This week it was announced that true freshman Braxton Miller would start the game against the Colorado Buffaloes. This is only the third time in OSU's long history that a true freshman has started. The first time was Art Schlichter in 1978 against Penn State. The second time was in 2008 when Terrelle Pryor took over for senior Todd Boeckman against Troy. The Buckeyes are 1-1 in those games.
It was not a great start for the Buckeyes. After a superb 65-yard return on the opening kickoff from Jaamal Berry was wiped out on a Zach Boren holding call, OSU weakly went 3-and-out, including a bad snap by senior center Mike Brewster on 3rd down. Braxton Miller tried to make something from it but it almost looked like OSU's Andrew Norwell could have been credited with the tackle. After a 45 yard Ben Buchanan punt the defense stepped up big time by forcing a 3-and-out on three incomplete passes.
Then Colorado's punter Darragh O'Neill hit a weak, flat punt off his left foot (he is reported to be able to punt from either foot, then again, I can punt from either foot too!) which actually bounced off OSU's Bradley Roby's leg, but Chris Fields wisely jumped on it to give the Bucks great field position at the Colorado 43. From there the Buckeyes were ready to grind it out on the ground First Jordan Hall ran for 8 yards, then Miller ran the next two for 6 yards and 10 yards respectively. From their Hall took over, running for 13 yards, and then for 5 yards, bringing the ball to the 1. Jordan was given the privilege of finishing the drive as he dove over the pile for OSU's first TD in 5 quarters. Drew Basil's extra point gave the Buckeyes a 7-0 lead.
Colorado set up their next series on their own 19 and they got their first offensive yards opening with a 4 yard run by Westerville's Rodney Stewart, and then picked up an additional 5 yards from Tyler Hansen's pass completion to Stewart. But on 3rd down, Adam Bellamy pushed his way into the backfield and not only forced a fumble but recovered it as well. This gave the ball back to the Buckeye offense at the Buffalo 22.
After Miller's first incompletion, Carlos Hyde is inserted in the game and rips of a nice 14 yard run to set up the Buckeyes first and goal from the 8. Unfortunately that is were things stalled. The offensive line was breaking down and Miller had no time. He was sacked and threw another incompletion, and had to scramble on yet another play. OSU settles for a 28-yard field goal by Drew Basil to up the lead to 10-0.
The next series for the Buffaloes was no better than the first two and their 3-and-out for the third straight time. After a 46-yard punt, the Buckeyes started their next possession at their own 21 yard line. After Jordan get them 3 yards, Carlos Hyde gave two of those back and the Buckeyes were staring at a 3rd-and-9. Then Braxton Miller worked his magic and had a really nice 16 yard run for the first down. Jordan Hall added 5 more to get the ball to the OSU 43 as the quarter ended.
End of 1st Quarter: Ohio State 10 Colorado 0
Braxton opens the second quarter with a nice 13 yard scamper for another OSU first down. Unfortunately, the drive basically stalls and the scarlet & gray must punt for the first time. Ben Buchanan has handled the punting duty all year and has been doing a great job. In fact he was probably the only bright spot for the team last week against the Canes. As he did in Sun Life Stadium last week, Buchanan's punt was downed at the Buffalo 5 yard line. Once again the defense impressively holds them to 5 yards and another 3-and-out. Jordan Hall returns the put to the Colorado 46 giving OSU great field position once again.
On 3rd-and-6 it was looking like OSU had wasted this great field position and the stadium finally got what they were waiting for. Miller hits Reid Fragel for 8 yards and more importantly, his first completion of the day after starting 0-3. The fans had to wait till the 9:43 mark in the 2nd quarter to get that catch. It looked like they were going to be stopped again but on 3rd-and-8, Miller opened it up, going downfield and hitting a wide open Devin Smith for a 32-yard TD pass. Basil made it 17-0 OSU.
What appeared to probably be the Buffalos final possession of the half, quarterback Tyler Hansen went to work. He was responsible for all but 4 yards of the 83 yard touchdown drive, passing and rushing the team down the field. At 4th down and 1 it appeared OSU might have stopped them but Colorado goes for it and Hansen hits Toney Clemons in the back of the end zone for a TD to cut OSU's lead to 17-7. This late drive for a score just reminds me of last week when Miami scored to end the first half and scored to end the game. Just like USC in 2009 in the Shoe. Is the defense maybe losing a little focus when it gets late in the half?
