Sports > No. 6 Ohio St. Downs Miami (Ohio) 34-14

No. 6 Ohio St. Warms Up for Next Week's Matchup Against Texas With 34-14 Win Over Miami (Ohio)

Ohio State's Antonio Pittman, center, breaks through the line of scrimmage against Miami of Ohio during the first quarter at Ohio Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005, in Columbus, Ohio. Pittman led all rushers with 100 yards on 14 carries. (AP Photo/Jay LaPr

Justin Zwick completed 17-of-23 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown with one interception, tailback Antonio Pittman gained 100 yards on 14 carries and Ginn had five catches for 75 yards and his score.

The Buckeyes host the second-ranked Longhorns next Saturday night at Ohio Stadium, a game that has dominated water-cooler discussions and radio talk shows around the state for weeks.

Ohio State's players, however, said they were not looking past Miami and the way they played Saturday certainly proved that to be the case.

The Buckeyes defense led by linebackers A.J. Hawk, Anthony Schlegel and Bobby Carpenter never let the RedHawks inside the Ohio State 34 until Miami scored two late touchdowns against substitutes.

Ohio State harassed Miami quarterback Josh Betts all day, sacking him five times. The RedHawks netted just 48 yards on 30 rushes.

Whitner's TD came seconds after he made a major mistake. On a Miami punt from deep in the end zone, he knocked down punter Jacob Richardson to give the RedHawks a first down. On the next play Whitner leaped to get the inside edge on receiver Josh Williams and picked off Betts' throw to go untouched for the score.

That made it 20-0 at the half and gave the Buckeyes more than enough breathing room with their defense throttling the RedHawks.

Ginn streaked to four punt-return touchdowns a year ago to set Ohio State and Big Ten records. He was bottled up for the most part by Miami as Ohio State spread its passes around to Santonio Holmes, Anthony Gonzalez and Roy Hall each of whom also had five catches. But Ginn caught a touchdown from Todd Boeckman late in the third quarter to put the Buckeyes up 34-0.

The Buckeyes scored on their only two possessions of the first quarter, taking the opening kickoff and driving 74 yards in 12 plays for a quick lead on Zwick's 20-yard scoring pass to Santonio Holmes. Josh Huston later added a 20-yard field goal after a drive stalled at the Miami 3.

Zwick got the start because Troy Smith was serving the second game of a two-game suspension for accepting $500 from a team booster. Smith led the Buckeyes to wins in four of their last five regular-season games in 2004 after Zwick and Ohio State's offense had stuttered to a 3-3 start which included an 0-3 mark in the Big Ten only the second time that had happened since 1943.

Smith will be available for next week's showdown with No. 2 Texas, though it's not known if he or Zwick will get the start.

Boeckman, seeing his first collegiate action, completed 5-of-7 passes for 67 yards and the touchdown to Ginn.

Miami never threatened to score until late in the game against second- and third-teamers. The RedHawks broke through on Jimmy Calhoun's 3-yard run. Ohio State then fumbled the kickoff and Miami scored again on Betts' 35-yard pass to Ryne Robinson.

Betts was 24-of-44 for 250 yards with one TD and one interception. Martin Nance had nine catches for 106 yards and Robinson added eight for 96 yards.

2005-09-04