|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Derek Combs gave the free-falling Wisconsin
Badgers yet another footwear nightmare.
Combs ran for two touchdowns, including an 80-yarder without his
right shoe, as Ohio State (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 AP) beat the Badgers 23-7 on
Saturday.
|  | | Without his right shoe, Derek Combs scored from 80 yards out -- his first of two TDs on Saturday. |
"I had no clue how it happened," linebacker Nick Greisen said.
"He got out of there. I looked up and I had the shoe and he was
gone."
The No. 24 Badgers (3-3), whose season of national championship
aspirations began to unravel last month when the NCAA suspended 26
players for receiving unadvertised shoe discounts, fell to 0-3 in
the Big Ten for the first time since 1996.
The Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0) had 14 tackles for loss, including nine
sacks, in avenging last year's 42-17 loss at Columbus that sent
them spiraling toward their worst season in 12 years.
About 20 Buckeyes danced on the Badgers' "W" at midfield when
it was over.
"We put a whooping on them," said Nate Clements, Ohio State's
star cornerback and trash-talker.
Receiver Ken-Yon Rambo suggested the beating could have been
worse, too.
|
 |
|
|
Sat, October 7
The question going into the game was, "Is Ohio State that good, are they a top ten team?" I think we found out that they are.
This wasn't a case so much of Wisconsin packing it in, they were ready to play. But Ohio State did what they really needed to do. They turned their defense loose, put Brooks Bollinger into third-and-long situations, contained Michael Bennett when they had to and got good enough offensive play to win this game handily.
The Buckeye defense is a lot better that anybody has given them credit for so far. I think they are right there in the race for the Big Ten championship.
|
|
|
"We didn't pound them like we should have," insisted Rambo,
who caught five passes for 97 yards. "The coaches wanted us to
back off and get conservative and just get the win. But we could
have made it worse."
The Badgers have hit rock bottom as it is.
The two-time defending Rose Bowl champions started off the year
ranked fourth and needed fourth-quarter comebacks in all three of
their non-league games before losing to Northwestern, Michigan and
Ohio State.
Combs, who played sparingly in the second half after he turned
his right ankle, got things going with an 80-yard dash for the end
zone when he slipped two tackles at the line in the first quarter.
His right shoe was ripped away as he emerged from the pile and
he darted the last 78 yards without it.
"I just stepped out and it was gone," Combs said.
So was he.
And nobody even got a hand on him on his second TD run, when he
followed a block by fullback Jamar Martin for a 21-yard score that
made it 13-0.
The Buckeyes were driving again in Badgers' territory on their
third possession when Jamar Fletcher tied a school record with his
18th career interception, stopping Ohio State at the Wisconsin 33.
But the Badgers, behind struggling sophomore quarterback Brooks
Bollinger, punted on their first five possessions. On their sixth,
Clements picked off Bollinger at the Buckeyes' 12.
"His interception was questionable," Clements said of
Fletcher's pickoff. "Mine was a hell of a play."
Late in the first half, Ohio State's Tim Cheatwood blocked
Vitaly Pisetsky's 52-yard field-goal attempt and the Badgers
inexplicably began walking off the field. Clements picked up the
live ball and darted 25 yards before being brought down at his own
39.
Quarterback Steve Bellisari then reeled off a 30-yard run on
first down in which Combs sprained his ankle. That set up his
20-yard TD pass to Darnell Sanders on a great fake handoff that
made it 20-0 at halftime.
"I didn't think we would start slow. I have to take fault for
that," Badgers coach Barry Alvarez said. "That's my job to get
the kids ready to play. Obviously, we started very slow and put
ourselves in a hole. Why, I don't know."
Michael Bennett bounced off the pile and darted 35 yards for a
touchdown on fourth-and-1 to pull Wisconsin to 20-7 in the third
quarter.
Bennett, the nation's leading rusher, carried 20 times for 106
yards, 102 yards shy of his average. He needed 60 more yards to
become the ninth rusher in NCAA history to reach 1,000 by his fifth
game.
Dan Stultz, who missed an extra point in the first half and had
trouble punting in the swirling winds at Camp Randall Stadium, made
it 23-7 with a 24-yard field goal with 2:32 left in the third
quarter.
Bollinger drove the Badgers into Ohio State territory again, but
Matt Wilhelm recovered one of Bollinger's three fumbles at the
Buckeyes' 25.
The Badgers lost two starters to sprained right knees, star
defensive end John Favret and center Al Johnson, and their leading
tackler, safety Jason Doering, got a concussion.
"We've got to regroup with the guys that are healthy," Alvarez
said. "We've got to patch things up and continue to get better.
We've got to try to salvage things and see if we can get ourselves
in a bowl game some place."
|
|
ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Ohio State Clubhouse
Wisconsin Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Derek Combs score his second TD of the game on a 21-yard run.
avi: 666k k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Nate Clements intercepts the Wisconsin pass.
avi: 808k k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Steve Bellisari finds a wide-open Darnell Sanders for the touchdown.
avi: 776k k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Michael Bennett's 35-yard touchdown puts Wisconsin on the board.
avi: 1019k k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
