Ohio State offense awakens in win over Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A re-make of "Hoosiers" would already be in the works had Indiana shocked the college football world Saturday by upsetting the Ohio State Buckeyes.

But it was apparent quickly that Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard wouldn't be called in to direct such a fairy-tale script. The little engine that can't, didn't. And hasn't now in 13 consecutive meetings with the Buckeyes.

IU, with only 58 scholarship players on its roster and only four seniors in its lineup, suffered a major manpower outage soon after the opening kickoff, falling 35-6 to the eighth-ranked Buckeyes before a mostly pro-OSU crowd of 51,240 in Memorial Stadium.

Junior tailback Lydell Ross and redshirt freshman receiver Santonio Holmes had career days as the Buckeyes' 114th-ranked offense piled up 603 yards and scored five touchdowns against the hapless Hoosiers (1-7, 0-4 Big Ten).

Ross rushed for 167 yards on 23 carries and scored three times -- matching the number of touchdowns tallied by the Buckeyes (7-1, 3-1) in their first three Big Ten games. Ross also had three catches for 33 yards as OSU enjoyed its most productive day, from a yardage standpoint, since racking up 715 yards against Utah in 1986.

"You can't have delusions of grandeur," tight end Ben Hartsock said, "but we've got to take some of the momentum we've gathered today and continue to move forward."

With Northwestern upsetting Wisconsin on Saturday, the Buckeyes would win any Big Ten championship tiebreaker by winning its remaining four games. But if Ohio State is to run the table, it will likely have to do so without Drew Carter.

The senior wideout, who had 185 yards in receptions the past two weeks and three catches for 75 yards against IU, was carted off in the second quarter with an undisclosed knee injury. Coach Jim Tressel, without knowing the diagnosis, made it sound like it was a season-ending blow.

In Carter's absence, Holmes caught six passes for 153 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown from Craig Krenzel right before halftime and a 47-yard TD from backup Scott McMullen in the fourth quarter.

"Losing Drew opens up the offense a lot (for other receivers)," Holmes said. "You have to fill in for an injured player and do the job.

"We lose a little speed on the deep ball without him, but if the rest of us keep working hard we'll keep this going."

Like many freshmen, Holmes also had a few misadventures. He fumbled a pass at the goal-line, got caught holding to wipe out a 38-yard run by Ross and had an ill-advised pass, which Krenzel threw across his body, deflect off of him and a defender for a goal-line interception.

Ross also fumbled away a scoring opportunity at the IU 10 and Mike Nugent missed a 35-yard field goal or the Buckeyes easily could have scored another 24 points.

But on a day when the Hoosiers generated 131 yards total offense, had minus-12 on the ground and didn't score until the field was filled with backups, Ohio State could afford to squander a few points.

That probably won't be the case the rest of the season, with showdowns against Purdue, Michigan State and Michigan still ahead after next Saturday's game at Penn State (2-6, 0-4). The Buckeyes have only won once in Happy Valley since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993.

"Is Indiana a world-beater? Does Indiana have the best defense we'll face? No, we're not kidding ourselves. They wouldn't be 1-7 if they did," offensive tackle Shane Olivea said. "We can't rest on our laurels. We've got to learn from our mistakes and take care of business.

"Coach Tressel said we've got something like 27 days left as seniors, so we have to enjoy it as much as we can."

Recapturing the glory of two years ago, when he rushed for 124 yards here as a 17-year-old freshman, Ross gained 67 yards on six carries on OSU's opening TD drive and finished the first period with 113 yards rushing. The Buckeyes entered the game averaging only 108 -- and a Big Ten-worst 2.9 yards per carry -- as a team.

"The biggest thing he did was break tackles and make adjustments," Olivea said of Ross. "Sometimes the holes aren't always going to be were they're designed because of the defense. You have to make adjustments. That was probably the best game he's had since I've been here. I told him I was proud of him."

Originally published Sunday, October 26, 2003