Three yards and a cloud of BOOM!
The Ohio State Buckeyes hunkered down and punched the Illinois defense in the face. Illinois took 51 shots to the face, gut and kidneys to a tune of 211 yards. Coming into the game Illinois had the 9th ranked rush defense in the country. It was a battle of wills and the Buckeyes won it. Herron had 114 yards rushing and a touchdown. Hall backed up Herron and added 56 of his own.
The backbreaking score came from Jake Stoneburner on a strike thrown by Braxton Miller. Miller only threw the ball 4 times, completing only one pass, but it was a big one. On 3rd and 5 Miller used playaction and hit Stoneburner in the middle of the end zone for a 17 yard touchdown.
The Ohio State defense, like the running game also came to play. Coming into the game Illinois used a balanced attack and scored an average of 34 points per game. After watching the OSU defense implode last week vs. Nebraska it was great to see them play a complete game against a potent offense. John Simon and Jonathon Hankins DOMINATED all day long and combined for 17 tackles, 6 tackles for loss and 2 sacks.
Ohio State held Illinois to under 300 yards of total offense. Coming into the game Illinois was averaging well over 400 yards per game. Illinois all world wide receiver was held scoreless and only muster 80 yards on 8 catches. Jenkins was also responsible for a drive stalling fumble. That fumble set up the Miller touchdown pass. Scheelhaase lead Illinois with 49 yards rushing, the rest of the ball carriers for Illinois were each held under 35 yards rushing.
Bradley Roby and Travis Howard had picks and Roby’s theft help set up Boom’s first touchdown this year. This was a much needed win vs. a rival on the road against a pretty good football team in Illinois. This should give Ohio State a much needed emotional boost going into their bye week in preparation for a primetime home game vs. hated Wisconsin.
The most impressive thing, to me, was that Illinois knew OSU was going to rush and completely sold out on it. They put 10 guys in the tackle box all afternoon and were still not able to stop OSU’s rushing game. And Illinois has a rather highly ranked rush defense as well.
If this team can figure out a way to complete a dozen passes a game… watch out. Holy cow the next two years are going to be exciting.