There were several sports pundits who thought that Ohio State’s matchup against Washington would prove to be their downfall.
Boy, were they wrong:
SEATTLE (AP) — Usually stoic in his scarlet sweater vest, Jim Tressel was jumping around the sideline.
In the huddle, normally low-key Todd Boeckman barked at his Ohio State teammates, as the quarterback making his third career start joined his coach in trying to ignite the Buckeyes.
It worked.
Chris Wells ran for 135 yards and a touchdown, Boeckman threw for two more scores and No. 10 Ohio State scored 24 consecutive points in the second half to beat Washington 33-14 on Saturday.
“Oh, man, I was really surprised. I’ve never seen Todd like that,” Wells said of the 23-year-old junior replacement for Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith.
Ohio State (3-0) tied a school record for consecutive wins in the regular season with 21, matching a mark set from 1967-69.
“It was gut-check time for us, to see who wanted it the most. As you can see, we wanted it the most today,” Wells said.
Boeckman was 14-for-25 for 218 yards. He just laughed when asked about his outbursts, after the Buckeyes won for the 22nd time in 23 games overall — the only loss coming when Florida ran over them in last January’s national championship game.
“I’m not a guy who speaks up much, but we had a lot of dumb penalties in the first half,” Boeckman said. “You could see it in their eyes [that they needed it].”
For those won might have considered this a test for the Buckeyes, I would say they passed with flying colors.
