COLUMBUS, Ohio - Fifth-ranked Ohio State shook off a
sub-par outing and tuned up for a key Big Ten Conference matchup
with a 50-7 thrashing of San Jose State.
Freshman Maurice Clarett rushed 18 times for 132 yards and a
pair of touchdowns as Ohio State (6-0) continued its best start
since 1998, when it won its first eight games and finished 11-1.
Clarett has rushed for 100 yards in all but one game. Last
week, he had 140 in the Buckeyes' 27-16 win at Northwestern.
Clarett, who was caught on camera yelling at running backs coach
Tim Spencer last week, tied the Ohio State freshman record for
100-yard games. Former Minnesota Vikings running back Robert
Smith had five 100-yard outings in 1990, when he totaled 1,126
yards, 279 more than Clarett already has.
Craig Krenzel completed 11-of-14 passes for 241 yards and three
touchdowns, one shy of his total in Ohio State's first five
games. Backup Scott McMullen was 8-of-9 for 114 yards.
Sophomore Mike Nugent tied a team record for consecutive field
goals. Nugent had field goals of 36, 29 and 28 yards, giving
him 15 in a row. Vlade Janakievski had 15 consecutive field
goals in 1978-79.
"He always tells me that he wants me to break that record and
I'm going to try to do it for him," Nugent said. "To be honest,
whenever I find out about a streak, it is normall after the
game. None of the guys on the team come up to me and say, `You
have to make every one, you don't want to miss out on your
streak.' It's good that people don't mention that."
Ohio State, the only undefeated team in the Big Ten, visits
Wisconsin next Saturday.
"We feel we have gotten to where we want to be," Ohio State
linebacker Matt Wilhelm said. "A lot of people talked about
the Washington State game. If we got over that, we'd be waiting
for Wisconsin and we're there. They are going to be the first
challenge of many in the Big Ten. We have got to prepare.
Everyone needs to understand what's at stake every time we
play."
Scott Rislov was 36-of-44 for 265 yards fror San Jose State
(4-3), which had a three-game winning streak halted. Rislov
broke the school record for completions, but only found the end
zone once, a nine-yard pass to Charles Pauley that pulled the
Spartans within 10-7 with 9:48 left in the second quarter. Ed
Luther completed 33 passes at Pacific on November 11, 1978.
Rislov provided all the offense fo the Spartans as they were
held to zero yards on 13 carries.
"Like we have talked about before, a lot of guys are going to
throw a lot of passes on us because no one to date has
established a run," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "Now, of
course that will be tested very strongly next weekend in
Madison."
Kenzel answered Rislov's score with a 37-yard pass to Chris
Vance, giving the Buckeyes a 17-7 advantage with 8:40 left in
the second. Clarett ran in from five yards out to push the
margin to 24-7, 92 seconds before halftime.
"In the first half we did everything that we wanted to do, we
just did not get the ball in the end zone the way we thought we
would," San Jose coach Fritz Hill said. "We thought we could
play with them on all perimters. We still think we have some of
the best at the receiver position and we still feel that holds
true. Wide receiver Kendrick Starling was banged up in the game
and that changed the way we approached the game in the second
half."
Ohio State scored on the first possession of the second half
with Nugent kicking a 29-yard field goal. Clarett caught a
seven-yard pass from Krenzel to give the Buckeyes 34-7 bulge
with 9:51 left in the third quarter.
Michael Jenkins, who had seven receptions for 136 yards, caught
a 40-yard TD pass to make it 41-7.
Lydell Ross had a two-yard run and Nugent added a 28-yard field
goal in the fourth.
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