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Attendance: 105,181
Northwestern Post-Game Notes
With the loss, Northwestern fell to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten. NU became the last Big Ten team this season to lose a conference road game. The Wildcats close out the regular season next Saturday at Illinois in Champaign (11 a.m. CT, ESPN Plus).
For the first time in school history, Northwestern has recorded four or more Big Ten wins in three straight seasons. Since the 2003 season, the Wildcats are now a combined 13-10 vs. Big Ten foes.
Northwestern scored a touchdown on the game's opening drive -- a 5-yard RB Tyrell Sutton reception from QB Brett Basanez. That was just the second time this year the Wildcats scored a TD on their first drive of a game. The other TD came against Penn State.
Although Northwestern was held to a season-low 153 passing yards, the Wildcats set the school's single-season passing yardage mark and now have 3,025 yards (302.5 ypg).
Basanez, a Unitas Award finalist and a Davey O'Brien semifinalist, made his 44th career start today, the last 38 in succession.
Basanez's streak of 200-yard passing games ended at 10, a Northwestern record.
Basanez's scoring pass to Sutton in the first quarter was his 40th career TD toss. That leaves him four shy of Northwestern's career passing TD record. It was also his 17th season TD pass, three shy of the school record (Zak Kustok, 2001).
An update on Basanez's career numbers and where he stands on the Big Ten and NCAA's all-time lists:
| • 850 pass completions (first on NU list; second on Big Ten list--176 behind Drew Brees, Purdue) |
| • 1,483 pass attempts (first on NU list; second on Big Ten list--195 behind Drew Brees, Purdue) |
| • 9,924 passing yards (first on NU list; fourth on Big Ten list--22 behind Mark Hermann, Purdue) |
| • 10,803 total offense yards (first on NU list; third on Big Ten list--561 behind Antwaan Randle El, Indiana) |
| • 1,849 offensive plays (first on NU list; third on Big Ten list--68 behind Antwaan Randle El, Indiana) |
| 20. Peyton Manning (1994-97, Tennessee) - 11,020 | 33. Eli Manning (2000-03, Mississippi) - 10,119 |
| 21. Eric Zeier (1991-94, Georgia) - 10,841 | 34. Glenn Foley (1990-93, Boston College) - 10,042 |
| 22. Joshua Cribbs (2001-04, Kent State) - 10,839 | 35. Cade McNown (1995-98, UCLA) - 10,008 |
| 23. Alex Van Pelt (1989-92, Pittsburgh) - 10,814 | 36. Brett Basanez (2002-present, NU) - 9,924 |
| 24. Brett Basanez (2002-present, NU) - 10,803 | 37. Cody Pickett (2000-03, Washington) - 9,916 |
Northwestern, which came in with the nation's seventh-best total offense average, fell short of the 400-yard mark in total offense, the first time the Wildcats failed to reach the 400-yard mark in their last 11 games.
Senior WR Mark Philmore has caught a pass in all 38 career games played. He moved into sole possession of fifth place on Northwestern's career receptions list and now has 151 catches. Philmore also has 1,661 career receiving yards, which ranks ninth on NU's all-time list.
Senior LB Tim McGarigle upped his NU-career-leading tackle total to 518 with his seven (4 solos) tackles today. McGarigle began the day as the Big Ten leader in tackles.
RB Tyrell Sutton rushed for 93 yards today and added a 5-yard TD reception, the 18th TD of the season and his career. He entered today's game as the nation's sixth-leading scorer.
CB Marquice Cole picked off his Big Ten-leading fifth interception of the year in the second quarter.
WR Shaun Herbert caught two passes to move into a fifth-place tie on Northwestern's single-season reception list with 68 catches. He also increased his career totals to 110 receptions and 1,330 yards. Herbert began the day as the country's eighth-leading receiver with 7.3 catches per game.
QB C.J. Bacher, who played the fourth quarter in relief of Basanez, completed a career-long 25-yard pass to freshman WR Eric Peterman.
Ohio State Notes
With the win Saturday, Ohio State has won 27 of its last 29 games at home. The losses came against Wisconsin in 2004 and Texas Sept. 10.
Ohio State now has an all-time record of 773-300-53 and all-time Big Ten record of 424-162-24.
