Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas

Eight of them played: This year's freshman crop of Buckeyes made its presence felt in the season opener. Eight true freshman saw their first action as Buckeyes in the YSU game including defensive back Eugene Clifford, wide receiver Devon Torrence, wide receiver Taurian Washington, wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher, defensive end Cameron Heyward, running back Brandon Saine, linebacker Brian Rolle and defensive back James Scott.

Dane Sanzenbacher
Photo by Jim Davidson

Sanzenbacher, Saine and Washington all scored to account for three of OSU's five touchdowns.

"They were real solid," said Head Coach Jim Tressel who was particularly impressed with the play of his young wide receivers.

"When you get an opportunity, you take advantage of it. Dukes has been banged up. Devon Lyons has been banged up. All those guys got some reps. They're good players. Dane and Devon Torrence, I think, are going to be excellent players. They've had a chance to get in there and learn the system and it will be fun to watch them on film just to see exactly how well they did."

"Today was amazing compared to anything I've ever done before," said Saine of his first experience as a Buckeye.

Cameron Heywood
Photo by Jim Davidson

"I just tried to do what the coaches ask me to do. I was just hoping to get on the field and get over my first-game jitters and see what I could do. I think it went pretty well but there's still room to improve," Saine said.

Saine said that working out with the OSU veterans was the key to success for the OSU freshman class.

"Everybody we learned from like the upper classmen really helped us out. Just being able to practice with them, they're really good and helped us out so much. It's hard not to be good when you're around them," Saine said.

"I thought Brandon Saine ran the ball real well at times and I think that a couple of those young guys did some good things out wide," added offensive coordinator Jim Bollman.

"That was good for those guys to get some action today."

Wilson Out: Defensive end Lawrence Wilson got his first career start against YSU, but it turned out to be a very bad day for Wilson. Wilson suffered a broken tibia in the game.

Lawrence Wilson

"I've heard six to eight weeks, but I don't know if there's any validity to that," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.

"I really haven't talked to any doctors. It was kind of a locker room rumor I heard.

"I didn't talk to the doctors. I just kind of heard a rumor in the locker room that it might be a fracture of sorts, where, I don't know, and that it could be six to eight weeks," Tressel said.

"That would be a terrific loss. Lawrence Wilson is a good player and he's an enthusiastic guy. He gets riled up and fired up and he's one of those guys that's played enough to be a leader. He's not wondering where he lines up. He knows where he lines up and can do some of those extras, so that would be a significant loss."

Todd Terrific: OSU quarterback Todd Boeckman had a terrific debut, completing over 70 per cent of his passes (17 of 23) for 225 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Boeckman also did a good job of leading the offense.

Todd Boeckman

"He definitely commands the huddle," said wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher.

"He was great," said senior offensive lineman Kirk Barton.

"He was encouraging, positive, that's the biggest thing.

"A quarterback always gets more publicity than everyone else. He's down to earth, he really worked. He talked to us and he encouraged us. You can't be negative if you take a shot and he took a few shots today and he was always positive and I really respect him for that.

"He's a tough, he's very humble and he's going to be a great quarterback for us."

Boeckman is earning the respect of his teammates and the OSU coaching staff gave him plenty of opportunity to shine as the Buckeyes featured the passing game in the season opener.

"We went into the game wanting to work on the pass," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.

"We had new quarterbacks, and in my mind you can't ask your quarterbacks to work on their throwing only when it's third and 10 or only when you're behind and trying to catch up and the world is a little different.

"So our game plan, Jim Bollman decided going into the ball game that he was going to throw a significant amount on all downs and make sure that our quarterbacks got a chance to have those experiences," Tressel said.

"The coaches saw something in the defense, they saw a lot of open holes," said Boeckman.

"They gave me opportunity to make some plays out there with my arm. I think I made the most of it and hopefully we can go from here."

Boeckman did not throw any interceptions in the game, but did lose a fumble that resulted in a turnover and led to a YSU field goal.

"He did take a blind shot on that one," said offensive coordinator Jim Bollman.

"We had a mental mistake by one of the guys.

"There was a blitz that came and didn't get picked up that should have been. That's why he wasn't expecting it, but he's got to hold on to the ball. I'm sure he'll look back at a couple of decisions and wish that he did something different, but overall I felt pretty good about what he did also. It was good to see him get down there on that first drive, too," Bollman said.

"I thought Todd did a lot of good things," agreed Jim Tressel.

"I know there's going to be some things that we need to get much better at. He seemed to have excellent command. I think his completion percentage was solid and he had his head up when things weren't perfect, which I think is crucial for a quarterback, so often you go all the way through practice and everything is one way, and then you get into the game and they're playing different coverages, they're doing different things, the world looks different. If you keep your eyes up and you study it, you've got a chance to make something happen. I thought he did that fairly well."

Boeckman said that he got more comfortable in his role as the game progressed.'

"Things were flying through my head. I just wanted to go out there and relax a little bit. I was so tense at first, but once I got a few snaps under my belt I was all right," Boeckman said.

"Just to get those first snaps under your belt, the first victory under your belt, knowing that you can be the quarterback of this team. It's just a great confidence booster for me," Boeckman said.

Biggest Critic: The YSU defense was intent on limiting OSU's running game and was effective in doing so, particularly in the first half. The Penguins elected to leave their defensive backs singled up on Brian Robiskie in order to commit at least one safety to the line of scrimmage. They also implemented a goal line scheme that took the OSU coaching staff by surprise and confused the OSU blocking.

Chris Wells

That made it a tough day for OSU starting tailback and goal line specialist Chris Wells who rushed for 48 yards on 16 carries to average 2.9 yards per carry. Wells had particular problems in the first half when the Buckeyes were ineffective at the goal line and had to turn to the pass to score.

"Today in the first half I got off real slow. I didn't do things. I had a bad day today," said Wells.

"The fans, the team, everybody deserves to see me do my best.

"That's something I didn't do today. I felt it coming on at the end, but by the time I felt I got a groove in the game it was too late, I was sitting down in the fourth quarter."

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