Sunday, November 14, 1999
Illinois 43, Ohio State 14
Buckeyes' home season ends badly
BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS — Matt Keller peered out from the gray bars of his facemask with a look of deep chagrin. It was his final home game at Ohio Stadium, and his team was being thumped 43-14 with a quarter still to play.
Scarlet-clad fans were filing out the exits early. Keller could only watch with the abashment of fallen confidence.
“I'm embarrassed,” the Ohio State offensive captain said with bewilderment after underdog Illinois thrashed Ohio State 46-20 Saturday at Ohio Stadium. “It comes down to a pride factor. Maybe there's not enough pride right now.”
This was not the way Keller, a senior accustomed to dominating since his days at Moeller High, ever thought his Horseshoe career would end — especially not after Ohio State finished second in the national polls with 11-1 records two of his first three seasons as a Buckeye.
Instead, the Buckeyes' season of discontent hit a new low Saturday, and Keller and his 14 senior mates were left to ponder the destruction of what their final season has dwindled to: A 6-5 record with one game to play, needing an unlikely win at arch-rival Michigan just to qualify for the third-tier Motor City Bowl.
“I hope they haven't packed it in,” Buckeyes coach John Cooper said of his team. “The way we played today at times, it makes you wonder.”
Saturday's dreadful Ohio State performance marked the second time the Buckeyes have been blown out at home this season — Wisconsin scored 42 unanswered points to win 42-17 in September — and was the first time since 1946 they've given up more than 43 points at home.
“There have been a lot of firsts this year,” said senior defensive captain Ahmed Plummer, a Wyoming High School graduate. Someone pointed out not too many have been good. “Nope,” the disconsolate Plummer replied, looking down.
Plummer's thunderstruck look was spread across the entire Buckeye locker room. Players weren't hanging their heads as they walked off the field. They were too shocked, more stonefaced with confusion than shame.
Even after all the disappointments of this rebuilding year, this somehow was a deeper blow, perhaps because it was the seniors' final game, perhaps because it was administered by Illinois (6-4, 3-4 Big Ten), an improving team but by no means a powerhouse. Or perhaps because it was just one more in a season of many.
“I'm just shocked again,” said center Kurt Murphy, echoing his comments after the previous week's loss to Michigan State. “I didn't expect to be blown out.”
Ohio State (3-4 Big Ten) looked sharp for the game's first few plays, moving the ball 29 yards on the ground in its first six snaps. But tailback Jonathan Wells fumbled the pitch on the seventh, Illinois recovered and the Bucks began to unravel with 57 minutes still to play.
Quarterback Steve Bellisari would badly overthrow receivers. Receiver Ken-Yon Rambo would drop a catchable ball, then later fumble a kickoff return that proved to be the worst of Ohio State's many bad moments. The Buckeye defense would be surgically carved up by Illinois sophomore quarterback Kurt Kittner, who threw four touchdown passes to tie the Illini school record of 22 held by Jeff George.
Kittner finished 17-of-31 for 221 yards with no interceptions. Bellisari was 9-of-24 for 133 yards, an interception and a fumble. The Illini defense made several big stops.
It was over before halftime. Ohio State looked as if it might climb back just before the half, cutting a 19-0 deficit to 19-7 on Michael Wiley's 35-yard touchdown run. But when Illinois' Antioneo Harris punched the ball from Rambo's loose hands on a kickoff return and the Illini recovered at the Buckeye 1.
Kittner tossed a 2-yard TD pass three plays later, and Illinois had scored 10 points in 25 seconds to take a 29-7 lead going into the half.
Illinois ....... 6 23 14 3—46
Ohio St. ....... 0 7 7 6—20
First Quarter
Ill—FG Rackers 24, 9:53
Ill—FG Rackers 47, 5:12
Second Quarter
Ill—Lloyd 30 pass from Kittner (pass failed), 14:52
Ill—Havard 7 run (Rackers kick), 9:12
OSU—Wiley 35 run (Stultz kick), 6:59
Ill—FG Rackers 50, :34
Ill—Whitman 2 pass from Kittner (Rackers kick), :09
Third Quarter
Ill—Cook 25 pass from Kittner (Rackers kick), 10:57
OSU—Keller 38 pass from Bellisari (Stultz kick), 9:43
Ill—Whitman 5 pass from Kittner (Rackers kick), 4:04.
Fourth Quarter
OSU—Wiley 6 run (kick failed), 11:17
Ill—FG Rackers 38, 6:13
A—93,429
Ill OSU
First downs ....... 23 23
Rushes-yards ....... 47-157 42-216
Passing ....... 239 168
Comp-Att-Int ....... 18-33-0 12-29-1
Return Yards ....... 115 105
Punts-Avg. ....... 3-43.7 5-32.6
Fumbles-Lost ....... 0-0 3-2
Penalties-Yards ....... 5-51 5-39
Time of Possession ....... 33:13 26:47
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Illinois, Havard 28-104, Harvey 15-37, Cook 1-9, Kittner 2-8. Ohio St., Wiley 19-128, Wells 5-63, Bellisari 13-12, Keller 2-12, Westbrooks 1-3, Moherman 2-(minus 2).
PASSING—Illinois, Kittner 17-31-0-221, Harvey 0-1-0-0, Fitts 1-1-0-18. Ohio St., Bellisari 9-24-1-133, Moherman 3-5-0-35.
RECEIVING—Illinois, Cook 7-100, Whitman 4-24, Lloyd 2-35, Lewis 2-14, Dean 1-32, Young 1-27, Hodges 1-7. Ohio St., Keller 3-57, Wiley 3-25, Germany 2-35, Provitt 2-33, Rambo 1-16, Westbrooks 1-2.
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