Without running back Tyrell Sutton and starting quarterback
CJ Bacher, the Northwestern Wildcats tried to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes with
a combination of passing and quarterback runs on Saturday in Evanston. But Ohio State
continued to dominate lesser opponents putting up 45 points to Northwestern’s
10.
By Steve Patterson
Play of the Game
The play of the game came when Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells
was stopped in the backfield but bounced off of one tackle and rumbled forward
with the assistance of tackle Alex Boone for 55 yards and a touchdown early in
the 2nd quarter. “It gives you a surge of confidence,” Tressel said about
the touchdown
after the game. “Sometimes, if you don’t block them great but you still score a
touchdown, you feel happy and confident. It gives you some momentum.” That
score put Ohio
State ahead 14-7 and they never looked back.
Bye Week Losses
Coming off
of a bye-week has been difficult for Jim Tressel led teams at Ohio State,
but the week off was used to get back to fundamentals and it paid off according
to the head coach. “I thought our guys prepared hard for the last week and a
half,” he said. “They were excited to get back on the field. They worked hard
on their fundamentals. Northwestern went hard at it. Our defense kept playing
and playing. Offensively, I’m not sure we were as consistent as we want to be.
But we made more plays than we have the last few outings. And this is one more
step.”
Terrelle Pryor
Quarterback Terrelle Pryor
had a very nice game after his most difficult outing of the season against Penn State
two weeks ago. “I thought Terrelle did some good things,” Coach Tressel said.
“First of all, it was a windy day. It wasn’t the easiest day to be throwing the
ball around. There were a couple passes in there, I think on one of the handoff
reads he might have made his mind up early. But every time he’s out there, he’s
going to get better.” For the game, Pryor was 9-14, for 197 yards and 3
touchdowns.
The game was over mid-way through the fourth quarter
allowing senior captain Todd Boeckman to see the field for the first time in
weeks.
Third Down Conversions
Ohio State
was 8-13 on third down for the day and Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
felt the statistic was one reason Ohio
State soundly beat his
team. “Our inability to get off the field
on third down cost us,” he said. “Our inability to make big plays and create
turnovers collectively as a defense was very damaging. Then on offense, we had
some self-inflicted wounds with some turnovers and penalties.” But Northwestern
went 8-15 on third downs and only had three penalties compared to Ohio State’s four.
In the end
it was Wells’ ability to move the ball and Pryor’s efficiency finding open
receivers Fitzgerald confessed. “But credit goes out to Ohio State,
who made a lot of plays. They do what winners do. They make plays when they are
supposed to make them. My hat is off to them.”