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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State treated its fans to a variety of trick plays on a Halloween afternoon, most of them sparking a 28-point second quarter, and the 17th-ranked Buckeyes rolled over New Mexico State, 45-0, Saturday in Ohio Stadium.
"We needed to play fast and play well and do a lot better than we've been doing," Jim Tressel, Ohio State head coach, said. "They came out with a good focus after a good week of practice. We came out and got it done decisively."
Making creative use of a rare, late-in-the-season non-conference game, Ohio State used an onsides kick and a double reverse, wide receiver pass to break the game open and improve its record to 7-2 on the season. Western Athletic Conference member New Mexico State drops to 3-6 with the loss.
Terrelle Pryor rushed for 83 yards and passed for another 135 in just two quarters of action to lead the offensive charge. He scored one touchdown and threw for another. DeVier Posey (five receptions for 79 yards plus a 39-yard touchdown pass), Dane Sanzenbacher (four receptions for 72 yards and two touchdowns) and Jordan Hall (career highs with 10 carries for 90 yards) also had big games. The Buckeyes rushed for a season-high 310 yards.
Defensively, Ohio State limited the Aggies to 62 total yards while recording its third shutout of the season. It is the first time the team has three shutouts in a single campaign since 1996.
After a scoreless first quarter, Pryor opened the scoring with an 8-yard rush on the first play of the second quarter for a 7-0 Ohio State lead. The play capped an 18-play drive that included a 27-yard Pryor rush, a 13-yard Hall rush and a third-down completion from Pryor to Jake Ballard for 10 yards that set Ohio State up at the 8.
Kicker Aaron Pettrey then recovered his own onsides kick to give Ohio State the ball right back at its own 41. Pryor went to work through the air, completing passes of 11 and 7 yards to Posey, and then going to the end zone for Posey that resulted in a defensive pass interference call. Armed with a fresh set of downs at the NMSU 19, Pryor needed only one of them as he fired a strike to Sanzenbacher in the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
The scored capped a 14-point outburst in 1:59. And there would be more.
Inside of five minutes to play in the first half, Ohio State scored again to make it 21-0. After a Pryor rush of 27 yards positioned the ball at the Aggie 35, Ohio State went back into its bag of tricks. Pryor pitched the ball to Dan Herron heading right and he pitched it to Posey coming back left. Positioning the ball, Posey fired a left-handed pass deep into the end zone that Sanzenbacher gathered in with his right hand while shielding the defender from the ball with his left.
A nine-play drive that Brandon Saine closed out with a 3-yard touchdown run completed the first-half scoring and sent the home team into halftime with a 28-0 lead.
Devin Barclay, kicking in place of Aaron Pettrey, who was injured on a kickoff in the second quarter, converted on a 29-yard field goal with 7:05 to play in the third quarter to increase the lead to 31-0.
Brian Rolle recovered an Aggie fumble in the end zone late in the third quarter and Dan Herron went 53-yards with five seconds to play in the quarter to make the score 45-0.That was the end of the scoring for the day, as neither team could find the endzone in the fourth.
Big Ten action resumes for Ohio State next week in State College against Penn State. Game time is 3:30 p.m. and the game will be carried nationally by ABC.
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