Buckeye Rosters

Recap

East Rutherford, NJ — In rolling to their ninth consecutive opening-day win, the Buckeyes recorded their largest margin of victory in an opener since a 56-7 win over Minnesota in 1973. The OSU offense, led by quarterback Bobby Hoying and tailback Eddie George, scored all five times it was in the red zone. The OSU defense picked off three interceptions, recorded three sacks, forced a fumble, stuffed two fourth-down attempts and limited the Eagles to just 91 yards in the second half. The play of the day was Shawn Springs‘ 97-yard kickoff return that put Ohio State on top 14-3 early in the second quarter. Equally spectacular was a 99-yard drive just before halftime that culminated with a 12-yard TD pass from Hoying to tight end Rickey Dudley and sent OSU into the locker room with a 21-3 lead. George accounted for 157 all-purpose yards and was the game’s MVP. Springs, who also had an interception and six tackles, finished second in the voting. Terry Glenn also had a big day, hauling in passes of 46 and 47 yards from Hoying, who completed 17 of 26 aerials for 269 yards and one TD.