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StumbleuponBoeckman bows out with a win
Saturday, November 22, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Todd Boeckman's season of watching from the fringe finally came to an end with Saturday's 42-7 victory over rival Michigan.
The sixth-year senior, last year's first-team All-Big Ten quarterback, lost the starting job to Terrelle Pryor after coach Jim Tressel singled him out in the wake of a 35-3 loss at then-No. 1 Southern California back on Sept. 13.
In the eight games since, he had played in only three — spending the other five games watching from the sidelines.
But Saturday was relatively a good day for Boeckman. Before the game, he received a loud and raucous roar of acknowledgment from a crowd of more than 105,000 at chilly Ohio Stadium when he was announced as one of the 28 departing seniors.
Then, after Pryor had helped lead the 10th-ranked Buckeyes to a 35-7 lead, Boeckman came in to lead a touchdown drive.
After a Michigan fumble, Boeckman guided the Buckeyes 22 yards in three plays, topped by his 18-yard slant pass to Brian Hartline for a touchdown with 13:16 left.
He played one more series before going back to the sidelines, completing all three of his passes for 64 yards.
As he has been throughout a disappointing season, he was gracious and complimentary.
"First of all, it's always nice to get a win over Michigan in Ohio Stadium on Senior Day," he said. "It felt pretty good. (To win) four Big Ten titles (in a row) and then beat Michigan five times in a row, that's something special. I'm so excited for everybody on this team."
Boeckman exits his final regular season game with a perfect record against Michigan (5-0), meaning he has five sets of the golden pants charms that are given to each team member when Ohio State beats its rival.
"It's great to make history, especially when you get to have five pairs of gold pants," he said. "That's something you'll never forget. As you look back many years from now, that's one of the things I will most remember about Ohio State football is we beat Michigan five times in a row and were able to have five gold pants."
PLAYS OF THE GAME: There's not just one this time around. There's a handful of them:
• After taking over at the Ohio State 41 after a punt late in the first quarter, Ohio State scored first when Chris "Beanie" Wells broke through a hole at the line and raced 59 yards untouched.
• With the offense stumbling along, Pryor tossed a high, long pass to Brian Hartline on a post pattern, with Hartline catching the ball in stride and going 53 yards to make it 14-0.
• Now up 14-7 early in the second half, the Buckeyes took over after a punt at their own 9 and first Wells went 42 yards, then Dan "Boom" Herron added the final 51 yards on a run. Two plays, 91 yards, 21-7.
• A low spiraling punt went to Ray Small at the 12 and he raced 80 yards, setting up Pryor's 8-yard scoring pass to Brian Robiskie for a 28-7 lead.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: First-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, after the Wolverines sagged to a 3-9 season: "I think any time you don't have a successful record and lose as many games as we did, you're going to be disappointed. If you're not disappointed, you shouldn't be in the profession. I don't want to panic. Again, it's just the first year."
BIG-GAME HUNTER: Once again, Wells was a thorn in the side of the Wolverines.
A year ago he went for 222 yards — an Ohio State record in The Big Game — on 39 carries and scored both touchdowns in a 14-3 win over Michigan.
This time he had just 15 carries for 134 yards, including that 59-yard TD run.
"We had a lot of big plays and that was one of the big differences in the game," he said. "We know it's going to take big plays to win football games and the offensive line knows it and the rest of the skilled guys know it and we just all worked together and it happened."
The Wolverine Killer explained his touchdown run.
"That was the first time we ran a counter play," Wells said. "That was the first time we ran it and that's what I was anxious for. I was just waiting, waiting, waiting for that play and when we finally ran it, I knew I was going to hit it."
Wells passed Keith Byars (3,200 between 1982-85) for fourth on Ohio State's all-time rushing charts with 3,276. This season, Wells has passed Byars, Pepe Pearson, Carlos Snow, Michael Wiley, Antonio Pittman, Raymont Harris and Calvin Murray on the list.
QUICK-HITTERS: Michigan QB Steven Threet (shoulder) did not make the trip. ... The 35-point margin of victory was the second largest for the Buckeyes over the Wolverines. They beat the Wolverines 38-0 in 1935. ... Stephen Schilling, who had started every game at RT for Michigan this season and the last 24 games overall, did not start (sprained knee) and was replaced by Perry Dorrestein. ... Why they call it trivia: Ohio State is 8-4 in pregame coin tosses this season. ... Representatives from four bowl games were in the press box Saturday: Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Capital One.
