The past win was a 30-7 beat down on Minnesota. The win was expected and normally wouldn’t call for Ohio State to move down from the No. 8 spot in the AP poll all the way down to No. 4.
However, it helps when No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 West Virginia and No. 7 Texas lose.
The Buckeyes now find themselves ranked in the top five in the country without really doing anything.
Sure, you make an arguement that the road game at Washington was impressive, especially after the No. 1 USC Trojans struggled against the Huskies this past weekend.
Ohio State didn’t put Minnesota away until the second half. In fact, it looked as though the Gophers were going to tie the score at 14 when freshman quarterback Adam Weber threw an interception.
After an intercepted by Malcolm Jenkins, it looked like Minnesota was going to get the ball back with good field position late in second quarter. Ohio State was facing a third-and-six when Minnesota called a timeout with 1:33 left in the first half. Then Chris “Beanie” Wells reeled off a 27-yard run. On the play, the Gophers were penalized 15 yards on a late hit by Jamal Harris. On the next play, quarterback Todd Boeckman threw a perfect pass to Brian Robiskie for a 52-yard touchdown.
In the second half, Ohio State’s defense shut down Minnesota’s offense and held on to win 30-7.
Chris Wells had another impressive game, rushing for over 100 yards for the fourth straight game. He finished with 116 yards on 24 carries for two touchdowns.
Robiskie was Boeckman’s favorite target once again, as he finished with five catches for 99 yards and had a touchdown. Robiskie has 25 catches for 530 yards and six touchdowns in only five games. The 19-year-old junior is hands down the player who has stepped it up the most in replacing the stars from last season.
This week should be interesting as OSU will prepare for its toughest opponent so far this season.
No. 23 Purdue has a high-powered offense that is led by 22-year-old junior quarterback Curtis Painter. On the year, Painter has completed 136 of 203 passes (67%)for 1,542 yards and has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 18-to-3.
Last week, I wrote that I wasn’t convinced that Ohio State answered all of its question marks in the Washington game. After the Buckeyes beat up on the lowly Tyrell Sutton-less Wildcats of Northwestern 58-7, I felt better about Ohio State’s Big Ten title hopes.
However, I still feel the Buckeyes haven’t played anyone yet. Washington is solid, but young and Ohio State got a lot of breaks. And Northwestern - well - they are terrible.
Minnesota could be even worse, as the Gophers (right) have a 1-3 record, which includes loses to Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic.
Prior to the season, I thought Minnesota would be the surprise (in a good way) team in the Big Ten. Instead the Gophers have been worse than expected. That doesn’t mean this team doesn’t have weapons.
Freshman quarterback Adam Weber has looked great at times and at other times he has looked like a freshman. For the season, Weber is averaging 257.8 passing yards per game. Weber also can run the football. He has 257 yards rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns this year. Throwing the football, his touchdown-to-interception ratio is 11-to-8.
Weber has a couple of solid receivers in sophomore Eric Decker and senior Ernie Wheelwright. Decker has 30 catches for 421 yards and four touchdowns. Wheelwright is from Columbus, is 6-foot-5 and has five touchdown receptions this year.
As always the Gophers have a good running back in senior Amir Pinnix, who rushed for 1,272 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2006. Pinnix has 439 yards on 77 carries and has three rushing touchdowns. Pinnix also has 10 catches and a receiving touchdown this season. However, Pinnix has had fumbling issues this season and the Buckeyes could see freshman Duane Bennett get some playing time. Bennett has 112 yards rushing on 13 carries (9.4 yards per carry).
The players weren’t the main reason that I picked the Gophers to do well this year. I bit on the sales pitch that new head coach Tim Brewster (left) sold on Big Ten Media Day. At the time I wrote, “when I was watching the Big Ten Media Day on Tuesday (July 31st). New head coach Tim Brewster seemed as though he was the only Big Ten coach with a pulse.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Gophers pull off an upset later on this season, but they don’t seem ready now.
Ohio State goes into the game with the nation’s #2-ranked defense and the Gophers lead the nation in committing turnovers, which could lead to a slopfest.
Another positive statistic, is that the Buckeyes have never lost to Minnesota in the Metrodome, going 10-0 since 1982.
For some reason, I can see the Buckeyes struggle a bit in this night game on the road. Fortunately, the Buckeyes are playing Minnesota and should roll to an easy win.
For the fourth time in five weeks, Ohio State has failed to crack my top-ten list.
