NOTEBOOK \ From Ohio Stadium

Prime time: The Buckeyes are taking their act to prime time the next two weeks. Saturday at 8 p.m., the Ohio State-Minnesota game will be televised by ESPN2. The game should end about the same time that Youngstown boxer Kelly Pavlik enters the ring against middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. On Oct. 6, the Ohio State-Purdue game also has a kickoff time of approximately 8 p.m. but the network televising the game (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2) is still to be determined. Game time and network have not been announced for when Kent State visits the Horseshoe on Oct. 13, but noon and Big Ten Network are likely.

Local connections: Wildcats freshman Vince Browne, a defensive end, is a 2007 graduate of Lisbon High School. He was credited with a tackle. Buckeyes cornerback Shaun Lane (Hubbard) was credited with three tackles.

Long day: Wildcats punter Stefan Demos struggled, to say the least. His first punt went off the side of his foot and traveled 18 yards before it went out of bounds. Another one in the second quarter traveled 24 yards. In all, he punted eight times for a 35.2 average.

Trend: For the third straight year, the Buckeyes dominated the Wildcats. In the 2005 game here, Ohio State rolled 48-7. Last Nov. 11 at Northwestern, Ohio State romped, 54-10. In 2004 at Evanston, Ill., the Buckeyes lost, 33-27, in overtime.

Points explosion: The Buckeyes’ 45 points were their most in the first half since they played Pitt on Sept. 21, 1996 and scored 52.

Attendance: The crowd of 105,178 was the 12th largest in the history of Ohio Stadium. Saturday’s game was the 500th at the stadium.

Tom Williams