The Paw Print

by Austin, Sports Columnist

Walk-on kicker wins game in overtime
Roses in Buckeyes future

With the outcome of the Ohio state 27-24 overtime victory over Iowa it would be hard to believe the Buckeyes were a 17 point favorite to win the game. After the injury to starting quarterback Ricky Stanzi in the only loss to Northwestern, Ohio State was highly favored. But back-up James Vandenberg showed up in this game finishing with 233 yards and 2 touchdowns against probably the best defense in the country. Many people were saying that the Buckeyes were heading to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl before the Iowa game, and the Hawkeyes didn’t want to be counted out just yet.

For the fourth straight game Ohio State had 200+ yards rushing and the second week in a row against top 5 defenses. Terrelle Pryor wasn’t a big factor in this game because when Tressel gets on a roll running the ball, it will continue this way throughout the day.

Pryor had just 93 yards passing, but was 14 of 17. Pryor had only 3 passing yards in the second half on 1 passing attempt.

Some thought the game was over when Ohio State pulled away with a 24-10 lead. Hawkeyes Johnson-Koulianos returned a kickoff for a touchdown with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter and later caught a touchdown pass from Vandenberg, which led to overtime.

The Buckeyes won the toss and elected to play defense which is the best thing you can do in an overtime situation. In overtime the ball is placed 25 yards away from the end zone making it easy for a good kicker to make a field goal. Well, that’s just what Ohio State didn’t want them to do.

On first down Robinson was tackled for a 5 yard loss by Austin Spitler, on third down defensive tackle Doug Worthington sacked Vandenberg for a 15 yard loss getting Iowa out of field goal range. On fourth down Vandenberg was picked off by Anderson Russell in the endzone.

In the first three plays of the Buckeyes’ possession they ran the ball trying to get better field position for their walk-on kicker, Devin Barclay, who had taken up football after his soccer career didn’t take off. It was a 39 yard field goal (37 was his longest in his short career)— he had only been the starter because Aaron Pettrey was hurt and the second string was out with the flu. He didn’t even have his own jersey. Coaches had to tape on his name on another injured player’s jersey. All of Ohio couldn’t stand to watch the outcome, but I could. The kick was good, and it had plenty of power. Barclay was then swarmed by players and fans that stormed the field in excitement. Terrelle Pryor had run up to Barclay and ripped the tape off his jersey name.

The Iowa victory was big, but once again the Buckeyes will play the last team in a string of tough tests. This one isn’t as tough as Penn State and Iowa to those who aren’t Ohio State fans, Michigan.

The Ohio State and Michigan game has been the biggest rivalry game in college sports since the Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler Era. Shembechler had worked as assistant coach under Hayes at Ohio State and Hayes had never forgiven him after that. I can’t mention some of what happened in this column.

Hayes had led the Buckeyes to win three national championships and 13 big ten titles. But there is one thing he didn’t do for the football program and that was to win 5 straight games against Michigan. This title belongs to Jim Tressel who hopes to get his sixth straight win this year in Ann Arbor.

It is hard to explain in words how big this rivalry is, but I can explain some points that make it that way. Last year former defensive back Malcolm Jenkins got in a fight with Wolverines wideout Clay Matthews. A moment later Jenkins spun him around in the air and threw Matthews to the ground and gave him a punch. After the game officials were critiqued for not throwing a flag. Their response was, “It wasn’t major for the rivalry.” It was “major” enough to bring Buckeye fans to their feet and give Jenkins a standing ovation. If the Buckeyes win in Ann Arbor it will send them to Pasadena for the first time since 1997.