MSU's Defense Dominates Buckeyes

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- All of Ohio State's NCAA investigations and sanctions might not have been as painful for Buckeyes fans as this.

Kirk Cousins threw a 33-yard scoring pass to B.J. Cunningham and Michigan State's No. 1-ranked defense overwhelmed the bumbling Buckeyes 10-7 Saturday, shutting them out until the final seconds.

Interim coach Luke Fickell, who took over when Jim Tressel was pushed out for breaking NCAA rules, could only allude to the ugly defeat as "what happened today."

Michigan State (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) came in as the national leader in total defense (172 yards per game) and passing defense (101 ypg) -- and backed up that lofty ranking. The Spartans allowed just 178 total yards and 143 yards through the air while posting nine sacks and snuffing the Buckeyes' ground attack, permitting just 35 yards on 39 attempts.

So disappointed was a partisan crowd of 105,306 that from time to time boos cascaded down on the punchless offense.

"Am I surprised (by the boos)?" repeated Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, the Buckeyes' defensive coordinator from 2001-3. "I used to work here. I'm just saying ..."

When the Spartans defense wasn't making plays, Ohio State was doing what it could to help them. The Buckeyes (3-2, 0-1), behind true freshman quarterback Braxton Miller, stumbled all day on offense. Joe Bauserman led Ohio State to its only score, a 34-yard pass to Evan Spencer with 10 seconds left. The Spartans then recovered the onside kick.

Fickell said after the game that he might just open up the quarterback job to the four contenders -- also including Kenny Guiton and Taylor Graham -- who had fought for it during spring and preseason practices. At another point he said Miller would remain his starter.

One thing he was not confused about was went wrong for Miller.

"Things were happening fast for him," Fickell said. "He just maybe didn't see the field real well. We thought we were going to have to throw the football, as many people as they were putting in there (on the line to stop the run) and as much heat as they were bringing. We thought our best option was to go with a guy that probably could see the field a little bit better and throw the football a little bit better."

Bauserman came on to hit half of his 14 passes for 87 yards, while Miller was 5 of 10 for 56 yards with an interception.

Dan Conroy added a 50-yard field goal for the Spartans, far from flawless but thoroughly in command.

It was a glorious homecoming for 24 Michigan State players and several coaches born in Ohio. Dantonio, an Ohio native, was in charge of the defense when Ohio State won the 2002 national championship.

Now his name will certainly pop up on the list of candidates when Ohio State looks for a new permanent coach after the season. Fickell, who worked on the defensive staff with Dantonio at Ohio State, took over in May when Tressel was forced out for not telling his superiors that he knew about players accepting cash and tattoos in violation of NCAA bylaws.

"Every year going way back, the Michigan State and Ohio State rivalry has been special," said Dantonio. The teams shared the Big Ten title a year ago with Wisconsin.

The Spartans ended a seven-game losing skid to the Buckeyes.

"This was a big program win," said Dantonio, in his fifth year at MSU. "Ohio State was the only team we hadn't beaten in the conference."

Ohio State's erratic and ineffective offense almost made history. The Buckeyes had not been shut out in 183 home games, dating to a 6-0 loss to Wisconsin on Oct. 9, 1982, and hadn't been shut out anywhere since a 28-0 loss at Michigan on Nov. 20, 1993.

Cousins completed 20 of 32 passes for 250 yards with two interceptions. Cunningham, the Big Ten's leading receiver, had nine catches for 154 yards.

Cousins acknowledged that the outcome could have been more lopsided.

"We didn't finish our drives. We could have had 20 to 25-plus points," he said.

He threw an interception in the end zone to take a certain field goal off the board and then threw another pick late in the game. But he also lofted a high spiral over the middle that Cunningham pulled away from a defender on Michigan State's second possession of the game for a quick 7-0 lead.

"When you really look at it, their wideout made a big play on a ball thrown up in the air," Fickell said.

From then on, Ohio State couldn't do anything against a ferocious Spartans defense that shut down the Buckeyes' running attack and continually harassed the quarterbacks.

