Ohio State beats Iowa, 27-24 in OT - Earns a Trip to the Rose Bowl
November 15th, 2009 at 12:41 am by Displaced Cleveland Fan
The Buckeyes are still the best in the Big Ten. They proved that today and punched their ticket to Pasadena.
Playing Iowa in a de facto Big Ten championship game, Ohio State pulled out a victory in overtime off the leg of former professional soccer player, Devin Barclay.
I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed last week when the Hawkeyes’ starting QB Ricky Stanzi went down and wouldn’t be available for this game. Sure, having freshman James Vandenberg under center should have favored the Buckeyes, but I wanted Ohio State to win against the best team possible.
As it turns out, Vandenberg did a more than adequate job filling in for Stanzi. He rallied his team to a comeback against a tough Ohio State defense and force overtime. He was 20 for 33 passing (60.6%) for 233 yards and 2 touchdowns. He did have 3 interceptions, but one was a tipped ball and another was on a desperation 40+ yard pass to the end zone in overtime. Overall, a good game for the freshman. (Though I got very tired of commentator Matt Millen saying he looked like a 5th year senior out there.)
The Buckeyes’ offense got it done in the way we’ve come to expect - lots of yards rushing and no mistakes passing. Terrelle Pryor only threw for 93 yards, but was 14 for 17 (82.4%) with no interceptions. Meanwhile the offense racked up 229 rushing yards from Brandon Saine (103 yards, 2 TD), Dan Herron (97 yards, 1 TD) and Pryor (29 yards).
In overtime, Ohio State won the toss and elected to defend first. They moved the Hawkeyes backwards before Anderson Russell picked off Vandenberg’s pass in the end zone. On offense, they didn’t really move the ball. They just made sure they stayed in the middle of the field to set up the field goal. Devin Barclay knocked it in from 39 yards out to win the game.
No matter what happens in Michigan next week, the Buckeyes have won the conference and will represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl. It will be their first Rose Bowl since 1997. It’s not certain yet who their opponent will be. But one thing is sure - it will not be USC. The Trojans lost at home today to Stanford 55-21 to drop to 4-3 in the Pac-10. Right now Oregon is atop the conference but they have yet to wrap up their Rose Bowl bid.
-dcf
Tags: Anderson Russell, Brandon Saine, Dan Herron, Devin Barclay, Iowa, James Vandenberg, Ohio State, Ricky Stanzi, Rose Bowl, Terrelle Pryor, USC
