Be Careful What You Wish For
 

Photo by Terry Gilliam

After the controversial ending in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl that helped Ohio State win the national championship and start Miami on a descent from relevance, Hurricanes fans thirsted for revenge. They said the Buckeyes didn’t deserve the title, that the better team lost and that an official’s call was more responsible for the victory than the play on the field.

The Buckeyes left no room for questions in the “rematch”, blasting the visitors from South Beach 36-24 in front of the sixth largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history. Miami felt a win over the second-ranked Buckeyes could vault them back to prominence, but OSU’s defense was too strong and the offense was too opportune for the Hurricanes to leave with anything but a loss.

“Two teams played awfully hard against each other today,“ OSU coach Jim Tressel said. “When you have four takeaways you have a chance and when you have zero giveaways you have a real good chance.”

The Buckeyes (2-0) got on the board first, courtesy of a 24-yard Devin Barclay field goal with just under six minutes left in the first quarter. But 12th-ranked Miami (1-1) went ahead when Lamar Miller returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a score. It was a continuation of OSU’s special teams woes, which would continue when Travis Benjamin returned a punt 79 yards with just over three minutes left before halftime. OSU would also miss a field goal and allow nearly 400 return yards to the Hurricanes, and since Tressel preaches special teams strength you can bet he’ll have his team on point from here on out.

“Are we concerned? Of course,” the coach said. “The good thing is our guys didn’t fold. They know we’ve got to get better at that. You usually can’t win that way, giving up that many big plays in the special teams.”

Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor was solid but inconsistent, finishing the day with 233 passing yards and 113 rushing yards. He continued his attention to detail by not turning the ball over for the second straight game, and he tossed a touchdown pass to Brandon Saine, firing a great back shoulder pass to the right pylon. Pryor got the OSU offense going with a 62-yard strike to DeVier Posey, which set up Saine’s TD grab, and tied the contest at 10. From that point on OSU took hold and never truly allowed the Hurricanes back into the game.

“There was a little belief that started happening from there,“ Tressel said. “It was a good answer. That was a great drive.”

Devin Barclay tied a school record with five field goals and the OSU defense harassed Miami quarterback Jacory Harris into four interceptions.

“It was the first time I’ve ever been in a game where the kicker cramped up,” Tressel said. “ I know we had to go for some field goals. I would have liked him to make six because they were all makeable. We needed each of those points.”

OSU had four scoring drives of less than a minute and confounded Miami with its athleticism on defense. Miami attempted to break runs to the outside but were usually stopped by a pursuing OSU linebacker or defensive back. One thing that did work fairly well for Miami were slant passes over the middle as OSU relied a lot on soft zone, but it was too little too late.

Things get much easier the next few weeks as the Buckeyes make their push for a national championship, with Mid-American Conference foes Ohio University and Eastern Michigan coming to the Horseshoe the next two weekends.

For right now, however, the Buckeyes will savor this victory, and know that there can be no doubt this time about the better team winning.

“As long as we continue to grow this is huge,” Tressel said. “ If we keep growing from this we have a chance. If we think we’ve arrived we’re done. We proved this week that we’re a top 10 team, but we have to do it the next week and the next week. But our guys are workers and they appreciate the challenge.”