Some coaches have grumbled about college football’s new clock rules, arguing that games now fly by too quickly.
You probably won’t hear that complaint from Northern Illinois’ Joe Novak. Not after Saturday’s 35-12 beat-down at the hands of Ohio State.
This game was essentially over after 12 minutes, giving the Huskies hours to consider why they were so outclassed. Then again, the Buckeyes are the nation’s top-ranked team. And they looked every bit of it Saturday, other than fumbling twice inside their opponent’s 5-yard line.
“Sometimes when you get an early lead, you get a little bit sloppy,” Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel said. “We’re going to have a chance to learn a lot [from this game].”
The learning curve better be quick, given that the Buckeyes travel to Austin next weekend for a titanic showdown with No. 3 Texas.
“I hope we can go down there,” center Doug Datish said, “and show everybody what we’re about.”
They showed enough in the first quarter Saturday to convert any skeptics who might have been lingering in the Ohio Stadium crowd of 103,896.
The Buckeyes scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, with the Troy Smith-to-Ted Ginn Jr. combo–think Heisman Trophy candidate A to Heisman Trophy candidate B–in full bloom.
Ginn blew right past cornerback Adriel Hansbro for the second touchdown, a 58-yard strike.
After trying to jam Ginn on the line, Hansbro was essentially left alone to cover the fastest man on the field. By the time safety Mark Reiter joined the party, Ginn had uncorked the champagne.
“The thing you admire about Northern Illinois as you watched their film is that they didn’t change who they were against anybody,” Tressel said. “They believe in what they do. [So] we knew that perhaps we could show them some speed they hadn’t seen before.
“On the long touchdown, [Hansbro] tried to play press man with no help behind him. That’s tough duty.”
There were plenty of tough assignments for a Northern team that sometimes looked as if it were playing in tennis shoes on the soggy turf.
Nine Ohio State receivers caught balls Saturday, led by Ginn’s four grabs for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
And while tailback Antonio Pittman was the most productive (111 yards on 19 carries), freshman Chris “Beanie” Wells (50 yards on 10 carries) might have been the most impressive. Wells outweighs Pittman 225 to 195.
“He’s a beast,” left tackle Alex Boone said of Wells. “Straight up, that’s what he is. He’ll truck over people.”
Garrett Wolfe has a different style. Northern Illinois’ star back, who goes 5 feet 7 inches and 177 pounds, juked and outran Ohio State defenders to the tune of 171 rushing and 114 receiving yards.
Wolfe was absolutely sensational, and at times the Huskies looked like a one-man team. After Wolfe caught a short swing pass in the third quarter, he beat three defenders to the end zone without the benefit of a single blocker.
“He’s very fast and has great vision,” Buckeyes defensive lineman Quinn Pitcock said. “I wish him the best with the Heisman race, but we still have my buddy (Smith) here next to me who I’m rooting for.”
The Northern coaches tried to fire up the Huskies before the game by showing them a “hit tape”–a compilation of recent great moments for the program. The final image was a shot of a scoreboard showing this final score from the 2003 season: NIU 19, Alabama 16.
Any dreams of an even greater upset ended early Saturday.
Before the game, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, a former Buckeyes quarterback, predicted on WBNS-AM 1460 that the Buckeyes could win by 60 if they wanted to. But he said Tressel would go conservative on offense so the Buckeyes could go into the Texas game with people questioning whether they truly deserved to be No. 1. Tressel and his staff then could turn that doubt into motivation.
Well, they weren’t able to convince Northern Illinois’ Novak that they’re overrated.
“I voted them No. 1 in the preseason,” he said. “And I’ll vote for them as No. 1 again.”
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tgreenstein@tribune.com
