The firing of Athletics Director Mike Thomas Monday was the first body blow and the basketball team’s first season-opening loss in 17 years Friday was another jolt.
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Alas, it was not.
No. 3 Ohio State started slow but finished strong in the second half on its way to 28-3 win over IL Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
IL is a rivalry game. And that’s when IL was at full strength.
Since allowing 28 points in a win over Maryland on October 10, Ohio State has limited its last four opponents to 34 points total.
OHIO STATE (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten): Barrett has passed for seven touchdowns and rushed for seven more as an offense averaging a Big Ten-leading 37.3 points has operated more smoothly with him at the helm.
“They’re a very good team”. OSU ran more uptempo in the second half, which always seems to get him going.
Through all of that, the Illini (5-4, 2-3) still find themselves playing for a shot at a bowl. But linebacker Mason Monheim isn’t concerned about this result denting the team’s resolve. “And I think we wanted to focus on the moment until we got to a position like this. We’re going to hammer (pass protection) hard this week”. That’s not who we are.
“You can just tell that Vonn Bell loves the game of football and is having fun out there”, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Ash said. Maybe Ohio State football would have still been triumphant in the end, but the Illini were right there had a couple forward passes been completed.
At last, there are a few big games for Ohio State to play.
Florida was facing third-and-8 from midfield when Taylor broke free on a 53-yard run to the SC 1.
But near the end of Ferguson’s run, he tapped the brakes and took the exit ramp to the sideline. But IL and immobile QB Wes Lunt have to worry about more than Lewis. A win at Ohio State coupled with a loss to Penn State and MI State would need a MI win over Ohio State and a long list of tiebreakers to go its way.
That Illini drive would fizzle. Hicks was beaten regularly last season by Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett he’ll undoubtedly have his share of motivation. He has 1,199 yards rushing- second most in the Big Ten behind Ezekiel Elliott-despite missing those two games. He had two catches for minus-4 yards on a couple of short pass plays.
John Wolford scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter for Wake Forest (3-7), but the Demon Deacons squandered three other red-zone opportunities.
“I went to pull, and he came faster than what I was ready for”, Price said describing the play.
But the one constant has been Elliott.
If part of the plan at IL was just to get Braxton Miller’s feet wet a week after he was slammed to the turf and suffered a neck strain, then mission accomplished.
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Whatever it is, and I’m sure Urban Meyer has an idea, Ohio State’s offense needs to be fixed because the schedule gets tougher the rest of the way. Cubit’s best argument would be for IL to win at least one of its final two games (at Minnesota, Northwestern at Soldier Field) to make a bowl.