Here is my helpful guide to Week Five in the college football world.
It was recommended that I make picks with spreads - so i did.
While we are talking about spreads, let me tell you my top five spreads for this week:
#22 Alabama (+2.5) at Florida State
#21 Penn State (-3) at Illinois
#23 Arizona State (-14) at Stanford
#5 West Virginia at #18 South Florida (+7.5)
#2 LSU at Tulane (+40.5)
1) #6 California at #11 Oregon (3:30 p.m.- ABC) Easily the biggest game of the day. Both teams have played well (CAL has outscored its opponents 166-98, while ORE has scored 194 and allowed 86). A Heisman candidate could emerge in this game - everyone expects that to be CAL’s junior WR/Playmaker DeSean Jackson - don’t surprised if it’s Oregon’s senior QB Dennis Dixon (right), who has 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Dixon’s career high for TDs is 11.
Pick: 42-38, Oregon wins, but CAL (+6) 2) #5 West Virginia at #18 South Florida (8:00 p.m. Sept. 28 – ESPN2) Friday night lights, why is the second biggest game of the week being played on a Friday? Previously, the Big East had to do this for television exposure, but it shouldn’t have to anymore. I think WVU is overrated and USF is a very solid team.
Pick: 28-26, USF (+7.5) 3) Auburn at #4 Florida (8:00 p.m.- ESPN) In my preseason schedule review, this was the biggest game of Week Five. Last year, Auburn beat Florida, but this isn’t the same Tiger team. The Gators struggled last week, but I expect them to get revenge and win big.
Pick: 42-14, Florida (-18.5) 4) #1 USC at Washington (8:00 p.m.- ABC) USC has won easily every week. However, Washington almost pulled off the upset last season. I like this Huskie team better, but it is younger. I wouldn’t be surprised if Washington plays USC tough early, but eventually USC will pull away.
Pick: 35-17, USC wins, but Washington (+21) 5) Kansas State at #7 Texas (3:30 p.m.- ABC) The Wildcats defeated Texas last season. However, Texas’ QB Colt McCoy was injured early in that 42-45 loss. Experts are calling this a trap game for Texas (Red River Shootout is next week) - I don’t agree.
Pick: 35-14, Texas (-14.5) 6) Michigan State at #9 Wisconsin (3:30 p.m.- ABC) Big Ten country will be watching this game closely. Everyone wants to know how good MSU is. Also, the Badgers haven’t been exactly dominating their opponents the last three weeks. Personally, I’m not a believer in MSU, but if the Spartans win this week than I will be.
Pick: 27-14, Wisconsin (-7.5) 7) #3 Oklahoma at Colorado (1:30 p.m.) The Sooners are about face their toughest road game so far this season. Oklahoma also will play Texas next week - so they could be looking ahead. However, Colorado doesn’t have enough talent to win this game.
Pick: 42-28, Oklahoma wins, but Colorado (+23) 8) #13 Clemson at Georgia Tech (3:30 p.m.- ABC) If you can watch Clemson play this season, I would recommend it. The RB duo of James Davis and C.J. Spiller is special. Junior WR Aaron Kelly looks to be finally having that breakout season. GT has lost two straight to ACC teams, but this team is dangerous. The Yellow Jackets have a great running game and a good defense.
Pick: 21-17, Clemson (-3) 9) 5) #22 Alabama at Florida State (5:00 p.m. CBS) FSU hasn’t looked good this year, junior QB Drew Weatherford has struggled as always. Bama is having a great season, the only loss coming in a thriller against Georgia. I expect the Crimson Tide to roll.
Pick: 28-10, Alabama (+2.5) 10) Maryland at #10 Rutgers (3:30 p.m.- ABC) Before the season started, I thought this would be a good test for Rutgers. However, after Maryland looked terrible in the 31-14 loss to West Virginia, it doesn’t seem to be that tough game for Rutgers anymore. The Scarlet Knights haven’t played anyone good yet and this is still their strongest opponent so far, but I don’t expect them to have any trouble.
Pick: 35-21, Rutgers wins, but Maryland (+17)
BIG TEN PICKS
BUCKEYE LANE’S 2007 RECORD: 30-10 (straight up picks - no spreads)
#21 Penn State at Illinois (noon - BTN) This game will interesting - how good is Illinois and how bad is PSU? I expect PSU to rebound from its loss to Michigan.
