Recap: Ohio State 17, Illinois 7

The return of Boom was huge

The Ohio State Buckeyes (4-3, 1-2) upset the Illinois Fighting Illini (6-1, 2-1) 17-7 on Saturday after an impressive showing of defense and pounding the Illini front line for big runs. The return of Dan "Boom" Herron was key in this game as he rushed for 114 yards on 23 carries. The Buckeyes also relied heavily on the defense, which turned out to be a not so bad idea. The defensive stance of this game was great, and although the offense was ridiculous, the defense was on it's game after the debacle in Lincoln.

The Silver Bullets forced 3 turnovers, two of which set up the Buckeyes' touchdowns, while Braxton Miller threw only 4 passes. Only one of those were complete, but the completion was a big deal, as it resulted in a 14 yard touchdown pass to Jake Stoneburner, to just about seal the deal on the upset and give the Buckeyes a 17 point lead. The passing game was very quiet in this game, as the first pass wasn't even thrown until the 7:22 mark of the second quarter. The touchdown pass was completed at the 13:06 mark of the 4th. Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase was 20/34 for 169 yards, with two interceptions, and 1 touchdown that was thrown to Evan Wilson late in the game to stop the shut out.

Another reason the Buckeye defense did so well? Bradley Roby and the rest of the Buckeye secondary played well, and stopped Scheelhaase's #1 target: A.J. Jenkins. Roby said during the week that Jenkins was "nothing special". At the time, Jenkins was averaging 135.8 yards a game, and in this game, often covered by Roby himself, only had 80 yards and 8 catches. That may not sound too bad, but they were catches that didn't really affect the drives all that much. Illinois senior tailback Jason Ford left the game in the 3rd quarter with an injured left shoulder after a big hit on a first down carry. He finished with 30 yards on six carries.

Live Blog: Ohio State vs. #14 Illinois

The Buckeyes travel to Champaign today at 3:30, and take on the undefeated Illinois Fighting Illini. Braxton Miller has been reported that he will start, but the challenge still remains. 

Join us at 3:15 PM EST and talk Buckeyes and give us your thoughts during the game! Go Bucks!

Preview: Ohio State vs. #14 Illinois

The defense will have their hands full

For once in a long time, the sides are flipped. The Illinois Fighting Illini (6-0, 2-0) are undefeated and host the Ohio State Buckeyes (3-3, 0-2), who are in a down year without a doubt, in this week's Big Ten match-up. The Illini enter perfect, behind the arm of sensational sophomore quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase, who has thrown 80/120 (66% completion percentage) for 1,238 yards and 10 touchdowns so far this season. Illinois has reason to be excited heading into this game against the Buckeyes, as the Illini are off to their best start since 1951, and has a lot of motivation to win this game, since the last time they beat Ohio State in Champaign was 1991. Senior receiver A.J. Jenkins is the go-to man in this offense, and he leads the conference in receptions. With all of this hype, a win over the Buckeyes could be the cherry on top for an already amazing season. This could give them some serious momentum heading into the rest of their conference slate, and could provide Illinois with a chance for a shot at BCS glory.

Of course, Ohio State has some weapons of their own. Carlos Hyde rushed for 109 yards against Nebraska, and Braxton Miller controlled the squad to a big 20 point lead. The offense in the second half suffered a huge blow when Miller went down with an ankle injury, but reports tell us that Miller is fine, and is ready to play against Illinois. Boom Herron returns in this game, but might not see many carries with the way Jordan Hall and Hyde have been carrying the ball. Against the Illini defense, which is ranked 17th in the country, the Buckeyes will have to bring their best.

A Long Way To Go

Miller showed he can compete

I don’t know if I would feel better today about a complete blowout in Lincoln, NE or the way things really went down on Saturday night. On one hand, the offense looked fairly competent during the first half giving me hope for the future. On the other hand, coping with complete melt-downs like the one witnessed in the 4th quarter are a really tough pill to swallow.

