Buckeye Rosters

Recap

East Rutherford, NJ — The Ohio State Buckeyes opened the 1999 season against the Miami Hurricanes with a young and inexperienced team. Ten new starters were in the lineup, including Austin Moherman at quarterback and wide receivers Reggie Germany and Ken-Yon Rambo.

The Hurricanes struck on their first possession. Starting tailback James Jackson took a sweep to the right side of the field and sprinted 44 yards for a touchdown, the longest touchdown run in over two years against OSU.

The Buckeyes fired back just two minutes later. Senior tailback Michael Wiley turn an off-tackle play into a 69-yard run. The run led to a Dan Stultz 23-yard field goal that cut the Miami lead to 7-3.

Three plays later, OSU linebacker and preseason All-American Na’il Diggs sacked UM quarterback Kenny Kelly and forced a fumble. OSU defensive end Rodney Bailey scooped up the ball at the Miami 19 and returned it to the Miami 6-yard line. Two plays later, Moherman found Steve Wisniewski for a six-yard touchdown connection (the extra-point was missed) to give OSU its first lead of the game.

But the 9-7 lead was short-lived. With 3:13 remaining in the first half, the Hurricanes took a 15-7 lead on a seven-yard bootleg by Kelly.

Then with eight seconds left in the half, Kelly found Santana Moss on a 67-yard touchdown pass that was too much for the young Buckeyes to deal with. With the PAT, Miami led 23-9.

In the second half, OSU managed only a third quarter 24-yard field goal by Stultz. Neither team scored the remainder of the game.

On defense, Nate Clements and Gary Berry led the Buckeyes with 14 tackles each. Diggs tallied a team-high four tackles-for-loss for minus 14 yards. James Cotton and Rodney Bailey each recorded a sack.

The game marked OSU’s first season-opening loss since 1986, when Alabama defeated the Buckeyes, 16-10, in the Kickoff Classic.