RUSTY MILLER
AP
COLUMBUS — What’s brewing with the 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes ...
BUCKEYES BUZZ: The Buckeyes flew out immediately after their 52-34 victory at California, the plane departed the airport at 1 a.m. and the flight arrived at 5:25 a.m. at Rickenbacker. The players were snug in their beds back on campus or just off it (supposedly) before the sun came up.
It was a road game for Ohio State, but you’d never know it to look at the crowd of 62,467 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.
What was supposed to be a partisan crowd dressed in alternating waves of blue and gold by section ended up as an almost partisan Buckeyes mob. Ohio State fans appeared to take over the stadium, with more scarlet on display than either of the Bears’ colors.
“I’d like to thank our fans. I expected this — I remember from years ago on road trips that there would be a bunch of Buckeyes in the stadium — but hats off to all those in scarlet who traveled across the country,” said head coach Urban Meyer, who recalled how well Ohio State traveled when he was a graduate assistant under Earle Bruce in the 1980s. “Also I’ve got a feeling there are a bunch of California Buckeyes out here, too. What an environment.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Next up is the Buckeyes’ final non-conference tuneup of the season against Football Championship Subdivision Florida A&M.
The Rattlers, who are 1-2 after losing 27-20 at home to Samford on Saturday, are getting $900,000 to make the trip north to Ohio Stadium.
The definition of a mismatch is when A&M quarterback Damien Fleming is throwing three interceptions in his own Bragg Memorial Stadium against a Samford defense that led the way to a 17-0 first-quarter lead.
This does not bode well for the Rattlers, even against an Ohio State defense that was gashed for 371 passing yards and 503 total yards by pass-happy California.
The Buckeyes were in scramble mode most of the day against the Bears, who threw 53 passes after falling behind early (completing 31 for three touchdowns).
Things figure to be dramatically different at Ohio Stadium, since FAMU managed only 80 yards rushing and 139 passing against Samford.
“We have a lot of work to do still,” said FAMU coach Earl Holmes.
QUOTABLE: Cal QB Jared Goff on Ohio State: “They came out and are a great team. They’re all they’re talked up to be. There were chances we had to score two or three more touchdowns that we slipped on. There were a few turnovers we had that we shouldn’t have had. We get a slip here, we get a break here and it could have been different and we could have stayed in that game a little longer.”
NOTEWORTHY: Ohio State extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 15 games, the fifth longest streak in school history. The longest is 22 games from 1967-69. ... The Buckeyes, playing in Berkeley for the first time since 1972, are now 58-26-2 all-time vs. current members of the Pac-12 Conference and 7-1 vs. California. ... Ohio State has now scored at least 40 points in three consecutive games for the first time since 2005 when it had a four-game string. ... OSU totaled a season-high 608 total yards and had seven plays from scrimmage of at least 20 yards. That’s the most yards in a game during the Meyer era, topping the 578 at Indiana a year ago. ... In his first career start, senior QB Kenny Guiton passed for a career-high 276 yards on 21 of 32 with four TD passes. .... On the Buckeyes’ second offensive play, Guiton hooked up with junior WR Devin Smith for a 90-yard TD pass — the longest play from scrimmage in program history. ... Smith totaled a career-high 149 yards receiving on three catches, adding a 47-yards scoring catch, also in the first quarter. ... Senior RB Jordan Hall set a career high with 168 yards rushing on 30 carries and three TDs. ... It wasn’t all seniors who starred, either. Freshman RB Dontre Wilson carried five times for 59 yards and classmate Joey Bosa made his first start at DE (in place of the injured Adolphus Washington) and had seven tackles. ... Yet another ominous sign that a lot of people might leave Saturday’s game by halftime: Ohio State scored a season-high 24 points in the first quarter at Cal, and has now outscored the opposition 68-14 in the first quarter in 2013.
RANKINGS: Ohio State remained No. 4 in the Associated Press media balloting and No. 3 in the USA Today coaches poll.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Top games this week around college football include No. 3 Clemson on the road at North Carolina State on Thursday night. Saturday’s top offerings include Colorado state at No. 1 Alabama; Arizona State at No. 5 Stanford; Auburn at No. 6 LSU; Florida International at No. 7 Louisville; North Texas at No. 9 Georgia; Tennessee at No. 19 Florida; and New Mexico State at No. 13 UCLA.
BIG TEN, NOT-SO-BIG GAMES: It wasn’t exactly a banner week for the Big Ten.
The winners included Ohio State, Iowa (27-21 over rival Iowa State), Northwestern (38-17 over Western Michigan), Michigan State (55-17 over FCS member Youngstown State), Indiana (42-10 over Bowling Green), and Minnesota (over FCS member Western Illinois, 29-12).
No. 15 Michigan, coming off what everyone thought was an impressive home win over Notre Dame, almost stumbled before Akron, which lost its 28th consecutive road game. The Zips had the Wolverines on the ropes most of the day. It took a Fitzgerald Toussaint 2-yard TD run with 2:49 left to put Michigan ahead 28-24, but it still had to weather a last-second pass into the end zone to win.
Other black eyes included No. 20 Wisconsin’s 32-30 loss at Arizona State; No. 23 Nebraska’s 41-21 defeat at home to No. 16 UCLA, which scored the last 38 points; Central Florida’s 34-24 win over Penn State; No. 19 Washington’s 34-24 win over Illinois at Chicago’s Soldier Field and Purdue’s game but ultimately futile 31-24 loss to Notre Dame.
In addition to Ohio State’s noon game at home against Florida A&M, the rest of this week’s games involving conference teams include: Michigan at Connecticut, Maine at No. 18 Northwestern, Michigan State at Notre Dame, Western Michigan at Iowa, San Jose State at Minnesota, Kent State at Penn State, Missouri at Indiana and San Diego State at Nebraska.
The first Big Ten game of the season also will be played: Purdue at No. 24 Wisconsin.