Ohio State beats Michigan State, 45-7
October 19th, 2008 at 12:31 am by Displaced Cleveland Fan
Now that’s more like it.
After an unimpressive win last week againt Purdue, the Buckeyes put together a great game against a good Michigan State team. This was probably the toughest game to date since the short-handed loss to USC in week 3. And by the score you’d think the opponent was Youngstown State, not #20 Michigan State.
Terrelle Pryor played much better after playing like, well, a freshman last week. This week he threw for 116 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 72 and a touchdown. Those passing yards may look low. That’s because the Buckeyes had this game under control so early, they didn’t need to pass. (They only ran 2 pass plays in the entire second half).
Chris Wells also looked good, rushing for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns.
And the defense forced 5 turnovers - 2 interceptions and 3 fumbles (2 returned for touchdowns). This was against a Michigan State team that had only given up six turnovers all season coming into this game.
Overall, very good game for the Buckeyes.
So where does this put us in the hunt for a shot at the national championship?
- 2 of the 11 teams ahead of the Buckeyes lost. #9 BYU got thumped by TCU 32-7. And #11 Missouri lost to #1 Texas by 25 points. Ohio State should move past both of these teams.
- The other nine higher-ranked teams won, most of them convincingly. The Buckeyes shouldn’t jump past any winning teams this week, even with a 38 point win over a top 25 opponent.
- No chance of a lower ranked team passing the Buckeyes this week.
So Ohio State should be sitting at #10 when the new polls come out. Their next opponent is Penn State. This game could decide who wins the Big Ten. Penn State was having some trouble against Michigan in the first half and found themselves down 17-14 at the half. But in the second half, they unloaded against the Wolverines and won 46-17.
The Nittany Lions were ranked #3 this week. The #2 team, Alabama, only beat unranked Mississippi by 4 points. Is Penn State’s big win enough to move them past Alabama into the #2 spot? Maybe. In any case, when the Buckeyes face the Nittany Lions next week, they’ll be going against either the #2 or #3 team in the country. A win would not only put them in control of the Big Ten, but would help their chances of getting back to the national championship game considerably. If they can play like they did today, they have a very good shot at beating Penn State.
Tags: Chris Wells, football, scores, Terrelle Pryor
