immediately to the pass game – moving the chains twice on a pair of short passes but was forced to punt.
OSU opted for a different plan of attack. Starting quarterback Krenzel ran the ball twice for a first down. Following a MSU offsides penalty, Ross banged ahead for a first down. The drive continued with Krenzel going to the air to find Santonio Holmes for a 14-yard gain. The Buckeyes then nearly victimized the Big Ten’s worst pass defense for six points, but Gamble let the ball bounce away from him in the end zone. That forced the hosts to punt.
The Spartans took advantage of holes in the OSU pass coverage in the first half. Smoker found Agim Shabaj for a 22-yard touchdown with 6:21 left in the first to go up 7-0. On the previous play, Ziehl Kavenaght hooked up with Smoker for a 47-yard gain to set up the score. MSU also was aided by a questionable pass interference call against Gamble on third down, which would have stopped the drive early.
OSU answered back and got on the scoreboard on the strength of a 44-yard field goal by Nugent. The Buckeyes marched down the field with the running tandum of Krenzel and Ross. The quarterback carried the ball three times for 21 yards and drove the Buckeyes deep on a 29-yard reception to Hamby.
Smoker continued to find holes in the OSU defense near the end of the first quarter and moved his squad into enemy territory. Needing a third down conversion, the Spartans resorted to a little trickery. Smoker tossed a backwards pass to Alexander, who threw it downfield accross the field back to Smoker for a 22-yard gain on third down. Buckeyes strong safety Tyler Everett put out the fire though as he picked off Smoker in the red zone and returned the ball 66 yards.
Michigan State continued its giving ways by committing 20 yards of penalties on the same play due to an offside and personal foul infraction. OSU took advantage two plays later on a 17-yard touchdown toss from Krenzel to Ben Hartsock. The Buckeye signal caller moved up in the pocket amid heavy pressure to find the open tight end.
“They hold these guys – these guys you have to hold – and they got nailed for a couple of those and that certainly hurt them and helped us,” Tressel said.
The Silver Bullets came alive on the Spartans’ next possesion, with a sack of Smoker and forced them to punt after three plays.
Krenzel guided the Buckeyes to their second touchdown in just three plays. On first down he connected with Jenkins for a 21-yard gain. Then two plays later Krenzel found Holmes for a 37-yard touchdown to go up 17-7 with 6:28 left in the half. Holmes caught the ball at the 8-yard line and looped around four defenders to dive in for the score.
Smoker got the ball back and started strong, with an offensive line that was giving him all day to throw. He found Shabaj on first down for a 20-yard gain, but the Sparatans went backwards following a holding call. Needing a conversion to keep up, Bobby Carpenter forced a fumble on Smoker. The ball was recovered by MSU, but it forced them to take a 48-yard Dave Rayner field goal with 3:13.
