It was the kind of thing you hate to see happen in a blowout win. RB Chris Wells went limping to the sideline during the Buckeyes first possession of the second half, leading 45-7. He did not return to the game, but Tressel’s report after the game was that Chris could have returned to the game, but wasn’t needed. Whew.
As for the game, it was over long before Wells limped off the field. The Buckeyes came out of the tunnel and absolutely dismantled the under-powered Wildcats. In all fairness to Northwestern, their best player, Ohio native and star running back Tyrell Sutton was a pre-game scratch. The rest of the offense was a scratch too, they just didn’t know it. The Ohio State defense knocked them into next week. Already up 7-0 on touchdown pass from Boeckman to Robiskie, James Lauriniatis made his presence known with a sack on third and eight. The offense would score again in three plays on yet another TD pass to Robiskie.
Down 21-0 Wildcat QB C. Bacher was sacked and fumbled, and Vernon ‘Gun Show’ Gholston scooped up the ball and sprinted to the end zone. That was pretty much the ball game. The defense held Northwestern to 116 total yards, but that is misleading, as the third string gave up half of that on the last drive of the game. They recorded 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, and recovered the one fumble. The special teams gave up the only score, a kick-off return for a TD to start the second half.
Offensively Robiskie caught only three passes, but each one went for a TD. Chris Wells reached the 100 yard mark, despite carrying only 12 times. He ran for a 36 yard TD in the second quarter. Boeckman completed 11 of 14 passes for 4 scores. Roy Small caught the other TD pass, a 48 yarder which was his only catch of the game. Mo Wells went for 2 scores, and 42 yards. Antonio Henton and Rob Schoenhoft both got playing time in the second half.
When asked about Wells’ injury and Brandon Saine’s status Coach Tressel had this to say-
I was told that Beanie was fine, but I decided not to put him back in, and I think he rolled it or whatever it happened to be, so he decided to put ice on it and call it a day, and we didn’t really need him to go back in there. I thought Mo Wells did some good things. Brandon Saine, I would expect maybe to miss one more game and Marcus Williams is a guy that we decided to play Marcus rather than take the red shirt off Danny Herron, but we think, if there ever comes that moment where the situation calls for it, that Danny Herron can be a contributor as well.
