OSU-San Diego State Game Data
* Date, Time: Sat., Sept. 6, 12:10 p.m.
* Location: Ohio Stadium (capacity, 101,568)
* TV: ESPN-Plus Local syndication (Network includes: New York City, YES Network; Boston, NESN; Atlanta, CSS; Cleveland, WUAB-TV; San Diego, Ch. 4 SD; Cincinnati, WCPO-TV; Columbus, WBNS-TV; New Orleans, Cox; Louisville, Ky., Insight Cable; Dayton, WHIO-TV; Toledo, WTVG-TV; Youngstown, WYTV-TV; Wheeling-Steubenville, WTOV-TV)
* 2002 Records: OSU, 14-0, 8-0 Big Ten (first); San Diego State, 4-9, 4-3 Mountain West (third).
* 2003 Records, Rankings: OSU, 1-0, second in AP poll; San Diego State, 1-0, unranked.
* Coaches: OSU, Jim Tressel (third year at OSU, 22-5; 18th year overall, 157-62-2); San Diego State, Tom Craft (second year at SDSU, 5-9. Tressel is 1-0 lifetime against SDSU.
* Series History: OSU leads 1-0 (won 27-12 on Oct. 20, 2001, in Columbus).
* Line: Ohio State favored by 32.
* San Diego State Schedule: Aug. 30, Eastern Washington, W 19-9; Sept. 6, at Ohio State; Sept. 13, at UTEP; Sept. 20, Samford; Sept. 27, at UCLA; Oct. 4, BYU; Oct. 11, at Utah; Oct. 18, New Mexico; Oct. 25, Wyoming; Nov. 8, at UNLV; Nov. 15, at Colorado State; Nov. 22, Air Force.
* San Diego State Fast Facts: Location, San Diego; Enrollment, 34,174; Nickname, Aztecs; Colors, Scarlet and Black; Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium (surface, grass; capacity, 54,000).
Depth Charts
Ohio State Offense
QB 16 Craig Krenzel (6-4, 225, Sr.)
15 Scott McMullen (6-3, 215, Sr.)
SE 12 Michael Jenkins (6-5, 215, Sr.)
82 Roy Hall (6-3, 228, R-Fr.)
LT 77 Rob Sims (6-4, 305, So.)
74 Kirk Barton (6-6, 280, Fr.)
LG 63 Adrien Clarke (6-5, 330, Sr.)
64 Adam Olds (6-4, 290, So.)
C 76 Alex Stepanovich (6-4, 300, Sr.)
55 Nick Mangold (6-4, 280, So.)
RG 79 Bryce Bishop (6-3, 312, Sr.)
66 Mike Kne (6-4, 300, Jr.)
RT 71 Shane Olivea (6-5, 320, Sr.)
68 Tim Schafer (6-5, 250, R-Fr.)
TE 88 Ben Hartsock (6-4, 264, Sr.)
80 Ryan Hamby (6-5, 240, So.)
FL 8 Drew Carter (6-4, 200, Sr.)
4 Santonio Holmes (5-11, 170, R-Fr.)
TB 28 Maurice Hall (5-11, 200, Jr.) or
30 Lydell Ross (6-1, 210, Jr.)
FB 43 Brandon Schnittker (6-1, 250, So.)
91 Jason Bond (6-3, 240, Sr.)
K 85 Mike Nugent (5-10, 170, Jr.)
Ohio State Defense
DE 75 Simon Fraser (6-6, 265, Jr.)
98 Joel Penton (6-5, 265, R-Fr.)
DT 56 Darrion Scott (6-3, 280, Sr.)
94 Marcus Green (6-3, 290, So.)
DT 54 Tim Anderson (6-4, 289, Sr.)
90 Quinn Pitcock (6-3, 300, R-Fr.)
DE 93 Will Smith (6-4, 265, Sr.)
57 Mike Kudla (6-3, 275, So.)
WLB 47 A.J. Hawk (6-2, 230, So.)
41 Thomas Matthews (6-2, 210, Jr.)
MLB 46 Fred Pagac Jr. (6-1, 225, Sr.)
5 Mike D’Andrea (6-3, 240, So.)
SLB 44 Robert Reynolds (6-3, 242, Sr.)
42 Bobby Carpenter (6-3, 240, So.)
CB 37 Dustin Fox (6-0, 190, Jr.)
26 Ashton Youboty (6-1, 195, Fr.)
CB 7 Chris Gamble (6-2, 200, Jr.)
2 E.J. Underwood (6-1, 175, So.)
FS 32 Brandon Mitchell (6-3, 190, R-Fr.) or
21 Nate Salley (6-3, 205, So.)
SS 4 Will Allen (6-2, 190, Sr.)
6 Tyler Everett (6-1, 185, So.)
P 21 B.J. Sander (6-3, 212, Sr.)
San Diego State Offense
QB 5 Matt Dlugolecki (6-4, 215, So.
9 Kevin Pierce (6-2, 195, So.)
WR 19 Jeff Webb (6-2, 200, So.)
