After shock, OSU in control

When the Buckeyes settled down, they won with a 375-179 edge in yardage.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBUS -- Bobby Carpenter sat in his dorm room Friday night watching ESPN Classic when an Instant Classic came on. It was last Saturday's Texas-Ohio State game.
He wasn't interested.
"I just turned it off," he said. "I didn't need that in my memory."
Fresh off last week's heartbreaker, the Buckeyes entered Saturday's game against San Diego State saying all the right things.
They weren't out of the national title race.
They weren't taking the Aztecs lightly.
And they weren't going to let the Longhorn loss carry over.
For the first 11 seconds, they were wrong.
On the Aztecs' first offensive play, quarterback Kevin O'Connell found wideout Brett Swain on a simple swing pass. He caught the corner, turned upfield and, 80 yards later, San Diego State led 6-0.
Caught off-guard
"They caught us off-guard," linebacker Bobby Carpenter said. "I think we were in shock. We're a pretty close-knit group of defense and we wanted to dominate after that."
They did.
San Diego State's offense had just three first downs the rest of the way, Ohio State's offense overcame some shaky play and the Buckeyes rebounded with a 27-6 win at Ohio Stadium.
"I think obviously after the first play of the game, our defense dominated the football game," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "That first play went out and that happens sometimes, but what you do after you're startled a little bit, I think, talks a lot about who you are."
The Aztecs (0-3), who lost 16-13 to Ohio State two years ago, finished with 179 yards -- 13 on the ground -- and two turnovers. San Diego State went three-and-out on nine of its 14 possessions.
"It was an electrifying start without any follow-up," San Diego State coach Tom Craft said. "[But] our guys hung in there with some outstanding athletes and we should be proud."
Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, in his first start since the last November's win over Michigan, gave the Buckeyes the lead for good late in the first quarter on a 14-yard touchdown run up the middle.
The play was set up by a 35-yard punt return by Santonio Holmes and a late hit penalty that gave Ohio State the ball at San Diego State's 20.
The Buckeyes' three touchdown drives covered 20 yards, 30 yards and about four inches.
Good field position
"When they're starting with the ball on the 11 and going three-and-out and our punt returners are catching the ball around midfield, we're going to have good field position," said Tressel. "That's huge for the offense."
Smith added a 1-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter and Brandon Schnittker, who fumbled on the 1 earlier in the game, added a 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Ohio State linebacker Anthony Schlegel should get an assist on Schnittker's touchdown. He recovered a a fumble on San Diego State's 1 on the last play of the third quarter after O'Connell tried an ill-fated pitchout to running back Lynell Hamilton.
"I think [Schlegel] should have batted it forward a little," Carpenter said. "Maybe I'll tell him about that later."
Added Schlegel, "I thought I was in there, but who cares? I would love to score a touchdown, but I knew our offense would score on the next play."
Smith finished with 87 yards rushing on 14 carries and completed 14 of 26 passes for 149 yards and an interception. Antonio Pittman had 18 carries for 58 yards as the Buckeyes had a 375-179 edge in yardage.
Zwick's contribution
Justin Zwick came in for the last part of the fourth quarter and completed 9 of 10 passes for 47 yards.
O'Connell finished 12 of 17 for 159 yards and was sacked three times.
"For the people who ask, 'Why are we playing against Ohio State?' It's a springboard for next week if we handle it right," Craft said. "We have the potential to be a good football team.
"We lost the first three rounds [of the season] but we can look forward to the fourth."
scalzo@vindy.com
San Diego St.6000--6
Ohio St.77310--27
First Quarter
SDS--Swain 80 pass from O'Connell (kick failed), 14:49.
OS--Smith 14 run (Huston kick), :26.
Second Quarter
OS--Smith 1 run (Huston kick), 5:15.
Third Quarter
OS--FG Huston 25, 9:33.
Fourth Quarter
OS--Schnittker 1 run (Huston kick), 14:58.
OS--FG Huston 39, 5:55.
A--104,533
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SDSOS
First downs321
Rushes-yards19-1346-179
Passing166196
Comp-Att-Int14-22-023-36-1
Return Yards24127
Punts-Avg.11-43.96-41.0
Fumbles-Lost1-11-1
Penalties-Yards9-665-45
Time of Possession21:4638:14
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--San Diego St., Hamilton 7-10, Bornes 3-6, Mougey 1-6, O'Connell 8-(minus 9). Ohio St., Smith 14-87, Pittman 18-58, Wells 9-32, Haw 1-6, Schnittker 3-3, Ginn Jr. 1-(minus 7).
PASSING--San Diego St., O'Connell 12-17-0-159, Mougey 2-5-0-7. Ohio St., Smith 14-26-1-149, Zwick 9-10-0-47.
RECEIVING--San Diego St., Webb 4-18, Schilens 3-41, Ortiz 3-16, Hamilton 3-11, Swain 1-80. Ohio St., Hall 4-44, Holmes 4-42, Ginn Jr. 3-37, Gonzalez 3-25, Hamby 3-19, Smith 3-10, Haw 2-6, Robiskie 1-13.