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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2009 > October > 24
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Domicone’s “game-changer” helps reinvigorated Buckeyes dump Minnesota, 38-7
COLUMBUS — With a reinvigorated offense led by much-scrutinized quarterback Terrelle Pryor and another stifling defensive performance — keyed by big plays from three Miami Valley products — Ohio State dumped the mistake-prone Minnesota Gophers, 38-7, Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio State’s defensive effort included interceptions by linebacker Austin Spilter of Bellbrook High and safety Kurt Coleman of Northmont, but “the biggest play of the day, the momentum changer of the game,” — as Spitler put it — came from Zack Domicone, the redshirt freshman from Beavercreek High.
His recovery of a fumble by Minnesota’s Troy Stoudemire on the opening kick-off of the second half electrified the Bucks, who quickly broke open the close game.
Although Domicone returned the fumble 31 yards for a touchdown, the score was nullified because rules say the ball could not be advanced. Three plays later Pryor rushed 15 yards for a touchdown to put the Bucks up 14-0 and the rout was on.
“When we come out of locker room, Coach Tress always talks about how Recon — our kick-off team — has to set the tone, so it was good to set that tone and get our team started in the second half,” said Domicone, who missed the first four games this season with a torn groin muscle and was sidelined at the end of Saturday game’s with a slightly sprained ankle.
“With the wind in our face, we had a pooch right call on. We were trying to get height on it and have a little shorter kick and they weren’t ready for it. They didn’t have a guy in that area to catch the ball and that put the returner in bind. He dove for it, it hit him in his chest and bounced up.
“For me, it was all reaction. I was so close to it and a lot of people would try to dive on it because it’s kind of dangerous to try to scoop it. But my first instinct was just to scoop it up and run it into the end zone.”
“I heard a whistle when I first grabbed it, but it didn’t register in my mind. I guess you can’t advanced a muffed kick off…. Still, it changed things around for us.
“It’s kind of crazy. It’s something I’ve been thinking about all week — just how cool it would be if that happened — and with pooch, I knew I had opportunity to do that.”
If Domicone turned in the defensive play of the game, the high point of OSU’s 510-yard offensive day was Pryor’s mostly mistake-free performance. Except for an interception just before the half, Pryor bounced back nicely after a disastrous, four-turnover performance in a loss to Purdue last Saturday.
Against the Gophers, Pryor threw for two touchdowns to DeVier Posey and ran for another, finishing the day with 239 passing yards (on 13 for 25 passing) and 104 rushing yards.
One downer on the day was the possible concussion suffered by Brandon Saine, the starting tailback from Piqua High. He had rushed for 45 yards on 11 carries before being injured in the second quarter. He spent the second half sitting on the bench, bundled up in a hooded sweatsuit.
The Bucks are now 6-2. Minnesota is 4-4.
TweetHoying Gives Buckeyes A Pep Talk
COLUMBUS — The Ohio State football team got an inspirational pep talk before Saturday’s game with Minnesota from former Bucks quarterback Bobby Hoying, who may have been standing in front of the entire group, but seemed to be speaking specifically to current QB Terrelle Pryor.
Hoying — now a real estate agent in Columbus following his OSU and NFL days — was the Buckeyes honorary captain Saturday.
“I told ‘em playing quarterback at Ohio State comes with its share of criticisms when you don’t win,” said Hoying, the St. Henry product who was chosen to the Buckeyes All Century team and still remains the all-time career leader in completions (498) and touchdown passes (57) and is second to Art Schlicter in career passing yards.
“I just talked to the guys about my junior year here and how we got beat early and then came back and had a good year.”
Asked if he feels for Pryor — who received considerable criticism after turning the ball over four times in last Saturday’s loss to lowly Purdue — Hoying said the scrutiny is something all Bucks quarterbacks have experienced:
“It comes with the territory. Anybody who’s played quarterback here knows what it’s like. It was no different for any of us.
“Terrelle Pryor has all the tools and eventually it will start clicking for him.”
Until the final minute of the first half Saturday, it was clicking pretty well for Pryor, who earlier in the week had drawn the verbal support of Cleveland Cav stars LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal.
Against the Gophers in the first two quarters, Pryor had completed 10 of his first 20 passes for 174 yards and a 62-yard touchdown pass to DeVier Posey that gave the Bucks their 7-0 halftime advantage.
Pryor also has run 12 times for 59 yards in the first half. He likely will remain the Bucks top running threat in this game since starting tailback Brandon Saine — the Piqua High product who started the game with 11 carries for 45 yards — left the game after a blow to the head and likely will not return.
Pryor’s one negative came near the end of the first half when he tried to force the ball to receiver Dane Sanzenbacher at the goal line and was picked off by safety Kyle Theret.
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