Buckeye Rosters

Recap

Columbus, OH — The Ohio State defense pitched its second shutout of the year, holding the Gophers to 104 total yards. The whitewashing marked the first time since 1986 that OSU had recorded two shutouts in a season.

Minnesota entered the game as the Big Ten’s top passing team, averaging 240 yards per game. But the Gophers could never get their aerial game off the ground, completing just 11 of 29 passes for 57 yards against a Buckeye defense that picked off four passes and tied a school record with 14 tackles for loss.

Neither team scored in the first quarter, Ohio State committing three turnovers of its own, two of those in the Gophers’ end zone. To make matters even worse, back-up tailback Joe Montgomery suffered a season-ending knee injury on the Buckeyes’ third possession.

OSU took a 7-0 lead on Pepe Pearson’s 10-yard run with 5:12 to play in the second quarter. It was 10-0 at the half after Andy Stamp booted a 47-yard field goal as time expired. Stamp’s kick, the longest FG by a Buckeye since 1992, was set up by Rob Kelly’s 63-yard interception return.

The Buckeyes put the game out of reach with three third quarter touchdowns. After Joe Germaine and fullback Matt Calhoun had hooked up on a five-yard scoring pass to cap off OSU’s opening possession of the second half, linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer intercepted his third pass in as many games and raced 42 yards untouched into the end zone to put OSU on top 24-0. Jermon Jackson, filling in for Montgomery, scored from two yards out to make it 31-0 with just over two minutes left in the third period.

OSU’s two fourth-quarter scores included Tommy Hoying’s first TD pass of the year, a 28-yard strike to Michael Wiley.