Pick: 35-17, PSU (-3) Michigan at Northwestern (noon - BTN) Northwestern looked terrible last week and Michigan beat PSU. Michigan should win big.
Pick: 38-7, Michigan (-17) Notre Dame at Purdue (noon - ESPN) Purdue looks like the sleeper in the Big Ten while ND looks to have its worst team ever.
Pick: 48-17, Purdue (-22) Indiana at Iowa (12:05 - BTN) How good is Iowa? No one knows. Indiana isn’t that easy to figure out either.
Pick: 28-14, Iowa (-11) Michigan State at #9 Wisconsin (3:30 - ABC) (see top ten) #8 Ohio State at Minnesota (8:00 - ESPN2) The Buckeyes just had two great weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have an off-week, but luckily for them - they are playing the Gophers.
Pick: 35-24, Ohio State wins, but Minnesota (+24)
Leading up to this game, I wrote in my preview that I wasn’t convinced that Ohio State was ready to start the Big Ten season.
Now, I’m convinced that Northwestern is terrible.
However, I have to admit that OSU looked impressive in its 58-7 win over Northwestern.
Up until halftime of the Washington game, Todd Boeckman didn’t look like a quarterback that would be able to blowout opponents.
This past Saturday, Boeckman looked as though he has mastered the deep ball. On the third offensive play for Ohio State, Boeckman threw a 42-yard floater to wide receiver Brian Robiskie. Robiskie caught three passes (all for touchdowns) for 89 yards.
Leading 45-0 at halftime, Northwestern’s Stephen Simmons returned his first kickoff ever and it went for 99 yards for the touchdown.
OSU answered that with a Boeckman 48-yard touchdown bomb to WR Ray Small.
Early in the third quarter, running back Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells limped off the field. The moment was scary, but Wells says the injury is nothing to worry about. He finished the game with 100 yards on 12 carries. He also scored on a 36-yard run.
Not only would an injury to Beanie, who is OSU’s best offensive player, be devastating, but it leave the Buckeyes extremely thin at the running back position.
On Friday, true freshman Brandon Saine had arthroscopic knee surgery. If everything goes well in his recovery, Saine will only miss next week’s Minnesota game.
Beanie’s backup is Maurice Wells, who rushed for 44 yards on 15 carries and had two rushing touchdowns. Behind him is freshman walk-on Marcus Williams, who did see some action in the Northwestern game.
If Saine’s recovery hits a bump in the road, expect the Buckeyes to play true freshman Daniel ‘Boom’ Herron. If Herron plays, he will lose his redshirt.
The Buckeyes should have an easy go at it this upcoming weekend when they face off against Minnesota. The Gophers could be even worse than Northwestern, if that is possible.
Fellow Buckeye fans have to be worried about night road games. However, it looks like OSU won’t get its first real test until the weekend after when it plays a night game at Purdue on ABC.
Badgers running back P.J. Hill continues to have a great year. He finished with 113 yards on 29 carries and scored a touchdown. He also had two catches for 18 yards.
Fighting Illini running back Rashard Mendenhall (left) rushed for a career high 214 yards on 27 carries and rushed for a touchdown. He also had three catches for 18 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
We are still looking for an Illinois blog to join our group, but we do have an Indiana blog:
The Boilermakers continue to win and no one seems to notice.
Quarterback Curtis Painter completed 33 of 48 passes for 338 yards and had three touchdowns. Painter also threw his first interception of the year. Through four games, Painter has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 16-to-1.
Check out the Purdue blog, which is our newest member:
When the media and the blogging community describe the Ohio State’s 33-14 win over Washington - they use the word “convincing”.
Sure, I think Washington is an underrated program and the scoreboard would make one think the win was never doubt, but am I convinced that the Buckeyes are ready to enter Big Ten play?
Hardly.
The Buckeyes got a lot of help from the officiating and from a young quarterback, who is going to be great, but isn’t there yet.
The Huskies had 346 total yards (balanced 204 passing and 142 rushing) and one fewer first down than Ohio State had (21 to 20).
The point is, Washington drove it down the field. Its quarterback, Jake Locker, ran around the over-hyped defense of Ohio State (don’t get me wrong, the Buckeyes defense is great, but is isn’t the greatest thing since slice bread, which is what many of us Buckeye fans believe). Then Locker made a couple key mistakes, turning the ball over twice deep in Buckeyes’ territory.