Linebacker Max Bullough had nine tackles, including a sack, while Denicos Allen and Chris Norman each had two sacks.

"We really wanted a goose-egg. We thought about that at halftime," Bullough said.

But the result more than made up for the late touchdown.

"It's a big win for us to come out and beat a team like Ohio State, let alone at the Horseshoe," he added. "It's another stepping point to the Big Ten championship."

OSU Rebounds From 1st Loss, Beats MSU

William Buford had 23 points
in OSU's win over Michigan State.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio State did its best to forget its only loss.
Michigan State served notice that, as is annually the case, it may just be a force to be reckoned with in the postseason.
William Buford scored 23 points and Aaron Craft had a hand in two critical plays down the stretch to lead the No. 2 Buckeyes to a 71-61 win over the Spartans on Tuesday night.
It was a hard-fought struggle for Ohio State (25-1, 12-1 Big Ten), playing for the first time since having their unbeaten season ended with a 61-57 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday.
''One loss doesn't make or break a season,'' said freshman center Jared Sullinger, who came in averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds and was limited to 11 and 2. ''We just wanted to come out and get the win.''
Jon Diebler and David Lighty each had 12 points. Craft, a freshman substitute point guard, had seven points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds - and a hustle play that was the talk of both head coaches.
Kalin Lucas led the Spartans (14-11, 6-7) with 14 points, while Adreian Payne and Draymond Green each had 10. They've lost six of their last eight but fought hard throughout.
''I wouldn't count us dead yet,'' an emotional coach Tom Izzo said. ''This is a pretty good team if we can regroup down the stretch and get three guys to play together instead of just two.''
As he left the postgame interview room, he repeated, ''We ain't dead yet.''
The Buckeyes finished the game on an 18-10 run to pull away on a night when nothing came easily for either team.
The game turned on two quick defensive stops.
With the Buckeyes hanging on to a 45-44 second-half lead, Buford stepped in front of a bad pass by Lucas and went coast to coast for the basket. The next time down the floor, Craft forced Lucas to give the ball up in the backcourt, leading to two free throws by Diebler. After the Spartans scored a second-chance bucket, Diebler flipped in a line-drive 3 from the top of the key for a 52-46 lead.
A capacity crowd of 18,809 roared its approval.
Diebler hit two 3-pointers to move into a tie for second with Michigan State's Shawn Respert, one back of Big Ten career 3-point leader Pete Lisicky of Penn State, with 332.
Asked the turning point of the game, Matta pointed to the defensive pressure.
''It was some of the defensive plays we made,'' he said. ''Will had a steal and Aaron had a steal. ... We weren't defending as well as we need to and those gave us the lead.''
Now on top, the Buckeyes relied on Buford.
After Michigan State had cut it to 53-51, Buford hit consecutive jumpers - the first a 3 from the left wing and the second a stop-and-pop jumper from 15 feet to make it 58-51.
''Every shot I take I think it's going to go down,'' the junior said.
Craft came up with a big effort play soon after.
As the ball was going out of bounds under the Michigan State basket, center Garrick Sherman turned and fired it down the court. For an instant no one reacted. But then Craft sped the length of the floor, corralled the ball and hit a twisting reverse layup while being fouled. He completed the three-point play.
Craft also figured in another pivotal play. With the Buckeyes on top 66-59, he had a steal and was fouled by Green at the other end with 1:42 left. Green was then assessed a technical foul. Craft stepped to the line and hit three of the four shots to swell the lead to 69-59, the biggest of the game for either team to that point.
Izzo twice referred to Craft's big plays during his postgame remarks.
Of Green's technical, he said, ''He blew up at himself. It was probably deserved. I don't have any problems with that. I have more problems with us not chasing down a loose ball.''
Near the end, Ohio State fans taunted the Spartans - who have made it to the Final Four in six of the last 12 seasons - with a cheer of ''N-I-T! N-I-T!''
The Buckeyes were 23 of 29 at the free-throw line to the Spartans' 5 of 6, another aspect of the game that rankled Izzo.
''It just seemed like they walked to the line every freakin' time,'' he said.