Ohio State Impresses Against Michigan
Ohio State Impresses Against Michigan
In a game that had a somewhat winner-take-all (OK,, not all, but a lot) feel about it, Ohio State defeated Michigan 69-21 Friday night in Columbus, Ohio.
The victory ensured for the Buckeyes a place in the Big 10 semifinals, while Michigan will now be playing in the 5th-place semis.
Coming into the game Ohio State was somewhat stung by a 40-39 loss to Notre Dame, a game in which they had the lead and the ball with time almost up but failed to close it out. It was what captain Jack Dulik called "a self-inflicted loss. I think we beat ourselves, especially toward the end of the game I don't think we dug deep enough."
Determined not to put themselves in that position again, the Buckeyes said they wanted to start strong, and, for the most part, they did. With Ohio State's kicking game gaining more ground than Michigan's, and the Wolverines having some difficulty winning lineouts early, OSU was able to create scoring opportunities out of turnovers. An effort wide was put into touch, but when Ohio State stole the ensuing lineout they were able to drive the forwards to the line, wherethey got a penalty, and off a planned tap move hooker Max Clark powered over. Another stolen possession set up freshman flanker Sam Lacher to burst through and score under the posts. Moments later flyhalf Aiden Pickston lofted a wide kick-pass for freshman wing Tommy Kilbane, in his first start, and he took the ball and was just prevented from scoring by an ankle-tap. He was able to offload, however, and the support was there to score—lock and vice captain Ian Fairfield doing the honors.
Pickston converted to make it 19-0.
Ohio State started five freshmen in this game and while overall they performed well, little mistakes of impatience opened the door for Michigan. Fullback Ty West was very elusive when give some space, and he cut through a scattered Ohio State line to set up a try for the Wolverines. But a feature of the night's game was that every time Ohio State gave up a try, they were able to march right down to respond with a try of their own.
Michigan knocked on the restart and Ohio State ran a set move off the scrum that put center Chris Mason free on the left wing to race in. Pickston converted from the sideline and it was 26-7.
Michigan's backline once again game OSU trouble in open field, and with scrumhalf Otto Janke moving the ball quickly and flyhalf Shea Loughnane setting his teammates up, they were able to put wing Sam Glusker through. Now it was 26-14 and at this point Ohio State could have been forgiven for being frustrated. But instead they responded with a try.
Pickston spun a pass to Kilbane who unleashed a nifty chip and regather, and then offloaded to Mason for his third. It was a nie piece of skill and with the kick made it 33-14 at halftime.
Michigan was on the attack in the early moments of the second half, punishing some silly Ohio State penalties, but then Mason cut in to intercept a pass and raced half the length of the field to score under the posts. Pickston's conversion made it 40-14.
Mason was modest when asked about his three tries. "None of them were really my tries; they came from the captain himself, he hit me on a nice down line. The other one we've got this freshman, he's been using the foot, he caught a nice one and just passed it off to me. Really it's just the team," said the center. "we've got our playmakers, we call them the Air Force, they really get our guys cohesive and moving together."
From there Ohio State pulled away. The Buckeyes scored off another tap move close-in, although Michigan made a nice series of goalline tackles before the ball was lasered out to wing Connor Fairfield, who beat his man to score. Right off the restart Pickston drew his man and popped a snappy inside pass to freshman Oliver Weidener for another try. Another couple of long breaks and a smart fly-hack-and-chase from Kilbane wrapped around one more Michigan try ended it 69-21.
For Ohio State, the front row of Clark and freshman props Joe Tipka and Davey Kotnik got the job done in tight (although the scrums ebbed and flowed throughout). Captain Jack Dulik at scrumhalf and Pickston at flyhalf ran the attack. Ian Fairfield, normally a No. 8, is at lock to give Ohio State a ton of mobility in their 2nd row (partnering with hard-working Brandon Deperro) and back row—that allowed everyone to play quickly.
For Michigan, big lock Michael Ackerman set the physical tone, and as the Wolverines follow that example they can rebound.
"We still have a lot of rugby to play," said Janke at scrumhalf. Chief among those is Michigan State next week.
Meanwhile, Ohio State Head Coach Ron Bowers said he didn't think his team played particularly well. They did, however, avoid some of the pitfalls that hurt them against Notre Dame, and they did so with some young players who produced some big plays.
