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Ohio State slows down Washington in second half

Sep 16, 2007 - 1:22 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Ohio State finally slowed down upstart Washington.

Chris "Beanie" Wells ran for 132 yards with a touchdown and Todd Boeckman tossed another score as the 10th-ranked Buckeyes pulled away from the Huskies in the second half for an 33-14 victory in an intriguing non-conference matchup on Saturday afternoon.

Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline each caught a TD for Ohio State (3-0), which extended its regular-season winning streak to 21 games. The Buckeyes' last loss was in last January's BCS Championship game vs. Florida.

But this Ohio State team does not have as much experience as the squad that played for the national championship - making coach Jim Tressel even prouder.

"With a young team, getting put behind (early), there was a lot of momentum going (Washington's) way at the end of the first half," Tressel said. "Lesser groups could've folded. Being a young bunch that took leadership from guys like James (Laurinaitis), they accepted that leadership and then made the plays."

But the Huskies (2-1) had been the hot team entering Saturday's contest. Unranked Washington had won its first two contests, including a 24-10 upset of then-No. 22 Boise State last Saturday.

It looked like more of the same in this one for the Huskies, who led, 7-3, at halftime on their home field. But they just could not matchup with the powerful Buckeyes.

"We had opportunities," Huskies coach Tyrone Willingham said. "We just didn't take advantage of (them). Really, that was the game. When you play a good football team, sometimes you're not able to take advantage of all the opportunities.

"(Ohio State) did some good things and, of course, we did some good things, but certainly not enough good things to put ourselves in the winning circle."

Washington even had the momentum going into the second half after Anthony Russo's 23-yard TD catch gave the Huskies the advantage with three seconds left in the opening half.

But the Buckeyes came out hot after the break, taking the lead back on Robiskie's 68-yard TD catch to make it 10-7 with 9:36 left in the third.

"Really where we found our troubles at was (in) the third quarter when they scored the long ball," Willingham said.

Ohio State would not look back.

After a quick three-and-out by the Huskies, Wells added a 14-yard score to give the Buckeyes a 17-7 advantage with 8:57 left in the period.

Ohio State added Ryan Pretorius' 23-yard field goal and Hartline's 36-yard score in the fourth en route to a 30-7 cushion.

Boeckman was 15-of-26 for 226 yards for the Buckeyes, who open their Big Ten Conference slate vs. Northwestern next Saturday.

"I think Todd did well," Tressel said. "The first half, we were hanging in there, doing OK, just not enough. In the second half, he came in and made some big plays. We're going to need to come in and grade the film. He's got a lot more room to grow."

Quarterback Jake Locker had 283 total yards and a touchdown for Washington, which had four turnovers.