Buckeye Rosters

Recap

Columbus, OH — After four straight blowouts, Wisconsin gave the Buckeyes all they wanted in an old fashioned nail biter.

OSU, up to No. 2 in the national polls after consecutive wins over No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 4 Penn State, twice had to rally from four point deficits against the gritty Badgers.

After Wisconsin had stunned the OSU Homecoming crowd by taking a 14-10 lead on a 36-yard fumble recovery early in the fourth quarter, split end Dimitrious Stanley scored the game winner for the Buckeyes on a 48-yard pass from Joe Germaine with 8:41 to play. David Boston’s 34-yard punt return set up the score.

Germaine, making his first and only appearance of the day in relief of starter Stanley Jackson, needed just four plays to put the Buckeyes back on top.

After two runs by Pepe Pearson netted ten years and a first down, Germaine just missed Boston on a deep sideline route. On the next play, Stanley caught an eight-yard hitch from Germaine, got a great block from tight end D.J. Jones, and raced untouched into the end zone to give OSU a 17-14 lead.

Cornerback Antoine Winfield and strong safety Damon Moore ended the Badgers next two possessions with interceptions. Wisconsin got the ball back one final time, but could not mount a serious threat before time ran out.

On a day when OSU managed just 78 yards rushing, Jackson completed 18 of 25 passes for 265 yards and Germaine was one-of-two for 48 yards and the game winner.

Stanley played brilliantly all day long, hauling in ten receptions for 199 yards. Both totals were career highs and the latter figure will go into the record books as the third best effort in OSU history.

Moore had 19 tackles for OSU (a school record for a DB) and free safety Rob Kelly had 14.