Blue finishes Buckeyes

'M' looks to Citrus Bowl after 38-26 win

By Mark Francescutti

Daily Sports Editor

COLUMBUS - As Ohio State coach John Cooper left the field, the small, but engaging Michigan posse of fans smirked while it chanted its victory slogan of "Two, 10 and one, two 10 and one."

The Michigan football team - Cooper's Achilles' heel for a better part of the last 13 years - continued its curse over the 62-year old coach, as the Wolverines defeated his Buckeyes 38-26 before a record 98,568 fans at the Horseshoe.

The victory gave the Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 8-3 overall) a share of the Big Ten championship with Northwestern (6-2, 8-3) and Purdue (6-2, 8-3). It also almost guarantees them a spot in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day.

On the other end of the field, Cooper is now 2-10-1 against Michigan. His Buckeyes are left with a likely Dec. 28 Alamo Bowl bid and another historic setback. My record against Michigan "should be mentioned," Cooper said.

"I can't hide behind it. "My record is - well - just awful. No one is more disappointed than me."

For the Buckeyes, it remained the same tune sung for most of the battles with Michigan - in a close game they failed to execute on the snaps that mattered.

Down by only five (31-24) with 4:14 left, the Buckeyes had 91 yards to a victory. On his own nine-yard line, quarterback Steve Bellisari set his sights on Ken-Yon Rambo who was wide open on the left sideline thanks to a blown Michigan coverage. But Bellisari's pass sailed two yards too far, and Rambo couldn't stay inbounds.

Then on fourth-and-one, Ohio State's Jonathan Wells tried to blast up the gut, only to get squashed back by Michigan linebackers Larry Foote and Victor Hobson.

"I thought we could knock them off the ball and at least gain a half a yard," Cooper said. "If you can't make it on fourth-and-one, you're probably not going to win the game anyway."

Unlike the Buckeyes, Michigan converted on its fourth with 1:18 left. After Anthony Thomas failed to get the ball in the endzone on three consecutive runs, quarterback Drew Henson ran a naked bootleg for the game-winning touchdown.

"From the moment we took over (on downs), in my mind I was not going to kick a field goal," Carr said of the choice to go for the touchdown.

The Buckeyes looked to be in fine shape in the early minutes, as they jumped out to a 9-0 lead thanks to an 80-yard kickoff return by Nate Clements which led to a touchdown, while a Henson interception a series later helped clinch an Ohio State field goal.

Cooper won his wish in stopping the Michigan running game, holding Thomas to only 60 yards on 29 carries. But the Buckeyes forgot to stop Thomas out of the backfield, as the senior running back burned them with a 70-yard screen play, foiling an all-out blitz, and putting the Wolverines up 7-6.

Michigan's one-dimensional offense didn't hurt Henson's stats. The junior quarterback completed 14 of 25 passes for 303 yards and in addition to the Thomas touchdown play, connected on two scores with David Terrell.

The Wolverines built up a 31-12 lead, and turned slightly conservative in the fourth quarter. Bellisari recovered from his three earlier interceptions and found some rhythm to put together two touchdown drives to slim the lead to 31-26, but couldn't connect on the third.

"We had Ken-Yon open, behind only five points and no one made the play," Cooper said. "Then we gambled on the half-yard and no one made the play."

Both coaches pulled out the bag of tricks for the new millennium battle. Some worked, some didn't. But in the end, when it came down to fourth and one, the Michigan curse frustrated Cooper again.

"They made plays and we didn't," Cooper said.

Some things never change.

DAVID KATZ/Daily

The Michigan defense stopped Ohio State after the Buckeyes pulled within five points in the fourth quarter. The 38-26 loss is the 10th time Ohio State has fallen to the Wolverines in coach John Cooper's 13 seasons in Columbus.