Buckeye Historian: Recapping the Texas series

Vo. 1, No. 1

Hello and welcome to the Buckeye Historian, the newest newsletter from Cus Words Sports.

I am introducing it this week to go with This Week in Ohio State Football and the Tressel Tales, two recurring features of the independent newsletter that I launched last year.

Why roll out another? Well, there are a few reasons.

For one, I always come across lots of interesting historical stuff when I’m researching Ohio State’s next opponent, and a lot of it inevitably won’t fit into TWIOSFB — so why let it go to waste?

The second is I’ve been combing the Ohio State archives for 20-plus years and built up a lot of (heretofore) useless knowledge — so why let it go to waste?

Lastly, I think there is a space on this here World Wide Web for historic perspective on the Buckeyes — so why not fill it?

More than anything, I just thinking reading and writing about Ohio State sports history is fun, and this is my newsletter so I can do whatever I want with it.

As for the name Buckeye Historian? Sometimes the best thing to do is just speak — or in this case write — something into existence.

Without further ado, here’s the first edition — a look at the OSU-Texas series I hope jogs your memory on the first five games before the Buckeyes and Longhorns square off Saturday in Austin.

The Longhorns led early 10-0, but Ohio State scored the next 16 points on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Troy Smith to Santonio Holmes and three field goals by Josh Huston.

Texas kicked a field goal in the final seconds of the second quarter to make it 16-13 at halftime.

David Pino hit another field goal for UT in the third quarter while Huston made two, but the replacement for program legend Mike Nugent missed a 50-yarder with five minutes left that would have given Ohio State a nine-point lead.

That proved fateful when Vince Young found Limas Sweed in the end zone for a 24-yard Texas touchdown pass, setting up Pino’s go-ahead PAT kick with 2:37 to go.

Justin Zwick, who started the game because Smith was coming off a suspension in the season-opener for accepting illegal extra benefits the previous year, came in for the following possession and fumbled on the first play.

All the field goals Huston made were 45 yards or less, including a 25-yarder and a 26-yarder that represented missed opportunities to put the Longhorns away earlier in the game.

Ohio State had four possessions that started in Texas territory but settled for field goals after all of them and ended up being outgained 382-255 in total yardage.

Young, who was considered talented but inconsistent entering the season, ended up blossoming into one of the game’s biggest stars and led the Longhorns to an upset victory over USC in the Rose Bowl for the national title at the end of the season.

Young was gone, leaving a young Colt McCoy making his second career start. The redshirt freshman completed 19 of 32 passes for 154 yards with a touchdown and an interception while Smith made an early case for the Heisman Trophy by completing 17 of 26 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns.

Anthony Gonzalez caught eight passes for 142 yards and Ted Ginn Jr. added 97 yards on five receptions while both scored touchdowns for the Buckeyes.

Texas attempted 32 passes and 31 runs despite averaging 5.5 yards per carry.

The game served as a coming out party for James Laurinaitis, a sophomore linebacker who had 13 tackles, including one for loss, and an interception. He forced two fumbles and soon became known for more than being the son of a professional wrestler.

An unexpected third meeting between the teams took place Jan. 5, 2009, in the Fiesta Bowl.

After being left out of the BCS, Texas showed why it was favored by building a 17-6 entering the fourth quarter.

That’s when the Buckeyes came off the mat with 15 straight points, including six from a touchdown pass from Todd Boeckman to Terrelle Pryor, who started the game at receiver because he was nursing a (somewhat) secret shoulder injury but still saw some time at QB.

Boom Herron’s 15-yard run with 2:05 left gave Ohio State a 21-17 lead, but he left too much time for Texas.

Now a grizzled veteran, McCoy led the Longhorns on a 78-yard touchdown drive that concluded with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Quan Cosby with 16 seconds left.

Ohio State had nine tackles for loss, including four sacks, and allowed only 54 yards rushing, but McCoy was 41 for 58 passing for 414 yards.

Boeckman and Pryor completed five passes each, but Ohio State ran for 203 yards on 39 attempts, including 106 by Beanie Wells and 78 by Pryor.

Fresh off eviscerating No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes went right down the field 64 yards in 10 plays on their first possession to take a 7-0 lead over Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

They were off to a strong start on their second drive before an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on TreVeyon Henderson short-circuited it.

He made amends late in the second quarter when he took a screen pass 75 yards for a touchdown, but Texas tied the score at 14 on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Quinn Ewers to Quintrevion Wisner with 3:19 left in the third quarter.

Ohio State answered with an epic 13-play, 88-yard drive that used half of the fourth quarter and concluded with a Quinshon Judkins 1-yard touchdown run. Will Howard kept the drive alive with an 18-yard run on fourth-and-2 from the Texas 34.

And yet that was not the end of the drama.

Ewers drove the Longhorns to the 1-yard line in only three minutes, but that’s as far as they would get. Wisner lost seven yards on first-and-goal, Ewers threw incomplete on second down then was stripped after dropping back to pass on third down. Jack Sawyer knocked the ball loose and had it bounce right back up into his arms before rumbling 83 yards for a clinching touchdown that would send Ohio State to the National Championship Game in Atlanta, where they beat Notre Dame to clinch their ninth national title.

The Buckeyes were the defending national champions this time and came out on top in a game featuring little offense.

Julian Sayin attempted only 20 passes in his first career start, but he completed 13 — including a 40-yarder to Carnell Tate that went for a touchdown and gave Ohio State a 14-0 lead with 13:08 to go.

Arch Manning was 17 for 30 for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception in his first game as the unquestioned starter for Texas.

CJ Donaldson Jr. also ran for a touchdown for Ohio State, but the standouts were otherwise on defense for the Buckeyes.

Arvell Reese had nine tackles, including a sack, while Kayden McDonald was credited with eight stops to power the defensive line and Davison Igbinosun had 10 in the secondary.

Texas was 5 for 14 on third downs, 1 for 5 on fourth down and failed to sore on either of its trips into the OSU red zone.

That included another gaol-line stand when Manning was stuffed on a fourth down with 6:40 to go.

This will be the sixth time out of six both teams are ranked in the top 10.

That 2005 game is still probably the most anticipated non-Michigan game I can remember at Ohio Stadium, and it reverberated all season in an era in which only the top two teams could play for the national title at the end of the season. The same was true a year later when Ohio State came out on top.

The Buckeyes are 39-23 against top 10 opponents since 2001, including 15 wins under Ryan Day.

This will be the 12th such game on the road in the last 25 years, and Ohio State is looking for its eighth win.

Will they get it?

Well, you’ll have to check out BuckeyeInsiders.com for my prediction on Friday.

I’ll also have more here with This Week in Ohio State Football so look for that in your inbox, at least as long as you’re signed up to get it. (It’s free!)

Until then, thanks for reading!

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