OSU TriviaZone

Ohio 49 - Northwestern 6




The key to this lopsided victory was Ohio State's ability to save their time-outs for a last minute two play 43 yard TD drive to go up 14-6 at the half. That scoring drive gave the Buckeyes a little breathing room, enabling them to go to a more wide-open offensive attack after struggling most of the first half.

The Bucks could do just about anything they wanted offensively because the Wildcat offense wasn't going anywhere against the Ohio State defense. NW was shut down on third downs and was held to just nine first downs. Elusive TB, Adrian Autry, injured his shoulder in the game and was not a factor with 15 carries for 32 yards.

QB, Tim Hughes (7-15-0 INT-63 Yards) did not complete a pass for two quarters, from late in the first quarter to late in the third quarter. He was pounded all game long.

Northwestern hung around for some time, largely due to the play of their defense early in the game, as LB, Barry Gardner, led the way with 14 tackles.

The second half was the most complete two quarters of play the Buckeyes have had so far this season. Their long, time-consuming drives were the result of Stanley Jackson's scrambling (9-44 yards rushing, 8-15-0-89 yards passing and one TD) and Joe Germaine's passing (8-12-0-177 yards and 3 TD's). The Bucks were 11 of 15 on third down conversions.

TB's, Pepe Pearson (2 TD's on runs of 13 and 6 yards, 10-52 rushing) and Michael Wiley (15-73), WR's, David Boston (one TD on a 35 yard pass from Germaine, 5-86 yards receiving) and Dee Miller (2 TD's on a 27 yard pass from Germaine just before half-time and a 10 yard catch from Jackson, 5-96 receiving) dominated the action on offense.

Reserves, TE Tom Hoying, and WR, Ken Yon Rambo, got into the act with TD receptions. Hoying on a 29 yard reception from Germaine and Rambo on a 39 yard catch and run from third-string QB, Mark Garcia.

In this long-awaited matchup of 1996 Big Ten conference co-champions, that many thought would be a close game throughout, ended in Ohio State's most dominating win of the year. OSU had 563 yards of total offense. The Wildcats were thoroughly whipped in every aspect of the game.


Statistical Highlights
StatsNorthwesternOhio State
First Downs932
Rushes (yards)36-10152-224
Passing (yards)63339
Stacked Yards Lost4-242-16
Return Yards419
Passes7-16-018-29-0
Punts8-41.52-43.0
Penalties (yards)6-395-44
Time of Possession27:1032:50


Trivia in the Making
In the 1997 OSU -vs- Northwestern game Tom Hoying, younger brother of former Buckeye, Bobby Hoying, caught his first touchdown pass of his Buckeye career (a 29-yard floater) from this QB? What NFL team does Bobby Hoying play for now?
Answer below.


Check out the pregame hilites, below.


Northwestern (3-5, 1-3) at #9 Ohio State (6-1, 2-1)
Homecoming
(3:30 PM ABC)


This page is dedicated to pregame commentary and predictions. You, too, can offer your comments on our ChatZone page, here.


NW OSU
Oklahoma 24-0Wyoming 24-10
At Wake Forest 20-27 BGSU 44-13
Duke 24-20 Arizona 28-20
Rice 34-40 At Missouri 31-10
At Purdue 9-21 Iowa 23-7
Wisconsin 25-26 At Penn State 27-31
At Michigan 6 -23 Indiana 31-0
Mich. State 19-17 -

These two teams haven't played since OSU rallied to win a thriller in Evanston in 1994. It's a shame they didn't meet the last two years. This is the game everyone wanted to see.

The wildcats won the Big Ten championship outright when the Buckeyes lost that heartbreaker at you-know-where (too painful to mention) in 1995. If they played, a Buckeye victory over the Wildcats that season would have sent them to the Rose Bowl. Both teams tied for the title last year, sending OSU to Pasadena. It still would have been nice to see these two meet last season, at least to see the championship decided on the field. The majority of college football fans thought that Ohio State had the better team both years.

Northwestern has a much younger and different team now: Freshman and Sophomores make up the majority of the squad this year. Gone is the highly rated trio of QB - Steve Schnur, TB - Darnell Autry, and LB - Pat Fitzgerald. All-American WR, D'Wayne Bates (75 - 1196 yards in 1996) is out for the season with a knee injury that happened in the Oklahoma game.

The offense has struggled but the replacements, QB - Tim Hughes, (the starter in 1994 and 110 - 201 - 7 TD's - 5 INT's - 1465 yards this season) and Adrian Autry at TB ( 175 yards vs. MSU, 154 - 712 - 5 TD's), have had considerable playing time prior to 1997 and are doing well so far this year. The WR position is still strong with tough and speedy Brian Musso leading the way (614 yards on 40 receptions, 51-512 in 1996).

The Defense hasn't been spectacular. This unit is allowing almost 22 points a game and are having problems stopping the run. The loss of LB, Pat Fitzgerald has hurt, but they are not without talented individual performers. Active DE Casey Dailey (6 sacks, 14 tackles for loss) and LB, Barry Gardner (a whopping 111 tackles) lead the way.

Three Things to Remember:

  • NW may find the going tough via the pass - OSU is number one in the nation in pass defense, led by Acrobatic CB, Antoine Winfield. FS, Gary Berry chipped in with 2 INT's against Indiana. Every opponent's starting QB is under 50% in passing accuracy against the Buckeyes.
  • On paper, this doesn't look to be a challenging game, but improved play by Northwestern (19-17 win over the Spartans) and motivation to play well in the game that didn't take place these last two years will keep the Wildcats in it the majority of the game. Both teams will be gunning for each other, no doubt.
  • The slow starts Ohio State has had so far this season, along with Northwestern's win over Michigan State and a competitive loss at Ann Arbor, should keep them focused in this game.

Prediction: OSU 28 - 17



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Answer: "Today's Trivia in the Making": a. Joe Germaine -- b. Philadelphia Eagles.