Ohio State Buckeyes: We Scored 20 Points
When Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel was asked at the end of a very competitive Ohio State v Iowa game Saturday why his team won the game, he answered “We scored 20 points.” A little chippie for the usually cool Buckeye coach, but it was that kind of a game were both sides were battling to the very end. Like when OSU missed a touchdown in the end zone on a third and ten late in the fourth quarter and Terrelle Pryor scrambled for the first down on a fourth down play.
By Steve Patterson
Iowa came out and scored early with a pass from Ricky Stanzi to Marvin McNutt and kept Ohio State out of the end zone the entire first half. Stanzi finished the day 20-31 passing for 195 yards and the once touchdown. At half-time the score as 3-7 but Ohio State felt better about their effort in the first half than they did the previous week. Yet they still needed to rally from behind to win the game.
Ohio State was able to move down the field in the third period and did score before allowing a field goal and another score by Iowa, making a late game comeback necessary. Marcus Coker ran well for Iowa with 70 yards and a touchdown on the day. Iowa also played senior tailback Adam Robinson who was not as effective on the day, rushing for an average of 3.0 yards on 9 carries.
Ohio State got close to the red-zone mid-way through the fourth quarter but needed two scores to win and therefore kicked a 48 yard field to pull within 4 points. Going back to the running game, Terrelle Pryor rushed for 78 yards on the day with Daniel ‘Boom’ Herron gaining 69 yards and the final touchdown with only 1:49 remaining. After a missed pass for a touchdown by DeVier Posey, Pryor scrambled for a first down and shortly thereafter Herron pushed his way past the end-zone line.
Ohio State moved up a spot in the BCS rankings after the win and will face Michigan this coming Saturday. They still lag behind Wisconsin who would win the conference and represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl if they finish the season without an additional loss.