OSU had a fight on their hands from the opening kickoff. Down 17-3 early in the second quarter, and tied at 17 at halftime, the Buckeyes had a difficult time with U.C.’s pressure offense (quick-striking, shotgun and speed formations, with at times five WR’s going out for passes; three-step QB drops that resulted in quick releases; delayed draws to the TB that resulted in big gains; and basically, mainly toward the end of the game, throwing it on every down, similar to the run and shoot offense), an offense that gained 525 yards on the day, the second most OSU has given up in one game in the decade of the 1990’s.

The offensive stars in this game were many: For the Bearcats, TB Robert Cooper gained 100 yards on 22 carries before going out of the game with an injury in the second half: QB Deontey Kenner ran for 64 yards on 8 carries and one TD on a 35 yard run early in the second quarter, and threw for 343 yards on 29-52 with 2 INT’s and one TD on a 75 yard pass to WR LaDaris Vann in the first quarter; and LaDaris Vann caught 5 passes for 106 yards. The 75 yard pass play for a touchdown was Kenner’s longest TD pass of his career.

For Ohio State, the Stars on offense were: QB Steve Bellasari (197 yards passing and one touchdown along with 6 carries for 50 yards rushing and one TD on an 11 yard run late in the third quarter), TB’s Michael Wiley and Derek Combs (28-175 rushing and two TD’s combined on runs of 3 yards by Wiley near the end of the first half and five yards by Combs in the fourth quarter), and WR Ken-Yon Rambo (3 receptions for a spectacular 164 yards and one touchdown on a 59 yard bomb midway through the second quarter that cut Cincy’s lead to seven points at 17-10) who had a great game before he left in the second half with an ankle injury. OSU had a total of 496 yards of total offense on that day. Not too far off Cincinnati’s total. A total that kept the game close in their quest to upset two highly-ranked Big Ten powers in consecutive weeks.

Let’s face it, the Bucks, especially the defensive unit, have played poorly the last two weeks in lackluster wins over competition they should destroy - Ohio U. and Cincinnati. Every one should stop for a minute and applaud these two in-state schools for giving OSU “a run for their money”. They came into Ohio Stadium a combined 74 point underdogs and lost by a combined total of 34 points. Both teams had leads on Ohio State (OU 10-3 and Cincy 17-3) and both were tied with the mighty Bucks at halftime (Ohio 10-10 and the Bearcats 17-17). These two schools won by not getting stomped. Miami of Ohio comes to town next season in what should be the closest in-state game of them all.

If OSU WR Ken-Yon Rambo is out for any extensive period of time with his current ankle injury the Bucks can kiss their season goodbye. The same thing goes for QB Bellasari, if he were to get hurt.