OSU Clinches Big Ten Title With OT Win Over Hawkeyes

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Big Ten's two best teams proved it Saturday at Ohio Stadium, and for the Buckeyes it came up roses.

Ohio State overcame a firey effort from Iowa, playing into overtime before the Buckeyes turned the Hawkeyes away 27-24 before a capacity crowd at the Horseshoe.

In the opening quarter both offenses found little room. Iowa used a 31-yard field goal by Andrew Murray to take a 3-0 lead.

Ohio State evened the score early in the second with a 30-yard field goal by Devin Barclay. The Buckeyes began to assume control of the line of scrimmage later in the 2nd quarter. OSU marched 74 yards, finishing with a 22 yard touchdown run by Brandon Saine. 10-3 remained the score at halftime.

Iowa blew a major opportunity to open the 3rd quarter. Hawkeye QB James Vandenberg found receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos for a 55-yard gain to the OSU 7. But the Buckeyes bowed their necks and forced another Murray field goal try. Murray pushed the kick wide right from 22 yards out and came away empty.

The Hawkeyes made up for that miss with a hit. Vandenburg tossed to Marvin Mcnutt for a 32-yard gain to the OSU 13, then McNutt caught a 9-yard touchdown to even the score at 10-10.

Ohio State answered with a 79-yard TD drive to open the 4th quarter. Boom Herron took a direct snap and ran 11 yards around right end to put OSU back on top 17-10.

Then within a 20 second span, OSU made two massive plays that seemed to put the game away. On 3rd and 16 for Iowa, Vandenburg was intercepted by Ross Homan who returned the ball to the Iowa 23. A penalty on the return moved the ball back to midfield, but it did not matter. On the next snap, Brandon Saine headed around left end and sprinted untouched to the endzone, giving OSU a 24-10 lead.

But Iowa was not done. On the ensuing kickoff Johnson-Koulianos mishandled the ball at the 1, then ran 99 yards to pull Iowa back within 7.

Then ultra-conservative coach Jim Tressel may have gone too conservative, electing to run on every snap on the Bucks next drive. Barclay missed a 47 yard field goal and Iowa had new life.

OSU made another massive error when Thaddeus Gibson appeared to intercept Vandeburg and return it for a touchdown. Problem was, Nathan Williams was called offsides on the play, negating the score. The Hawkeyes promptly drove downfield and Vandenburg threw a 2nd TD to McNutt to tie the game at 24 with more than 2 minutes to play.

Again, OSU kept the ball on the ground and punted the ball back to Iowa with 52 seconds to play. But the Hawkeyes elected to drain the clock and so began the third-ever overtime in Ohio Stadium history.

It was fitting considering the teams finished regulation nearly dead even in total yardage, 319 to 316 in favor of OSU.

OSU won the coin toss, giving Iowa 1st posession. Doug Worthing sacked Vandenburg on 3rd down, forcing a hail mary throw to the endzone on 4th down which Russell intercepted. OSU merely needed points to win the game. After 3 straight running plays up the middle, Barclay came on to attempt a 40-yard field goal. Barclay, a 26-year-old former pro soccer player with the Columbus Crew, drilled the kick through the uprights. Fans swarmed the field as OSU captured a 5th straight Big Ten title with a 27-24 overtime win. OSU earns a trip to its first Rose Bowl since 1997. After the game, Rose Bowl officials offered Tressel an invite to the Rose Bowl New Year's Day.

"They've handled adversity-none of our kids have ever been to the Rose Bowl... There's nothing like it." Tressel said after the game. "We didn't want to turn it over... Really until the field goal to win it Iowa was winning the special teams battle... Iowa was a very good team."

Ohio State finishes its regular season next Saturday in Ann Arbor against rival Michigan.

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