Columbus, Ohio – Three-time defending Big Ten Conference champion Ohio State opened defense of its Big Ten crowns with a 34-21 win over previously unbeaten Minnesota Saturday before 105,175 fans at Ohio Stadium.

“I thought our kids came out and played hard,” Jim Tressel, Ohio State coach, said. “We were ready.”

Led by the return of Chris “Beanie” Wells and the all-around skills of quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeyes rolled to a season-high 279 rushing yards, and 414 total yards, in handing the Golden Gophers their first defeat after four wins. The Buckeyes improved to 4-1 with the win.

Wells rushed for 80 first-half yards and 106 total yards to lead the rushing attack. Pryor, making his second-consecutive start, finished with 97 yards rushing off eight carries (12.1 yards per carry average). He scored two touchdowns: one on a 33-yard run in the first quarter – after Wells had ripped off a 28-yard carry on his second rush of the game – and one on a 1-yard rush in the third to give the Buckeyes a 27-6 lead.

Pryor also passed for 70 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie with 33 seconds left in the first half to extend the lead to 20-3. A 21-yard run by Wells, in which he hurdled a charging Minnesota defender, set up Pryor’s touchdown pass to Robiskie.

“I thought he [Beanie] did alright,” Tressel said. “I wasn’t real pleased with his first couple carries with a so-so run and the fumble. After that he got warmed up. It’s tough when you don’t practice for three weeks or so. I thought his last 10 carries were more like how we need him to be. Hopefully he’ll be better next week.

“Terrelle has that speed and he loves to compete. That’s a plus. That adds something to the package. I put him in again later because I wanted him to throw some balls. I wanted us to progress in the passing game. He needs as much experience as he can get.”

Todd Boeckman saw second-half action and completed 5-of-9 passes for 65 yards and one touchdown. He connected with Robiskie on a 31-yard scoring play in the fourth quarter for Ohio State’s final points of the game. He and Pryor combined to complete 13-of-22 passes for 135 yards for the game.

Robiskie had the best statistical day of the season for an Ohio State receiver with eight catches for 90 yards and the two scores.

“I hope we throw it more effectively down the road than we did today,” Tressel said. “It didn’t feel as if we threw and caught and protected as well as we’re going to need to.”

Defensively, the Buckeyes held the Golden Gophers well below their 36.2 points per game average. Hamel, Minn., native James Laurinaitis led the charge against his home-state team with 12 tackles. Ross Homan had 10 tackles and recovered a fumble that led to the Buckeyes’ final touchdown. Donald Washington (interception) and Anderson Russell (fumble recovery) recorded second-quarter turnovers that led to 10 Ohio State points and a 20-3 halftime lead. Russell finished with two forced fumbles and seven tackles in addition to his recovered fumble.

Trailing 34-6, Minnesota scored two touchdowns in the final 8 minutes of the game. The first came on a Ralph Spry 3-yard run and the second came on a 22-yard fourth-down pass from Adam Weber to Da’Jon McKnight. Weber was 23-of-36 passing for 187 yards. The Golden Gophers managed just 81 rushing yards off 28 carries.

“We got a little sloppy in the last quarter, but we wanted to get a lot of kids into the game and when you substitute so much we lost a little bit of our edge,” Tressel said.

Ohio State has now won six-consecutive games over Minnesota and 22 of the last 23 dating to the 1981 season. The all-time series is in Ohio State’s favor, 41-7.

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