Buckeyes rebound after slow start
No. 1 Ohio State rode a big game by the defense and two touchdown passes from Troy Smith to Ted Ginn Jr. to beat Cincinnati 37-7 on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
“It didn’t seem we had quite as much pep in our step as we came into the game,” coach Jim Tressel said. “We didn’t seem quite as explosive or that we were flying around the way we like to. But as the game went on, we picked up a little steam.”
Much of it was supplied by the defense, which had eight sacks while holding Cincinnati (1-2) to minus-4 yards on 22 rushes.
Antonio Pittman, Smith and Ginn did the rest.
The Buckeyes (3-0) didn’t have a firm grip on the game until Pittman, who finished with 155 yards on 16 carries, raced 48 yards around left end for a score with 10 minutes remaining to make it 27-7.
Smith completed 21 of 30 passes for 203 yards before taking most of the fourth quarter off.
Ginn, Smith’s high school teammate, was limited to five catches for 33 yards, but he scored from 12 and 9 yards out and helped draw attention from Pittman.
Linebacker James Laurinaitis, who had an interception and forced a fumble against Texas, ended a drive by the Bearcats by picking off a pass late in the half. Malcolm Jenkins and Anderson Russell also had interceptions for the Buckeyes, who open Big Ten play next week at home against Penn State.
(3) Auburn 7, (6) LSU 3: At Auburn, Ala., the Tigers of Auburn survived another bruising showdown with LSU’s Tigers thanks to a stingy defense that wouldn’t budge and a reversed call that went their way late in the game. Eric Brock deflected a pass near the goal line to stop one late drive and then made a game-saving tackle on the final play to preserve the victory.
(7) Florida 21, (13) Tennessee 20: At Knoxville, Tenn., Dallas Baker caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Chris Leak that gave the Gators the lead in the fourth quarter and they held on to beat the Volunteers. The Gators preserved the victory when Reggie Nelson got his second interception of the game after the Volunteers went for it on fourth down at the Florida 45.
(8) Texas 52, Rice 7: At Houston, the Longhorns had no trouble rebounding from last week’s loss to Ohio State as Colt McCoy and company defeated the overmatched Owls.
McCoy threw for 124 yards and two touchdowns and Selvin Young and Jamaal Charles both ran for more than 100 yards and scored a touchdown each. The Longhorns scored on their first three possessions and then tacked on touchdowns on defense and special teams to take a 31-0 lead and never looked back.
Clemson 27, (9) Florida State 20: At Tallahassee, Fla., James Davis’ 1-yard run with 8 seconds left gave the Tigers the victory over the Seminoles, the Tigers’ first win in Tallahassee in 17 years.
The Tigers gave coach Tommy Bowden his second straight win – and third in the last four years – against his father, despite having two kicks blocked and returned for points for the Seminoles. The Tigers had not won at Florida State since 1989 when Terry Allen led the Tigers to a 34-23 victory, three years before the Seminoles joined the ACC.
(10) Georgia 34, Alabama-Birmingham 0: At Athens, Ga., the Bulldogs defense put up a second straight shutout – the first time the team has done so since 1980 – in a rout of UAB. The special teams came through as well. C.J. Byrd scooped up a blocked punt and returned it 12 yards to the end zone midway through the third quarter, which gave the Bulldogs a 20-point lead and essentially finished off a team that couldn’t muster anything on offense.
(12) Louisville 31, (17) Miami 7: At Louisville, Ky., the Cardinals came up with one of their biggest victories even though they lost Heisman hopeful Brian Brohm to a hand injury. Brohm threw for 181 yards and a touchdown to lead to a dominating victory over the Hurricanes before getting knocked out of the game.
Kolby Smith, one of a committee of backs replacing Michael Bush, ran for two touchdowns as the Cardinals beat a ranked opponent from a Bowl Championship Series conference for the first time since 2002.
(14) Virginia Tech 36, Duke 0: At Blacksburg, Va., Sean Glennon and the offense started slowly again, but the Hokies’ fly-to-the-ball defense was again more than capable of shouldering the load, holding the Blue Devils to 139 total yards in the win.
Glennon also threw a 17-yard touchdown to Sam Wheeler, Eddie Royal returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown and Branden Ore scored on a 1-yard run in the rout.
(16) Iowa 27, Iowa State 17: At Iowa City, Iowa, the Hawkeyes could have folded to the Cyclones yet again. Drew Tate wouldn’t let that happen.
The senior threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns as the Hawkeyes rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat their archrival.
(20) TCU 12, (24) Texas Tech 3: At Fort Worth, Texas, the Horned Frogs got the ultimate revenge against the Red Raiders. Not only did the Horned Frogs win, they held the Red Raiders’ pass-happy offense without a touchdown in the victory – two years after the Red Raiders’ 10-TD assault in the last meeting between the former Southwest Conference rivals.
(23) Boston College 30, BYU 23 (2OT): At Boston, Matt Ryan threw a touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez on the first play of the second overtime, then the Eagles waited for a replay review to confirm a game-ending interception that gave them the victory. It was the second consecutive double-overtime game for the Eagles this season.
(25) Penn State 37, Youngstown State 3: At State College, Pa., Tony Hunt ran for 143 yards and a touchdown, A.J. Wallace scored on a 76-yard reverse and the Nittany Lions bullied their way to the victory.
The Nittany Lions were too big and fast for the Division I-AA Penguins most of the afternoon. They had 568 yards of total offense, including 389 on the ground, and held the Penguins to 184 total yards.