The Buckeyes should have received multiple personal foul calls - One play, Locker had his head pulled around right in front of a referee. Another play that occurred almost right after was when a Buckeye defender ripped off the helmet of a Washington ball carrier. That is just to name a few, some late hits could have also been called.
Also, in the first half a nervous Todd Boeckman had the ball slip out of his hands deep inside his own territory. A Huskie defender picked up the ball and ran it into the endzone for a touchdown. But as soon as Boeckman said “Doh!” and the ball popped loose, the whistle blew, ruling the play dead. It resulted as an incompletion and would’ve met a 14-3 lead for Washington going to halftime.
Now, you talking about a different ball game - The Huskies drove down the field on its first drive of the second half. The Buckeyes blocked the kick, two plays later Boeckman threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie, OSU got a fumble on the kickoff and then received a 14-yard TD run by Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells (left).
All of sudden in less than a minute, the score flip-floped from 3-7 to 17-7.
Just like every year, us Buckeye fans get pumped up too quickly.
I remember in 2004, ESPN convinced Buckeye Nation that Ohio State was great and that kicker Mike Nugent was a legitimate Heisman candidate.
I have to admit I was convinced too - I mean after 2002, I thought that the Buckeyes will just squeak by everyone on their way to another National Championship.
We should have realized there was no chance when Ohio State needed a 55-yard field goal by Nugent with no time left to beat Marshall. Maybe we should have figured that a title run wasn’t in the works when quarterback Justin Zwick threw for only 73 yards against N.C. State. I mean those Jimmy Clausen numbers!
But in 2002, Ohio State almost lost to Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan and finally Miami (FL).
So there we were in ‘04, with a 3-0 record, holding ‘Nugent for Heisman’ posters and about to start Big Ten play against Northwestern.
Sound familiar? If you need to be reminded that is our current situation, except for the Nugent extravaganza.
But you can easily replace that Nugent nonsense with the lil’ idea that Ohio State had a “convincing” win over Washington.
The biggest difference is, it was a night game at Northwestern instead of an afternoon home game at Ohio Stadium.
However, another similiarity is at the running back position.
In 2004, RB Noah Herron had a huge game and scored three total touchdowns in NU’s 33-27 overtime victory.
This year, the Wildcats have another great back in Tyrell Sutton, who didn’t play last week in the loss to Duke.
- Do I think the Buckeyes will easily beat up on Northwestern? -
For the third time in four weeks, Ohio State has failed to crack my top-ten list.
Here is my helpful guide to week four in the college football world.
1) #12 South Carolina at #2 LSU (3:30 p.m. CBS) LSU looks like the best team in college football, but they have to play in SEC. 2) #22 Georgia at #16 Alabama (7:45 p.m. ESPN) Nick Saban has led Bama to a 3-0 record and has the fans believing in miracles - This should be a very entertaining game. 3) #10 Penn State at Michigan (3:30 p.m. ABC) Penn State has lost eight straight against Michigan - Anyone can win this game, Penn State just needs to. 4) #21 Kentucky at Arkansas (6:00 p.m. ESPN2) Kentucky pulled off a crazy upset of No.9 Louisville last week. Now, they have to visit Arkansas, who was ranked No.16 last weekend, for its first SEC game. One of the best quarterbacks (Andre Woodson) goes up against the nation’s best running back (Darren McFadden). 5) #20 Texas A&M at Miami (FL) (7:30 p.m. Sept. 20th ESPN) The Aggies get its first test of the season - quality Thursday night game. 6) Iowa at #9 Wisconsin (8:00 p.m. ABC) Iowa lost to Iowa State last weekend, but Wisconsin has been less than impressive the last two weeks. Again, in the Big Ten anyone can win. 7) Washington State at #1 USC (8:00 p.m. ABC) USC shouldn’t have a problem with WSU, but you should always keep an eye on the No.1 team. 8) Michigan State at Notre Dame (3:30 p.m. NBC) In Big Ten country, people feel MSU should be ranked - I, on the other hand, am not a believer in the Spartans. However, they should get to 4-0 with a win over the Irish. 9) Arizona at #6 California (6:00 p.m.) Cal has the best chance to ruin USC’s hopes for a national title - Arizona is a solid team, but haven’t played well so far this season. 10) Oregon State at Arizona State (10:00 p.m.) ASU could be a top-25 team if it played in the eastern time zone - here is the chance to prove it.
