In the end, a satisfying beginning to the Buckeyes’ Big Ten season:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -This game cried out for a mercy rule in the Big Ten.
Todd Boeckman tossed three touchdown passes to Brian Robiskie in the first half to lead eighth-ranked Ohio State, scoring early and often, past Northwestern 58-7 on Saturday.
Just about everything went wrong for the Wildcats (2-2), who trailed 28-0 after the opening 9 1/2 minutes and 45-0 at the half. The Buckeyes (4-0) could’ve had their starters leave after two quarters for some tailgating outside the Horseshoe, which was hosting its 500th game.
”What do you do when you get such a decisive lead? You work on things,” Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel said when asked about the rapidly mounting score. ”But you still want the quarterback to throw to the open guy and if the open guy happens to be the deep guy you throw it to him. So, no, once we got to 45 did we start calculating how could we get to 90? No. But you want to do what you can do.”
Robiskie, son of former NFL player Terry Robiskie, scored on all three of his receptions, which covered 42, 28 and 19 yards. Boeckman finished 11-for-14 for 179 yards and four scores, also throwing a 48-yard TD pass to Ray Small .
Chris Wells gained 100 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown and Maurice Wells , who had scored twice in 25 career games, matched that with touchdown runs of 1 and 3 yards.
The offense scored on its first three possessions after getting off to slow starts in each of the first three games.
”Our goal for the week was to come out and get a touchdown on the first drive,” fullback Dionte Johnson said. ”We were able to do that - and do it for the first couple of drives.”
The Buckeyes, who came in ranked third nationally in total defense (197 yards a game) and fifth in points allowed (7.3 a game), surrendered just 120 yards and forced three turnovers. Northwestern, averaging 26 points and 451 yards a game, rushed 33 times for 0 yards.
”It was a good start to the Big Ten season,” said linebacker James Laurinaitis , who had one of the Buckeyes’ five sacks and one of their 13 tackles for minus yardage. ”But there’s always things you can get better at.”
That’s a frightening prospect for opponents.
Yea I would think so.
