The Game Review

And then Tressel was 8-1, and Rich Rod was 0-2.

Ohio State vanquished Michigan 21-10 with traditional Tresselball and spectacular defense to take the Outright Big Ten Championship.  The Buckeyes defense caused 5 turnovers including 4 interceptions thrown by Forcier and a Forcier fumble in the endzone to secure the victory.  Ohio State has now won a record 6 straight games against Michigan, the most in their history, and the most in the series since Michigan won 9 straight from 1901-1909, while Ohio State was a non-D1A program.  Ohio State has also won at least a share of the Big Ten Championship the last 5 straight years, including 3 outright titles (2006, 2007, 2009).

The Game started slowly as both teams played excellent defensive games.  Given the way Michigan’s secondary had played all season, many expected Ohio State to come out slinging the ball around to take advantage of it.  Outside of two deep passes that were overthrown, Ohio State mostly kept it on the ground all day to great success.  At the end of the game, Ohio State had run the ball 51 times for 253 yards for an almost 5 yards per carry average.

The Buckeyes seemed to have a surprisingly hard time moving the football all game.  The Michigan defense, especially their secondary, did a good job of sealing off our receivers and limiting Ohio State passing game.  This left Pryor with some rather pedestrian passing stats of 9/17 for 67 yards, a Touchdown and an Interception.  However, Pryor had a much bigger effect in the running game carrying the ball 19 times for 74 yards, including several critical first downs.

The Recievers didn’t have much of a game, though Posey caught the ball 5 times for 38 yards.  Herron also recieved 2, including a beautiful screen pass for a 12 yard touchdown to put the Buckeyes up by what proved to be the final score.  That screen pass was in answer to Michigan’s only touchdown for the game.  Sanzenbacher and Saine also each had a reception to round out the receiving.

The Running game was the story for the Buckeyes all game.  After a slow start, going three and out for 2 of the first 3 drives, and only moving the ball 25 yards on 6 plays on the first drive, the Buckeyes suddenly managed to explode on the scene with a 41 yard 6 play drive that boosted the confidence of the offense even though they had to punt.  After that, Ohio State ran a 6 play 80 yard drive for a 29 yard rushing touchdown down the left side of the field for Brandon Saine.  That drive was made entirely of running plays as the Buckeyes had no trouble punching the ball on the ground at Michigan.  Saine ended up with a 7 yard per carry average with 12 carries for 84 yards.  Boom Herron also had a big game running 19 times for 96 yards.  All three players who ran the football for the Buckeyes (Herron Saine and Pryor) had long carries over 20 yards: 23, 29 and 25 respectively.

The first score of the game, though, came on Defense for the Buckeyes.  On Michigan’s first drive, they were pinned deep by a Thoma punt that got a great bounce down to about the 7 yard line.  On first down, the bucks stopped them in the backfield, and then on second, Ohio State got in and got enough pressure on Forcier to cause him to lose control of the ball.  Cameron Heyward was in position to fall on the ball and control it in the endzone giving the Buckeyes the early lead that they would never relinquish.

The Defense was absolutely dominating during the game.  Despite a couple Michigan drives, and Michigan showing the ability to move the ball through the air against the Bucks, Ohio State kept making the plays necessary to keep Michigan from scoring.  Especially key to this was Kurt Coleman who had 2 interceptions on the game, and about three passes that he could have turned into interceptions.  Also notable was the touchdown saving interception by Devon Torrence in the endzone near the end of the game.  He showed great vision and patience to convince Forcier to try to the pass before stepping in front of it and taking it away.  Forcier rounded out his turnovers with an interception to Thaddeus Maximus that all but sealed the game.

Also worth noting was that no Michigan running back carried the ball for more than 32 yards for the game.  Vincent Smith had a 4 yard per carry average on 8 carries for 32 yards, but was generally ineffective.  Denard Robinson ran 10 times for 31 including a long 17 yard carry that put Michigan in a scoring position that they couldn’t capitalize on.  The other two rushers, Forcier and Michael Shaw, each carried 7 times, but only got 10 and 7 yards respectively.

The Michigan passing game was much more effective on the game, despite the interceptions thrown.  Forcier had 23/38 for 226 yards and 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions for the game.  He often looked to Roundtree as a receiver, who ended with 9 catches and 116 yards, including a ridiculous 43 yard pass where Forcier was scrambling and found Roundtree who got a lucky block and tried to outrace Anderson Russell.

Also worth noting was Jon Thoma’s punting on the game.  Fans have often been complaining about his lack of consistency during the season, however he showed today that he can be a solid punter.  While his average (38.6 yards) wasn’t spectacular, he had several booming punts to pin Michigan deep, and often his average was reduced because he was being forced to punt short to pin Michigan back.  Unfortunately he’s a senior, so the Buckeyes won’t be able to take advantage of his new-found consistancy.

This game was classic Ohio State versus Michigan.  Often, no matter how bad the teams are, both teams will show up and play much much better than their record suggests and this game was no exception.  Michigan’s defense was on today, and their offense was clicking.  Ohio State’s defense was also pretty solid, while they gave up lots of yardage, they were hot when trying to force the turnovers.  5 caused turnovers is spectacular in this series, and there were several more than could have been coverted, including an Anderson Russell strip that was recovered by Michigan, and the several picks that Kurt Coleman dropped.  This game always brings out the best in both teams and that’s what makes it so special.

Still on the subject of turnovers, Ohio State has now intercepted the ball 23 times on the season.  That is best in Division 1-A (I still won’t call it FBS) by a fair margin.  Boise State and Clemson are tied for 2nd with 20 a piece.  After several seasons of watching the Buckeyes (especially Anderson Russell) drop the interceptions, it’s wonderful to have them finally dominating in that statistic.

Ohio State and Michigan have both completed their regular seasons.  Ohio State is now 10-2 and will be heading to the Rose Bowl to face a team to be determined later – most likely Oregon at this point.  Michigan is now 5-7 and have no more games to play.  Michigan will not be attending a bowl game for the 2nd time in 2 years, the longest drought since 1972-1974, a streak of 3 years where Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl, and there were no other bowl games for Big Ten teams.