Big Ten Picks
BUCKEYE LANE’S 2007 RECORD: 25-9
Indiana over Illinois (Illinois @ Indiana- noon- BTN) This could be the best Big Ten game of the week. #8 Ohio State over Northwestern (NU @ OSU- 3:30 p.m.- ESPN) Buckeyes should have no problem with a team that allowed Duke to snap a 22-game winless streak. #10 Penn State over Michigan (PSU @ MU- 3:30 p.m.- ABC) Does Michigan ever play a road game? Six of first seven are at the Big House. Michigan State over Notre Dame (MSU @ ND- 3:30 p.m.- NBC) MSU didn’t impress me with its win over Pitt - The Spartans better win this week. #9 Wisconsin over Iowa (Iowa @ Wis.- 8:00 p.m.- ABC) I would’ve picked the Hawkeyes if this game was in Iowa - Wis. just hasn’t impressed me yet. Purdue over Minnesota (Purdue @ Minn.- 9:00 p.m.- ESPN2) Purdue is extremely underrated - QB Curtis Painter is off to a great start
A quick breakdown of all the Big Ten games from week three. Not included is the Ohio State game, which has it’s own wrap on Buckeye Lane . I will talk more about the Washington game later on this week. Notre Dame (0) at Michigan (38)
Michigan’s Ryan Mallett won the true freshmen battle over Jimmy Clausen.
Mallett out threw Clausen 90 yards to 74, these teams are truely amazing.
Check out what our fellow Big Ten Bloggers have to say about it:
ISU kicker Bret Culbertson made five of six field goal attempts in this upset.
Iowa fans were thinking about a possible Big Ten title after wins against Northern Illinois and Syracuse. However, the Hawkeye fans were put in their place after losing to a team that had lost both of its previous games to Kent State and Northern Iowa.
Check out our Iowa blog- it always has interesting content- this week it should be really interesting.
Purdue junior quarterback Curtis Painter, who threw for 3,985 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2006, threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns.
Painter is quietly putting up a Heisman type of season, so far he has completed 81 of 118 passes (68.6%) for 952 yards and has 13 touchdown passes without an interception.
Check out our Purdue blog - it is the newest member of the Big Ten Bloggers-
For a week up until kickoff, Buckeye fans were biting their nails wondering if they would become the next big-time program to drop a game early in the college football season.
The first half of the Ohio State @ Washington game didn’t ease any tensions that a Buckeye fan might have, as Ohio State went into the locker room trailing the Huskies 7-3 after senior wide receiver Anthony Russo caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jake Locker (redshirt freshman or sophomore, depending on the source).
The score should have been 14-3, when the ball slipped out of quarterback Todd Boeckman’s grasp deep inside his own territory. A Huskie defender picked up the ball and would have had an easy touchdown, but a whistle blew the play dead. The play wasn’t reviewable, since the whistle blew, and the play was ruled an incomplete pass.
The Buckeyes did commit 10 penalties, however it could’ve been worse. There were a few personal foul calls that weren’t called against what looked to be a dirty Buckeye defense. One play, Locker had his head pulled around right in front of a referee. Another play that occurred almost right after was when a Buckeye defender ripped off the helmet of a Washington ball carrier.
So the Buckeyes got some breaks, which is what happens when you are the No.10 team in the country. On Monday, Ohio State moved down to No.8 spot in the AP top-25 poll.
Boeckman looked terrible in the first half and had most of Buckeye Nation yelling at their televisions to get another QB in there. However, early in the third quarter, Boeckman tossed up a perfect touch pass to Brian Robiskie on a 68-yard touchdown, which made the score 10-7 Buckeyes.
From then on, Boeckman played with confidence and it showed. Boeckman finished with 218 yards (14 of 25 passing) and threw for two touchdowns.
The Buckeyes had their best offensive game of the ‘07 season against their toughest opponent, which has to give Buckeye fans some hope of a Big Ten title.
Robiskie finished with four catches for 107 yards and fellow wide receiver Brian Hartline caught six passes for 88 yards and had a receiving touchdown as well.
Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells (right) had a great game. You could finally see that Wells was becoming a more patient runner and still has the power to run over defenders. He finished the game with 24 carries for 135 yards and scored a touchdown.
True freshman Brandon Saine was very impressive, he rushed for 83 yards on nine carries (9.2 yards per carry) and scored a touchdown.
On the defensive side, junior linebacker James Laurinaitis had a great game. He finished with eight tackles, two inceptions and had a sack.
