Four plays set course of OSU’s season over Michigan state
Ohio State and its opponents combined to run 1,451 plays from scrimmage this football season, but an argument could be made that four of them defined the Buckeyes’ season.
Take away any of them and the No. 4 Buckeyes (9-2) might have finished with a different record. Their bowl destination might have been something different from Monday’s Fiesta Bowl matchup against Notre Dame.
First on the list is Michigan State’s self-destruction on a field-goal attempt late in the first half of OSU’s 35-24 win on Oct 15.
Ohio State’s national championship hopes had been vaporized by Penn State a week earlier when it handed the Buckeyes their second loss of the season. Michigan State was up 17-7 with a few seconds left in the first half and had the ball inside OSU’s 20-yard line.
Inexplicably, some of the Spartans thought they were trying to spike the ball and another part of them were trying to line up for a field goal. Without half his blockers, MSU kicker John Goss never had a chance.
Nate Salley blocked the field goal attempt and Ashton Youboty returned it 72 yards for a touchdown.
“That play really turned that game around and then took our season up where there was just a lot more confidence,” defensive lineman Quinn Pitcock said.
The second play that carried enormous weight was Anthony Gonzalez’s leaping 27-yard catch from Troy Smith that set up the game-winning touchdown against Michigan on Nov. 19.
Every Ohio State fan remembers that. Every Ohio State fan saw that grab. Well, everyone but one — his mother was too nervous to watch from her seat at Michigan Stadium.
“She thought it would be bad luck or something if she watched, so she was sitting down while everyone else was standing. She totally missed the whole thing,” Gonzalez said. “Everybody started going crazy and people were high-fiving her and she asked my dad, ‘Did Tony do something?’ ”
The third play changed Ohio State’s season by changing tailback Antonio Pittman.
The sophomore running back didn’t score a touchdown in Ohio State’s seven games. But he put an emphatic end to that streak by breaking a 67-yard run for a touchdown to put Ohio State ahead to stay in a 45-31 win at Minnesota on Oct 29.
“All of a sudden …whoosh,” coach Jim Tressel said, describing the play after the game.
All of a sudden, whoosh, Pittman became more of a credible first option on offense. He scored six touchdowns in Ohio State’s final four games.
“I think once I got into the end zone everything started really clicking,” Pittman said. “You know, when you have a 150-yard game and no touchdown, it starts to bother you. Once I got into the end zone, it was all right from there.”
The final play on the list defined Ohio State’s season as something less than the Buckeyes had hoped for when the year began.
Vince Young’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Limas Sweed with two minutes to play gave Texas a 25-22 win on Sept. 10 in Ohio Stadium. The Longhorns receiver eluded Youboty then made a diving catch in front of Salley.
“I don’t really want to get into that play too much,” Salley said at a pre-bowl interview session. “It kind of hurts.
“I still don’t think the replay was fair. The ball popped out after he rolled over. He never showed me he had great control of it. But that’s how it goes. That’s kind of how our season has been, we’ve been pretty close. But we’ve made the most of our opportunities and you can’t dwell on that,” he said.
Posted at 10:25 am by michiganstate
