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Hurricanes overwhelm Buckeyes offense
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo
Ohio State running back Jordan Hall (7) runs as Miami linebacker Ramon Buchanan (45) defends during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Miami, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Associated Press
MIAMI
Ohio State’s first road trip under interim coach Luke Fickell was forgettable.
Lamar Miller and a swarming Miami defense saw to that.
Miller ran for 188 yards, Jacory Harris threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to Allen Hurns and the Hurricanes topped No. 17 Ohio State 24-6 on Saturday night.
The Buckeyes could get nothing going against the Hurricanes in a matchup of teams dealing with NCAA scandals.
Quarterbacks Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller combined to complete 4 of 17 passes, and the freshman Miller had the giveaway that sealed Ohio State’s fate when he had the ball punched out by Miami’s Marcus Robinson with 9:21 remaining.
Mike Williams recovered for Miami, the Hurricanes’ sideline began celebrating, and a few minutes later Al Golden’s first win as their coach was complete.
Ohio State (2-1) now is in danger of falling out of The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in nearly seven years.
The Buckeyes have appeared in every poll since Nov. 28, 2004. And for the first time in exactly 23 years, the Buckeyes lost a road game to an unranked nonconference opponent — the last time that happened was Sept. 17, 1988, a 42-10 defeat at Pittsburgh in John Cooper’s first season.
Now Fickell knows how that feels.
Braxton Miller completed his last two passes on the game’s final, meaningless drive — which salvaged something for Ohio State.
The four completions matched the program’s worst total for any game in the last 15 years, something that happened on three other occasions.
The win snapped a four-game slide dating to last season for the Hurricanes (1-1).
Lamar Miller ran 54 yards on Miami’s first play from scrimmage to set the tone, piling up 116 yards in the first quarter alone — 35 more than the total allowed by the Buckeyes on the ground in season-opening wins against Akron and Toledo.
How bad was it for the Buckeyes? Ohio State seemed to give up on the game in the final minutes, not even bothering to stop the clock with one of their three timeouts as Miami moved down the field in the final minutes with a 17-6 lead. Mike James plunged in from the 1 with 33 seconds left, capping the scoring.
Harris finished 16 of 23 for 123 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Miami, which opened a three-game homestand.
Jordan Hall had 87 yards on 14 carries for Ohio State, which got 54 more rushing yards from Carlos Hyde.
Until the final seconds, the Buckeyes did not have a single pass for more than 10 yards.
Even Harris’ mistakes — two more interceptions, pushing his career total to 41 — couldn’t get cashed in by Ohio State, which struggled with Toledo at home last weekend and were kept out of the end zone entirely by the Hurricanes, who held a 367-201 edge in total yards.