Jim Tressel, showed the most emotion I think I have ever seen from him, when the Buckeyes blocked a Ryan Perkins field goal on Washington’s opening drive of the second half, won his 200th game.
It was that blocked punt that led to the long touchdown pass from Boeckman to Robiske. Then Washington fumbled the kick return and Wells scored on a 14-yard touchdown run, making the score 17-7.
That was pretty much the ball game - those four almost consecutive plays - blocked field goal, long touchdown pass, fumbled kick return and Wells’ TD run.
Washington (2-0) is coming off a big win against then-No.22 Boise State, by a score of 24-10.
The Broncos' held a 14-game win streak, which was the longest in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
The Football Bowl Subdivision is what we are supposed to call Division I-A football now. A subdivision of 118 or so teams - sounds stupid, but let's get back to the Huskies.
Because of Washington's first win over a ranked opponent in 12 games, (last was on Nov. 22, 2003 - against No.8 Washington State) the school received 95 votes in the AP top-25 poll this week. Currently, they are ranked 30th. Just a reminder, Youngstown State and Akron didn't receive any votes.
So, saying that Ohio State is going into their toughest game of the 2007 season so far would be an understatement.
The Huskies feature a mobile sophomore quarterback by the name of Jake Locker. Locker has rushed for 167 yards on 26 carries and has three rushing touchdowns in Washington first two games (@ Syracuse and vs. Boise State).
In comparison, Locker has rushed for more touchdowns than the entire Ohio State team.
Washington has a solid running back Louis Rankin (left) that has seven career 100-yard rushing games, including a 147-yard (17 carries - 8.6 yards per carry) and three-touchdown performance @ Syracuse this year.
Compare that again to Ohio State, who’s leading rusher (Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells) has one career 100-yard game.
Currently, the Buckeyes are ranked No.10 in the AP top-25 poll, but are favored by only 4.5 points.
Ohio State will be trying to get their 16th straight win against an unranked opponent this Saturday, but it won’t be easy.
The past win was a 30-7 beat down on Minnesota. The win was expected and normally wouldn’t call for Ohio State to move down from the No. 8 spot in the AP poll all the way down to No. 4.
However, I still feel the Buckeyes haven’t played anyone yet. Washington is solid, but young and Ohio State got a lot of breaks. And Northwestern - well - they are terrible.
The players weren’t the main reason that I picked the Gophers to do well this year. I bit on the sales pitch that new head coach Tim Brewster (left) sold on Big Ten Media Day. At the time I wrote, “when I was watching the Big Ten Media Day on Tuesday (July 31st). New head coach Tim Brewster seemed as though he was the only Big Ten coach with a pulse.”
Here is my helpful guide to Week Five in the college football world.
Easily the biggest game of the day. Both teams have played well (CAL has outscored its opponents 166-98, while ORE has scored 194 and allowed 86). A Heisman candidate could emerge in this game - everyone expects that to be CAL’s junior WR/Playmaker DeSean Jackson - don’t surprised if it’s Oregon’s senior QB Dennis Dixon (right), who has 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Dixon’s career high for TDs is 11.
BIG TEN PICKS
Now, I’m convinced that Northwestern is terrible. 
Wolverines running back Mike Hart had a career-high 44 carries. Hart finished 153 rushing yards and scored a touchdown.
Fighting Illini running back Rashard Mendenhall (left) rushed for a career high 214 yards on 27 carries and rushed for a touchdown. He also had three catches for 18 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
Hardly.
Now, you talking about a different ball game - The Huskies drove down the field on its first drive of the second half. The Buckeyes blocked the kick, two plays later Boeckman threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie, OSU got a fumble on the kickoff and then received a 14-yard TD run by Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells (left).
Sound familiar? If you need to be reminded that is our current situation, except for the Nugent extravaganza.
Quarterback Anthony Morelli (right) completed 20 of 27 passes for 202 yards and had four touchdowns without an interception.
The first half of the Ohio State @ Washington game didn’t ease any tensions that a Buckeye fan might have, as Ohio State went into the locker room trailing the Huskies 7-3 after senior wide receiver Anthony Russo caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jake Locker (redshirt freshman or sophomore, depending on the source).
Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells (right) had a great game. You could finally see that Wells was becoming a more patient runner and still has the power to run over defenders. He finished the game with 24 carries for 135 yards and scored a touchdown.