Braxton Miller finally showed glimpses of what may be in store for OSU during the first 30 minutes on Saturday night. He looked more comfortable in the pocket and appeared to know when to scramble to pick up crucial first downs. His throws were much better than in previous weeks and it really looked like the rout was on when the Bucks pushed the lead to 27-6 early in the third quarter. Then Braxton showed that he is still 18 years old and gave Nebraska a cheap touchdown with a fumble deep in Buckeye territory. Things would go downhill quickly from there. The offense completely abandoned the things that were working for most of the game and the defense also began to show signs of panic.

Hopes And Fears: Illinois

Wow, that Nebraska game was an ugly loss. We looked so good in the first half and so bad in the second half. I understand how important a QB is, especially a starting QB having a good game, but losing him should cause the defense to completely fold, and yep in the second half the silver bullets were more like empty blanks. Now, it is on to Champaign to play Illinois, a game that I really want to win. First of all my wife went to U of I, so we have house bragging rights, and I live in Chicago, so I deal with all kinds of Illinois fans, I really don’t want to lose!!

Now on to my hopes and fears for the game. I believe that my hopes and fears are essentially the same thing in this game. First of all, I hope Miller does not get hurt again, because I fear we will have to see Joe Bauserman again. 

Live From Lincoln: Being At The Ohio State-Nebraska Game

Too bad we couldn't pull out the win

First of all I have to say it was great to see so many in Scarlet and Gray make the trip west! It would have even been greater had we pulled out the W. Saturday was the first time I had ever been inside Memorial Stadium after living in Nebraska for the last 5 years. Only for my Buckeyes would I do that!

The game started out great, seats were pretty good, nice enough people (except for the drunk guys a few rows back). I was not to optimistic about the Buckeye team I had watched against Michigan state, I did not know who was going to show up and who was not going to. I was surprised to see as the first half went on that it looked like we had practiced, spent time on film and had some emotion to begin the game.

ITS's BlogPoll Ballot: Week 7

No explanation this week for the BlogPoll ballot, but keep in mind that I moved down South Carolina 2 spots, simply because I didn't think Arizona State would beat Utah, and that impressed me. Other than that it was a very unexciting college football weekend, perhaps the first of the year. Add to the fact Ohio State loss in a way unthinkable, and the whole weekend wasn't much fun. So here's the BlogPoll ballot, explanation-less. Give your thoughts and comments below.
   

 

 

Inside The Shoe Ballot - Week 7

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Oklahoma Sooners	--
4	Stanford Cardinal	--
5	Wisconsin Badgers	--
6	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
7	Boise St. Broncos	--
8	Clemson Tigers	1
9	Oregon Ducks	-1
10	Arkansas Razorbacks	--
11	Michigan Wolverines	2
12	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	--
13	Nebraska Cornhuskers	1
14	Illinois Fighting Illini	1
15	Kansas St. Wildcats	1
16	Virginia Tech Hokies	4
17	West Virginia Mountaineers	2
18	Arizona St. Sun Devils	4
19	South Carolina Gamecocks	-2
20	Michigan St. Spartans	4
21	Texas Longhorns	-10
22	Baylor Bears	3
23	Houston Cougars	--
24	Penn St. Nittany Lions	--
25	North Carolina Tar Heels	--
Dropouts: Auburn Tigers, Florida St. Seminoles, Florida Gators

 

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

Recap: Ohio State 27, Nebraska 34

Carlos Hyde's 67-yard run.

When Ohio State (3-3, 0-2) built a 27-6 lead over the favored, 14th ranked Cornhuskers, Buckeye fans across the nation watching could believe that they had finally turned it around and were ready to start competing. The Cornhuskers were on their heels for the majority of this game, at least, until true freshman Braxton Miller gained 3 yards on a 2nd down play.

That play is significant because Miller hurt his ankle to the point in which he could not return in this game, but even previous before that, the ghost of Maurice Clarrett seemed to come to the Huskers side, as Lavonte David stripped the ball right out of Braxton Miller's hands on a medium gain run. After that, the Cornhuskers rolled on offense.

