Good read here...
CPD
Ohio State has all angles covered on punt returns
Friday, November 16, 2007Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter Columbus- On the ABC broadcast, analyst Bob Griese offered the kiss of death before the punt in his praise of Ohio State punter Brent Bartholomew - "In a field position game, a good punter like Bartholomew is priceless." "And I crushed it," Bartholomew said Thursday. The play was priceless, but not because of the punter. Ten years ago, a game was lost, a Heisman Trophy won, a national title kept alive and a rose stem eventually chomped because of a punt return. Charles Woodson's 78-yard run back during the Wolverines' 20-14 win over Ohio State on Nov. 22, 1997 remains an indelible image from the rivalry. "You're rubbing salt in an old wound," said former
OSU linebacker Jerry Rudzinski, who missed a tackle on that return. There should be solace in this - nobody has opened that wound on the Buckeyes since. The Buckeyes have allowed two kickoff returns for touchdowns this year, but as proof that Jim Tressel backs up his talk that the punt is the most important play in football, Ohio State has not allowed a punt return for a touchdown since Woodson. Over the last 10 seasons, three under John Cooper and seven under Tressel, that encompasses 591 Buckeye punts, of which 232 were returned. There was one block for a touchdown in there, Illinois turning that into a 7-0 lead during a 34-22 win in 2001, and officially, blocks go in the books as punt returns. And they hurt. But it's not quite like a Charles Woodson taking off and disappearing. "I was like, Somebody hit this guy, stop this guy from doing it,' " said Ohio State fullback Dionte Johnson, who watched that play as an 11-year-old Buckeyes fan. "I remember that game, and they show the highlights so much, you have no choice." Since then, the highlights have belonged only to the Buckeyes. Ohio State has returned 392 punts in the same span, with a return average of 10.0 that nearly doubles the 5.1 yards per return they've allowed in the last decade. And 11 times, Ohio State returners have found the end zone since 1998, Ted Ginn Jr. doing it six times and David Boston, Nate Clements, Michael Jenkins, Santonio Holmes and Brian Hartline each doing it once. "That's nuts," Hartline said of the 10-year return shutout.
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