2007’s 5 Moments of Unbelievable Awesomeness: #5
This idea has been done elsewhere, as well as here and started here. However, this wrinkle stems from a MotSaG post that reminds Buckeyes to take some perspective of the past 3 Big Ten title runs. It’d be hard to fault Buckeye fans for having a case of the blues right about now: the Bucks just whiffed in their second straight title game, whiffed both times to a Southern school who, for some reason, have an entirely false sense of nature-ordained superiority (more on that later), and were dogged year long by many media outlets (basically thinking of Buckeye fan favourite Mark May here) who no doubt feel justified in their belief of Big Ten weakness and Southern speed. Ergo, unless Ohio State wins every game next year (a daunting task with conference games in Wisky, Urbana-Champaign and East Lansing) and beats USC by a hundred1, the Bucks probably won’t get a third straight shot at a national title. Just cause for being in the dumps at the moment.
Yet, we agree with MotSaG. The 2007 calendar year began with an event that sucked more than anything should be legally allowed to suck, but the 2007 season was pretty exceptional when taken into perspective, and certainly not bad at all for a “rebuilding” year. To help remind anyone else reading this (hopefully no one), and perhaps remind ourselves, we put together a list of the moments that made us smile for the 2007 season. Herein, we recap the top 5 moments of the 2007 season, starting with no. 5:
05. Blocked FG, Tressel leap fuels rout of Washington in Seattle
The beginning of the 2007 season was awkward for the Buckeyes as the end of the 2006 was painful. Missing deep threat and return coverage nightmare Ted Ginn Jr, the ultimate slot receiver in Gonzo, leading rusher Antonio Pittman and the Heisman Trophy QB surely meant doom for a very green Buckeye offense led by a grayshirt 5th year QB and a true sophomore tailback (more appropriately: a true monster tailback, but a sophomore first year starter nonetheless).
The beginning of the 2007 season was made even more awkward by its first two games against Youngstown State and Akron at home. The Youngstown State game was the true definition of sloppy and the Bucks only held a 3-2 lead over the Zips at the half before pulling away late to win 20-2. The third game in the Buckeye schedule was the final leg of the OSU-Washington series — last played in 2003 — to be held in Seattle. Washington, at this time, was on quite a roll. Beginning the season with an impressive beatdown of Syracuse in New York and winning at home against 2006 Cinderfellas and holders of the nation’s longest unbeaten streak Boise State made Washington a very vogue pick in this game.
The 3rd largest Husky Stadium crowd ever2 was witness to the Buckeyes’ first road test of the season. Poor QB play — mainly underthrowing Hartline that I can remember so clearly — set the tone for a very sluggish first half, which saw Pretorius miss a 44yder on the opening drive and saw the Huskies score a touchdown in the waning moments of the first half to take firm command of momentum into the intermission, after which the Huskies would begin on offense.
The Huskies took the ball on their first offensive series all the way down to the Ohio State 19, no doubt poised to add to their lead. What followed was 3 straight negative plays, the last of which a sack by Laurinaitis, forcing Washington to settle for the 46 yard field goal attempt.
And then this awesome thing happened:
The Bucks defense had been driven on in the past two series, the first resulting in a touchdown the second was going to result in points somewhere; the Bucks defense was surely reeling to some degree. Not only did the Bucks hold to force a FG but blocked it as well. Here’s where Gabby and I wonder on what was more awesome: the blocked FG or the Tressel leap? We can’t come to an acceptable answer. The former was cause for some jubilation on stuffing Washington for no points on their first possession of the second half. The latter, perhaps, was Tressel’s indication that, in the words of the Dude, this aggression will not stand… man. What followed from was unequivocally glorious; if memory serves correct, this awesome thing happened on the very next play or just moments after.
The immediate touchdown strike to Brian Robiskie — who up until that play, perhaps defensive coordinators thought they could adequately single cover in a man-to-man defense — had tied the game. But the aftershock of the Tressel leap had not quite settled. On the ensuing kickoff, Devon Torrence forced a fumble to be picked up by James Scott. Two plays later, the Beanie grew weary of Washington’s silly attempts at tackling him and plowed 14yds for a touchdown. The Bucks had scored two touchdowns in under a minute to take a 17-7 lead, to which Washington would never respond. Boeckman eventually would settle in during the 4th quarter, resulting in 24 unanswered points following the Coleman block and Tressel leap, broken only by a garbage time Husky touchdown in the final minute, responded to — in exceptional fashion — by a Brandon Saine megagarbage time touchdown as the clock expired. The very green Bucks win by 19 in their first true road test in Seattle. The Bucks win in a stadium so loud that the camera affixed to the roof shakes with it. The Bucks win on the road against a Pac-10 team with all the swagger coming in, and who gave perennial greatest-team-of-all-time USC a fight for their lives next week. The Bucks win, and help in many ways legitimate their status in the polls following the unimpressive start. The Bucks win and, well, that’s always cause for celebration.
Yet, if not for that Coleman block and Tressel mini-jump to signify his troops to rise up and take their stand, the game no doubt takes a different direction. As it is, it’s one of the awesome moments of the 2007 season. Highlight vid here from lexco44, whose stuff is always exceptional:
#4 forthcoming in due time. Give me time, though.