OSU Football 2009 - Wisconsin

Buckeye Football
(#17/ Ohio State 45, New Mexico State 0

Buckeyes shutout Aggies
by Justin Boggs, Columbus Wired

There was no let down in Ohio Stadium on Saturday as Ohio State, who was favored to win by 44 points, beat the spread and the New Mexico State Aggies by a score of 45-0. Ohio State improves to 7-2 for the season. New Mexico State drops to 3-6.

The Aggies’ offense ranks last in Division-1 FBS with an average of 254.3 yard per game. They only managed to post 54 yards against a stifling Buckeyes’ defense. The Aggies also did not get a first down in the final 40 minutes of the game.

Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor threw 11-23 with 135 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 89 yards and scored a touchdown. Pryor sat out the second half and was in street clothes. It sounded as if Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel was acting as a baseball manager enforcing a pitch count when he took his quarterback out after he got his work in.

“He’d been tackled and banged around a little bit,” said Tressel, “and we had a significant lead and didn’t want to wait to put Joe (Bauserman) in until the lead was even greater. We wanted him to go in and have to do all of our offense and throw the ball.”

“I feel good, just a got a little bumped up today,” Pryor said. “When I got horse collared, it sort of drove my left leg back a little bit. It is not really a big deal.”

The Ohio State faithful held their breath for the early part of the game. Ohio State was unable to score in the first quarter as their first two drives ended in a missed field goal and a punt. Pryor scored on a keeper around the right side of the line to give the Buckeyes a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter.

The very next play was one of the most heads up special team plays around. Kicker Aaron Pettrey noticed the Aggies’ kick coverage backing up and wisely nudged the ball off of the tee and past the 40 where Pettrey picked the ball up for an easy onside kick. Ohio State would capitalize and go up 14-0 minutes later when Pryor linked with Dane Sanzenbacher for a 19 yard touchdown pass.

Sanzenbacher would get his second touchdown reception of the game with 4:44 remaining in the first hall as Buckeyes’ receiver DeVier Posey threw a 39 yard bullet after a double reverse into the back of the end zone.

“I think obviously we would like to get (the offense) going earlier, but sometimes it takes a while to get everyone clicking,” Sanzenbacher said about the scoreless first quarter.

The Buckeyes went into halftime with a 28-0 lead after Brandon Saine ran into the end zone from three yards.

Ohio State added touchdowns in the third quarter by Brian Rolle on a fumble recovery in the end zone and Daniel Herron on a 53 yard run.

Backup kicker Devin Barclay notched the game’s only field goal after Pettrey went down with an unspecified injury. The kicking unit struggled as they went 1-5.

“Based upon what I saw right in front of me, it looked like (Pettrey) got banged pretty good,” Tressel said.

Next week begins a tough quest for Ohio State’s fifth consecutive Big Ten championship as they have to play Penn State in State College followed by the home finale with undefeated Iowa. Ohio State would likely need to win out to be Big Ten Champions.

"Penn State has an explosive offense,” Ohio State defensive lineman Doug Worthington said.” It's going to be a challenge for the defense and we're going to have to battle it out until the end. There's always things we can work on and things we could do better. We're going to have to be on our game next weekend."