Football
Running Game Coming to Life for Buckeyes
By John Porentas

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Don't look now, but there's a spark of life in the OSU running game.

Antonio Pittman is quietly putting up some nice numbers this season as OSU's number one tailback. Through seven games, Pittman has rushed 136 times for 696 net yards. That's an average of 99.4 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry. At that pace, Pittman will rush for 1192 yards this season, and that would rank as the 17th best season rushing performance in Ohio State history, just behind Keith Byars' 1983 season (1,199 yards on 222 attempts) and ahead of Ron Spring's 1977 season (1,166 yards on 200 attempts).

That's not bad for a sophomore who is just really getting to know the college game, but Pittman remains low-key about his success this season.

Antonio Pittman breaks a tackle at Indiana.
Photo by Jim Davidson

"The offensive line is coming to together more. They're just opening up big holes and I have no choice but to run through them. I give all the credit to them," said Pittman.

At 195 pounds, Pittman is not exactly your prototype Big Ten bruising running back, but has proven durable enough this season to have carried the bulk of the rushing load for the Buckeyes.

Last Saturday against Indiana, Pittman went for 136 yards on 26 carries, but also got some help at tailback from freshman Maurice Wells. Wells got just five carries, but managed 50 yards in his limited duty.

"Maurice Wells has consistently been our number two running back," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel. "We thought he had a really good week of practice," said Tressel explaining why Wells saw some playing time against the Hoosiers.

Pittman says he welcomes the idea of someone like Wells emerging as a serviceable second running back for the Buckeyes.

"It's very important, having a good one-two punch (at tailback) like Minnesota has," said Pittman referring to the Gopher tandem of Lawrence Maroney and his backup, freshman Gary Russell.

"They have a great backup. Everybody needs a great backup. You never know what could happen. Being a running back here and going through what I went through last year with not moving the ball at all, you don't really want that to happen. If I was to go down I would want him to keep it going so we won't have any talk of Ohio State needs to rebuild the running game or anything like that," Pittman said.

Aside from the possible injury aspect, Pittman says there another very good reason to develop a second running back.

"You're taking a lot of shots plus you're trying to go hard," said Pittman describing a typical day at the office for a Big Ten running back.

"Five, six people on top of you takes a little out of you. Every play you're getting up off the ground and you're 195 pounds, and you have people on you who are 300. You do the math, you've got like 3000 pounds on you," Pittman said.

That, according to Pittman, is where Wells comes in as a guy who can give him a bit of breather during Big Ten games.

"I'm a fan of Mo. Hopefully when he gets in there he does what I know he can do," said Pittman.

"I know I try to help him with what I can help him with. He's just like I was last year. He wants to get in there and just run."

Pittman has picked up impressive yardage this season, but his scoring numbers are not exactly in line with his yardage totals. As a matter of fact, his scoring number this season is an even zero. Pittman has yet to cross the goal line, something that is a bit of mystery to Pittman and his teammates, and something that has become somewhat of an inside joke on the team.

"We call him Quincy," said OSU starting left guard Rob Sims.

"He's running the ball great, but I think it was the movie Varsity Blues when they had that one guy that wasn't getting into the end zone. We call him Quincy, that was the guy in the movie," Sims said.

"We just joke around that it would be really nice if he got into the end zone every once in a while," added center Nick Mangold.

"We're trying to see if he'll come up with special dance when he finally gets in there."

Pittman had difficulty keeping a straight face when asked about the ribbing he is getting from his teammates.

"It's all in fun. That's all I'm going to say. It makes me laugh. It makes me laugh a lot," said Pittman.

The joking is just that, joking, because the Buckeyes would like nothing better than to see Pittman get some scoring glory for doing all the dirty work at the running back position.

"We joke with him a lot during the week, just kind of mess with him a little bit. It really is a focus for us. I would love to see him get into the end zone," said Mangold.

"I feel bad for him not scoring," said linebacker A. J. Hawk.

"He's been running hard. From the day Tony got here I realized that he's not that big, but he runs hard, he's tough to take down. I feel bad for the guy not getting a touchdown yet.

"Tony does so much work to get us down there and for some reason or another he doesn't get to score. That's tough," Hawk said.

Most the Buckeyes agreed that it is just a matter of time until Pittman gets across the goal line.

"We're so proud of him that he can go out there every game and not complain about not having any touchdowns, just run and get his 100 yards. He'll get in there," said Sims.

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