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The cataclysmic implosions were occuring all around them -- No. 1 Miami falling behind moribund Rutgers 17-8 and actually blind-butt lucky it wasn't behind 24-8, thanks to a touchdown-cancelling phantom holding call by a creative bunch of officials, for example, before the Hurricanes put up 28 unanswered fourth quarter points to win.
Unbeaten Notre Dame, No. 4 in The Associated Press poll, drew the loudest Ohio Stadium cheer of the day after its unbeaten season was ruined by eternal upstart Boston College.
It was the beginning of a day that would eventually see Bowl Championship Series darlings Georgia and Virginia Tech, as well as North Carolina State suffer their first losses of the season.
And as Saturday's Ohio State-Minnesota game slogged and glopped its way deep into the second quarter with the A.P. No. 23 Golden Gophers up 3-0, the first looks of worry began to sprout among the 104,897 fans.
Minnesota had gained its lead by blocking an Andy Groom punt that was converted into a 24-yard field goal.
But while the defense tightened on the Golden Gophers (7-2 overall, 3-2 Big Ten), the offense, which struggled mightily in last week's 13-7 victory over Penn State, searched and probed a tough Minnesota defense.
No Maurice Clarett, the 1,000-yarder who was shelved because of his recurring right shoulder problems.
A less than 100% Lydell Ross as Clarett's replacement.
But Craig Krenzel used a surgeon's patience and finally, as the second quarter wound toward halftime, he found a trusted weapon who had helped the consensus No. 3 Buckeyes (10-0, 5-0) right themselves at Wisconsin.
Michael Jenkins. The junior wide receiver cut between two Gophers defenders and took a perfectly-thrown Krenzel pass down the sideline for a 49-yard gain that would lead to a five-yard up-the-middle bolt by Ross that gave the Buckeyes their desperately needed momentum toward an eventual 34-3 victory.
"(the Buckeyes' defense has) carried us the last two weeks," Krenzel told O.S.U. beat guy Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch. "The offense came out a little slow again today and the defense kept us in the game.
"Obviously last week, the defense won the game for us. These past couple, three weeks, they have been playing awesome for us."
But Krenzel's resourcefulness and the Buckeyes' late-arriving offense combined with a forceful defense to assure the Buckeyes would not be among the ranks of Saturday's fallen.
"That's the kind of thing we need to keep happening for the next three games (at Purdue Saturday, at Illinois, Michigan) for us to be where we want to be."
Where the Bucks want to be is Tempe, Arizona in January. Playing for the national championship.
What seemed a lofty goal about a month ago now looks well within reach. Ahead of the Bucks are the two remaining major unbeatens -- Oklahoma (No. 1 A.P., 2 coaches) and Miami (No. 1 coaches, 2 A.P.).
Defensive end Darrion Scott, who seemed to be everywhere with two sacks and repeated pressurizing of Minnesota's talented quarterback, Asad Abdul Khaliq, who was trapped four times, put a unique spin on the day's events.
"That's definitely a momentum plus for your team (being 10-0)," Scott told May after the defense held Khaliq to 59 passing yards. "We've got a lot of momentum going into the next game; we've got a shot to be 11-0.
"When you see on the scoreboard one of the teams ahead of us (Notre Dame) lose, you get excited. There's a lot of things that get us going right now."
Ross, who later scored on a nine-yard run to climax an opening third-quarter drive that gave the Bucks a 17-0 lead, teamed with fourth-quarter touchdown scorer Maurice Hall to produce 182 rushing yards, most of which came in the second half as O.S.U. gained a 2-1 possession edge.
Minnesota's gritty defense gave ground grudgingly. But the Gophers' inability to establish any meaningful offense (seven first downs, 112 total yards) made their defense's job nearly impossible.
"The perception will be, because they scored 34 points on the board, we didn't play good defense," Minnesota coach Glen Mason, a 1972 Ohio State graduate, told May. "I don't think that's true."
What was true this leaden gray Saturday afternoon is Ohio State avoided the pitfalls that nabbed Virginia Tech (in the Hokies' case, a Pitt-fall), Notre Dame, Georgia and N.C. State.
As always, coach Jim Tressel's staff -- particularly defensive coordinator Mark Dantonio, who may be positioning himself as a very attractive head coaching candidate -- had the Bucks well-prepared for most eventualities.
"We knew that Minnesota was in the top 10 in the nation as far as running the ball," two-time All-America safety Michael Doss told A.P.'s Rusty Miller, "and we didn't want those guys to control the clock."
As has been the case all season, the Buckeyes were able to dominate the line of scrimmage and for the second straight week, the result was a key victory over a ranked opponent.
And a whole bunch of optimism as they head to West Lafayette to face the 4-5 Purdue Boilermakers.
NOTES -- Minnesota's Paul Nixon, a Mifflin (Ohio) High School grad, had three first half sacks of Krenzel...Buckeyes lost to Minnesota two years ago in Columbus as the disgruntled crowd called for then-coach John Cooper's replacement by Mason...Chris Vance scored the game's only T.D. through the air, a 30-yarder from Krenzel with 1:15 left in the third quarter...Mike Nugent's two field goals gave him 21 straight. |
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Paul Smith is the midwest correspondent for collegeBLITZ.com
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