Fortunately, Justin Castor kicks the ball out of bounds so the Buckeyes got to set up shop a the 40 yard line, with 2:44 left in the half. This was also the beginning of special team woes for the Buffs. OSU's offense stalled so Buchanan came back out to punt. He once again spotted it inside the 10 yard line but better still, Rodney Stewart fumbled and OSU recovered on the 11. Miller ran the ball to the 1 yard line with 8 seconds left but the coaching staff elected to go for a field goal and Basil nails the 18 yarder to make it 20-7 at halftime.
HALFTIME: Bucks 20 Buffs 7
Craig James threw out profs to TBDBITL for their halftime performance. He knows a great band when he sees one.
Ohio State kicked off to start the second half but Colorado kept up their special teams issues with a holding call so they started the half at their own 9 yard line. It was the recipe for yet another 3-and-out and combined with a flat 33-yard punt, The Buckeyes took over at midfield. Five straight rushes by Jordan Hall, including a nice 20-yarder, gave the Buckeyes the ball 17 yards from paydirt. From there Miller once again hits Devin Smith as he tight roped the side of the endzone for six more. Basil centered it through the goal posts to expand the lead to 27-7. 50 of the first 66 plays of the game have been in Colorado territory.
On their next drive, the Buffs finally get the ball moving, party thanks to Westerville's Rodney Stewart who had runs of 8, 27 and 4 yards. However, it was only good enough to get a 47 yard field goal from Will Oliver. This closed the lead to 27-10, but that did not last very long. On the ensuing kick-off Jordan Hall steamrolled down the sideline for 90 yards and the Buckeyes were set up at the Buffalo 5 yard line. It only took one play for Ohio State as Carlos Hyde completed a sweep and as quick as Colorado tried to climb back it was 34-10 and very clear who was going to win in Columbus this afternoon.
A combination of poor special teams play and penalties and the Buckeyes had enjoyed starting field position at the Colorado 42, meanwhile, the Buffaloes have started at their own 17. Although this has been bad for Colorado, it has served as a great help for Braxton Miller during his inaugural start.
Colorado was able to move the ball some during their final but was only able to get the ball to mid field. It did allow O'Neill a chance to get off his best punt of the day, 51 yards. But it only proved to be a touchback and the ball came out to the 20. From there, the Buckeyes started their final scoring drive. It was clear that the play calling was starting to get a bit more conservative and time consuming. They did manage to keep the ball through the end of the 3rd period.
End of 3rd quarter: OSU 34 - CU 10
The Buckeyes in basically the last drive they were trying to score managed to get the ball to the 30 yard line setting up Basil's 46 yard FG. For my money, the Devin Smith play on the drive was a catch, but the replay officials did not see it that way. The 47 yard field goal was the longest of the year for Basil, and it brought the score to 37-10 in favor of the Bucks.
After each team had an unsuccessful series, Colorado got the ball with 8:35 left in the game. And for one final push, they were able to get the ball into the endzone for one more score with 3:31 remaining. Hansen hit Tyler McCulloch for a 14 yard connection bringing the game to is final score of 37-17. For some odd reason, the Buffaloes tried an on-side kick but it was easily recovered by Verlon Reed. Joe Bauserman comes in for the final series. After a short run by Rod Smith on the first down play, Bauserman throws a bullet to Devin Smith then another one to TY Williams for two first downs.
OSU gets the ball down to the 1 yard line and they elects to set on it for a final of 37-17. Would have been nice to see the back-ups be allowed to score but I understand the move.
With the win, OSU improves their record to 4-1 against Colorado. Next week the Buckeyes start conference play against Michigan State who is also 3-1. Colorado will host Washington State in their second conference contest.
RANDOM THOUGHTS - All-American center Mike Brewster reached 40 consecutive starts against Colorado. He made his first start in Game 4 of the 2008 season vs. Troy and started the final 10 games of the season. He started all 13 games in 2009 and 2010, respectively, in addition to the first four games this year. With Miller's victory in his first start, it makes seven straight OSU quarterbacks that got wins in their initial starts, going back to Craig Krenzel in 2001.
Buckeye50's Joe-S-U is taking a break this week to watch the OSU game from Las Vegas. He will be back for us next week to bring his game summary as the Big Ten schedule begins.
Ohio State 37 Colorado 17
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Ohio Stadium
Columbus, OH
Attendance 105,096
September 24, 2011
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By Gregg Watson
Buckeye50.com