Perhaps the reason is when Braxton got hurt, that left the game in Joe Bauserman's hands. Bauserman came in when Ohio State was then clinging to a 27-13 lead, and went 1/10 (10% completion percentage) for 13 yards and 1 pick. Every incompletion sailed high over every intended target, even some wide open ones. On the flip side, Taylor Martinez and Rex Burkhead just dominated in the second half, as the defense for OSU must have been super tired after not getting any long breaks from touchdowns while Bauserman was in. Martinez went 16/22 passing for 191 yards and Burkhead ran for 119 yards on 26 carries. Carlos Hyde led the Buckeyes in rushing with 104 on only 13 carries. Before Braxton Miller was injured, he was doing very well throwing the ball, and of course running. He went 5/8 (62.5% completion percentage), and rushed for 95 yards on 10 carries.

Representing: Illinois

So with the past two teams not having bloggers, we put the Representing off. Now that Big Ten is in play, we will go back to having it every week. This week the blogger from Hail To The Orange kind enough to pick his brain about the upcoming game, and the rest of his thoughts on Illinois.


1. Right now, how do you feel about where the Illini are as a team?

I actually feel pleased, even though they are at this point in the season where I predicted them to be win wise, they have demonstrated improvement from week to week that we haven't seen here in Champaign for a few years now. The offensive line has held together much better after a really bad opening week, and the defense while not exactly lock down has improved in its coverage and tackling.

2. With Juice gone, Who's the key guy, the player that they have to build around to win games?

Mikel Leshoure, who has gone over 100 yards in four straight games now is the centerpiece of the offense. He has explosiveness in the open field that we haven't had since Rashard Mendenhall and he is finally getting the ball 20 plus times per game. If we can get him going we will keep the game at least closer than maybe many expected.

3. What has to happen for Ohio State to beat Illinois, and vice versa?

The defense to vaaaastly improve their pass coverage. The weakness of the team is the secondary which is plagued by injury and inexperience. Tressel would be wise to go deep and often to challenge those players.

4. Do you think the Illibuck matters to fans anymore?

If for no other reason than it means we have likely beaten a highly ranked opponent it does. Besides with the new Land of Lincoln trophy and the somewhat lame Purdue Cannon, this is the best trophy we have right now, and it is by far one of the cooler looking ones anyway.

5. How will Illinois finish the season? (W/L, Bowl game(?))

I had this team at 6-6 at the beginning of the year, and that is where I see them staying, it should be enough to get them to a bowl game and it will be more than enough to keep Zook around for another year. If the Illini can come back to play Purdue and Indiana well after going against OSU PSU and MSU in consecutive weeks, there are enough wins left on this schedule to make a bowl.

Who you got?: #2 Ohio State vs. Illinois

The battle for the Illibuck continues this year in Champaign, where we last saw Terrelle Pryor in his freshman year, along with Beanie. Beanie was jumping over opponents to victory, but this time the Buckeyes are led by a team, not just a certain unit or player.

Ian: 45-10 Ohio State - Saine has a good day on the ground, and Pryor just adds to his Heisman hype.

SBB: 52-13 Ohio State - The defense plays well after getting chewed out by the coaching staff for giving up 2o to EMU. Pryor tosses 3, 2 of which go to Posey to let him know that he's still his favorite. Dane get's 1 as well. The running game gets it going as Ian's fav, Jaamal Berry, gets in the game much earlier than in the previous weeks. 


Brady: 38-7 Ohio State - This will be the first test on the road but the Buckeye's have a different feel about them this year.  In the past I might be a little leary of this one but not this season.  Pryor has another big game through the air and we finally get the bigger dose of Jaamal Berry everybody has been clamoring for.  The defense also gets back on track.

Danny: 38-10 Ohio State - The days of Juice Williams and Rashard Mendenhall terrorizing the Silver Bullets is long gone.