With the win Saturday, Ohio State's all-time record moved to 361-102-25 in Ohio Stadium (opened in 1922).
With the win Saturday, Jim Tressel moved to 48-13 at Ohio State and won for the 31st time in 35 games at Ohio Stadium. With the win Saturday, Tressel upped his record in Big Ten contests to 29-10.
With the win Saturday, Tressel has a 4-1 career record vs. Northwestern.
Ohio State has a 4-2 record so far this season against Top 25 opponents. When ranked in the AP Top 25, Ohio State now is 386-123-14.
Under Tressel, the Buckeyes now are 35-3 when leading at the half and 38-3 when ahead after three quarters.
The Buckeyes have scored at least one touchdown in 111-consecutive games.
Series Information
Ohio State and Northwestern met for the 71st time Saturday. The Buckeyes improved to 56-14-1 in the series. OSU now has a 31-8 edge in games played in Columbus and has won 15 in a row from the Wildcats in Ohio Stadium dating to a 14-10 loss in 1971. The Buckeyes have taken 25 of the last 26 meetings with the Wildcats.
With the 48-7 win Saturday, Ohio State improved to 29-0 when scoring 30 points or more against Northwestern.
Offensive Notes
Ohio State rushed for a season-high 317 yards Saturday on 54 attempts. Previously this season, Ohio State had 314 yards against Iowa Sept. 24.
Three Buckeyes accounted for at least 70 yards Saturday. Sophomore Antonio Pittman led all rushers with 132 yards on 18 tries, while Junior Troy Smith added 75 yards on 11 attempts and freshman Maurice Wells had a career-best 70 yards on 13 carries.
Ohio State scored a season-best 48 points in the win against Northwestern Saturday, marking the first time a Buckeye squad has tallied 40 points or more in four-consecutive games since the 1995 season. That year, the Buckeyes had four consecutive 40-plus point games, starting with a 56-35 win vs. Iowa before winning 49-21 at Minnesota, 41-3 vs. Illinois and 42-3 against Indiana.
The 48 points counts as the highest output by the Buckeyes since Ohio State defeated San Jose State, 50-7, in Ohio Stadium Oct. 12, 2002.
Ohio State scored a 35-24 win over Michigan State Oct. 15. Since that game, the Buckeyes have tallied their four-straight 40-plus point games. The last time Ohio State scored 35 or more points in five-consecutive games was in 1974 when they defeated Washington State (42-7), Wisconsin (52-7), Indiana (49-9), Northwestern (55-7) and Illinois (49-7).
The Buckeyes rushed for five touchdowns in the win vs. Northwestern Saturday. The last time an Ohio State team rushed for five TDs in a game was in the 2002 season-opener vs. Texas Tech. Ohio State rushed for six scores in that contest. Maurice Clarett rushed for 3 TDs with Lydell Ross crossing the goal line twice and backup quarterback Scott McMullen scoring once.
The Buckeyes were 7-for-7 in the red zone Saturday, scoring five touchdowns and adding two field goals.
Ohio State also converted seven third-down chances in 11 situations.
The Buckeyes had 422 yards of offense Saturday against Northwestern (317 rushing, 105 passing). Ohio State has topped the 400-yard mark in total offense in each of its last four games and five times this season.
Ohio State scored a touchdown on its opening drive, covering 45 yards on 11 plays in 5:32. The Buckeyes ran the football on 11 plays, ending the drive on a 4-yard TD scramble by quarterback Troy Smith. On the drive, Smith carried five times for 24 yards and tailback Antonio Pittman ran six times for 21 yards.
Defensive Notes
Ohio State held Northwestern to a season-low 251 yards of total offense Saturday, despite allowing an 80-yard touchdown drive to the Wildcats' first possession. Saturday marked the first time Northwestern was held to less than 400 yards of total offense this season.
The Buckeyes held NU to a season-low 153 yards passing and 98 yards rushing, which counts as the second-lowest rushing output by Northwestern this season. Michigan held NU to 89 yards rushing Oct. 29.
In seven home games this season, the Buckeyes held their opponents to averages of 63 yards rushing and 234 yards in total offense.
The 98 yards allowed rushing to Northwestern marked the sixth game this season Ohio State has held its opponent to less than 100 yards on the ground.
The Wildcats averaged just 2.8 yards per play Saturday.