1 Jermaine Moore (6-0, 200, Sr.)
LT 79 Brendan Darby (6-7, 295, Sr.)
76 William Robinson (6-6, 250, Fr.)
LG 77 Shawn Dickie (6-5, 310, Sr.)
75 Patrick Justman (6-5, 300, Fr.)
C 72 Jasper Harvey (6-3, 300, So.)
50 Danny Negrete (6-1, 310, So.)
RG 78 Gerald Sykes (6-1, 320, Sr.)
50 Danny Negrete (6-1, 310, So.)
RT 73 Mike Kracalik (6-9, 325, Jr.)
70 Zach Barnes (6-1, 320, Sr.)
TE 83 Jason Dion (6-3, 255, Sr.)
81 Jeremy Justice (6-2, 240, Jr.)
FL 88 Lonnel Penman (6-2, 200, Jr.)
2 Ramal Porter (5-9, 160, Fr.)
TB 22 Lynell Hamilton (6-1, 215, Fr.)
20 Michael Franklin (5-7, 180, So.)
SL 11 Devin Pitts (6-3, 195, Jr.)
80 Robert Ortiz (6-1, 185, So.)
K 18 J.C. Mejia (5-10, 170, Fr.)
San Diego State Defense
DE 90 Ryan Iata (6-5, 270, Sr.)
97 Kurt Kahui (6-1, 240, So.)
DT 99 Brook Miller (6-4, 280, Sr.)
91 Jonathan Bailes (6-1, 295, Fr.)
DT 46 Blake Lobel (6-3, 260, Jr.)
55 Freddie McCutcheon (6-0, 280, So.)
DE 98 Brandon Rager (6-3, 250, Sr.)
95 Robert Miller (6-6, 240, So.)
WLB 35 Beau Trickey (6-1, 240, Sr.)
43 Matt McCoy (6-0, 220, So.)
MLB 34 Kirk Morrison (6-2, 240, Jr.)
52 Adam Nyssen (5-11, 215, Jr.)
SLB 45 Stephen Larsen (6-1, 235, Jr.)
44 Heath Farwell (6-0, 225, Jr.)
FS 30 Marcus Demps (6-0, 195, So.)
31 Reggie Grigsby (5-11, 195, So.)
SS 42 Josh Dean (6-1, 210, Jr.)
38 Keith Ellison (6-1, 210, So.)
CB 39 Jacob Elimimian (5-11, 175, So.)
10 Hubert Caliste (6-2, 190, Jr.)
CB 26 Jeff Shoate (5-11, 175, Sr.)
9 Terrell Maze (5-11, 160, Fr.)
P 11 Seth Santoro (6-1, 205, Sr.)
Breaking It Down
* When Ohio State Has The Ball: All eyes will be on the running game after many believed that part of the offense suffered against Washington. I would imagine that both Lydell Ross and Maurice Hall will be at or near 100 yards when the dust settles here.
I would also have to believe that Craig Krenzel will do some business in the passing game. Two years ago, Steve Bellisari threw for 198 yards in a relative nail-biter against SDSU (a come-from-behind 27-12 win). I imagine that Michael Jenkins, Drew Carter and Santonio Holmes will all be involved in the fireworks. The offense could have its first 500-yard day as I doubt SDSU will be able to contain the Buckeyes.
* When San Diego State Has The Ball: SDSU coach Tom Craft must feel like he is between a rock and a hard place here. His 3,000-yard quarterback, Adam Hall, has a high ankle sprain. So it looks like Matt Dlugolecki, whose only experience is one half against Division I-AA Eastern Washington, will get the call. Does anybody like this kid‘s chances against the OSU defense?
At the same time, SDSU found a budding star in freshman tailback Lynell Hamilton, who went over 100 yards last week against EWU. He will be lucky to get half of that total, though, against a defense that held UW to just 7 yards rushing last week.
So if you can’t run the ball and you can’t pass the ball, what do you do? Answer: Punt.
* How It Will Go: For all of you OSU season ticket holders who thought you got a great bargain for watching last week’s game with Washington -- a bona fide $150 game -- for just $50, this is the flip side of that equation. My good friend Joe Huffer affectionately calls games like this “a $5 game.” The inference is there will be scads of tickets on the streets outside the stadium, some going as cheap as, well, $5 each. This is a great game to take your kids or your dad to. You still get all the trappings of game day at Ohio Stadium, just not a quality opponent.
And, for the reasons I have outlined above, I think it will be somewhat of a bloodletting. Without its star quarterback, SDSU’s options on offense will be extremely limited. I imagine the OSU offensive line will also be grinding meat.
This senior-dominated OSU team should not be backing off the throttle any time soon. This SDSU team may be marginally better than the San Jose State team OSU drilled 50-7 a year ago. But people you have never heard of should be playing whole series or more for the Buckeyes in the fourth quarter. I am picking OSU to roll 42-6, and it could be worse than that.
-- Steve Helwagen
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