COLUMBUS, Ohio – Penguins, Roman emperors and witches were walking the sidewalks by the thousands along High Street here last night, just a half-mile east of Ohio Stadium.
Thousands of Ohio State students poured in and out of bars like Midway, Ugly Tuna and Chumleys along the state capital’s party street. Hundreds were in costumes, pre-empting Halloween by several days.
It was a friendly crowd, though. There were free hot dogs from a sidewalk booth and a spot-on hot spot recommendation from an OSU undergrad. And even though one of the people in our group was a PSU student wearing a Penn State-logo’ed short, hardly anyone said boo.
There was one fellow quite realistically costumed as a drunk Ohio State student, who shared the always-original, “F— you, Penn State.” And another offered the smarter but grammatically challenged, “What’s it like have less good players on your roster?”
But football seemed to be the farthest from everyone’s mind. Inside Chumley’s, over a dozen TV sets were tuned to football. When the Buckeyes appeared on the television showing the Big Ten Network, no one cheered. When Penn State came on TV, no one jeered. Or cared.
The only interest in Pennsylvania inside the bar was the three taps offering Yeungling Black & Tan, Yuengling Lager and Yuengling Light Lager. To borrow a phrase from Penn State’s football coach, that’s a complementary offering of beverages.
Halloween in Buckeyeland was a bit weird, compared to Nittany Valley, where there are Bills, JoePas, lions, cheerleaders and No. 14 jerseys galore. But not on the biggest stretch of bars in a town that’s home to 56,867 students. Not a one was dressed as head coach Urban Meyer. Or quarterback Braxton Miller. Not a single Buckeye football jersey.
I guess the real-life versions will be scary enough Saturday night, when Ohio State kicks off at 8 p.m. against Penn State in The Horseshoe (ABC-TV).
The Buckeyes are 3-0 in the Big Ten and 7-0 overall, riding a 19-game winning streak heading into tonight’s game against Penn State (4-2, 1-1). They average 45 points a game and give up just 19.9. And even when they struggle initially, like when they hosted Iowa last week, it’s still frightening how much they maintain their composure.
Despite trailing after the game’s first score (3-0), after the first quarter (10-7) (17-10) at halftime, the Buckeyes didn’t panic. Or even punt – not once the entire game. What they did do was score three touchdowns in a 12-minute span of the second half to seize control and beat Iowa, 34-24.
Miller ran for 102 yards and passed for 22 of 27 for 227 yards, with two TDs, in that game, another-day-in the-office performance as the head of an offense that racks up 493.1 yards per game – 279.6 of that on the ground, No. 11 in the country.
“I think he’s got great grasp of this system,” Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said. “He’s throwing the ball well. I thought they played real well offensively against Iowa. … If he gets outside the pocket, he’s a dangerous guy.”
Miller’s 324 total yards was his seventh effort over 300, an OSU record. A junior, he’s already Ohio State’s all-time leading rusher among (QBs), with 2,321 yards. He’s completed 69.6 percent of his passes and has thrown for eight TDs against two interceptions, despite missing the first three games with a knee injury. All his backup, Kenny Guiton, did in Miller’s absence was throw for 13 touchdowns (again, with only two interception), including six TD tosses against Florida A&M earlier in the season. The Buckeye offense has not had a single run from scrimmage for negative yardage in 2013.
Now that’s frightening.
Meyer poses his own haunting set of statistics:
— His teams have won 20 straight games, the last 19 at Ohio State. Win No. 1 came in Meyer’s last game as head coach at Florida, when his Gators defeated Penn State 37-24 in the Outback Bowl against … Penn State.
— Meyer is OSU’s special teams coach, and he loves to have his players block punts. They’ve done so eight times in the past two seasons, and since 2001 Meyer-coached teams have blocked 59 punts. Since 2005, Meyer’s teams are 20-0 when they block a punt.
— In 2013, the Buckeyes have outscored the opposition 116-22 in the first quarter this year.
— He has two national championships, with three 13-win seasons and has a 123-23 career record.
— And he’s scary good during Halloween season. Since 2007, Meyer-coached teams have lost just three times in October.
