Ohio State's Brandon Saine (right) celebrates his touchdown against Marshall with teammates J. B. Shugarts (left) and Mike Brewster in the first quarter Thursday.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Doc Holliday era at Marshall started Thursday night with Andre Booker losing a fumble at the end of the opening kickoff return.
Even if it wasn't Holliday's first game as a head coach, that's no way to come out against the No. 2 team in the nation. And so it went, as host Ohio State buffaloed Marshall 45-7 before 105,040 at Ohio Stadium.
Booker's miscue set up the first of two Buckeye touchdowns in the first 4:33, and that was more than enough. Terrelle Pryor threw for touchdowns of 6, 11 and 65 yards, Brandon Saine ran for scores of 4 and 45 yards, and Brian Rolle returned an interception 30 yards.
And that all came in the first half, as the Buckeyes took a 35-7 lead. Almost everything wrong that could happen did happen for the Herd. But it all started with that kickoff return fumble.
"I was disappointed in that. I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in our kickoff team, to be honest with you, so I wanted to take the ball and try to change field position," Holliday said. "And we turned it over on the [return]. That's a hard way to start.''
Defensively, the Herd gave up 17 plays of 10 yards or more, six of them good for at least 20. All told, the Buckeyes gained 529 total yards, 291 in the first half, and scored on drives of 1:09, 1:04 and 52 seconds.
Offensively, the Herd had essentially two chances to score, gaining 199 total yards and 11 first downs. As it turned out, the Herd's only points came on a Johnny Jones blocked field goal late in the first quarter, returned 61 yards by Ahmed Shakoor.
That cut the lead to 14-7, but that ray of hope was short-lived -- about 59 seconds, to be exact. That's when Dane Sanzenbacher not only roasted cornerback Rashad Jackson on a long pass, but broke Jackson's tackle after the catch for the 65-yard TD.
"I thought our kids, when we blocked the field goal to make it 14-7, I thought we had a shot to get back into it, we had some momentum," Holliday said. "They're just a great team. We gave up too many big plays on defense; they had the long run, they threw the ball over our head on the post.
"You can't give up big plays and expect to beat a team like that."
Booker somewhat atoned for his fumble late in the first quarter, returning a kickoff 63 yards to the OSU 29. But Tyler Warner missed a 41-yard field goal after three ineffective plays.
The Herd drove to the OSU 7-yard line on its first second-half possession, but Martin Ward lost a fumble on a screen pass to waste the 6-minute, 16-second march.
It was that kind of night.
Pryor started his potential Heisman Trophy campaign nicely enough, completing 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran eight times for 17 yards, gaining one drive-preserving first down in the first half.
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Not what Doc ordered
Herd humbled by Buckeyes 45-7 in Holliday's coaching debut
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Doc Holliday era at Marshall started Thursday night with Andre Booker losing a fumble at the end of the opening kickoff return.
Even if it wasn't Holliday's first game as a head coach, that's no way to come out against the No. 2 team in the nation. And so it went, as host Ohio State buffaloed Marshall 45-7 before 105,040 at Ohio Stadium.
Booker's miscue set up the first of two Buckeye touchdowns in the first 4:33, and that was more than enough. Terrelle Pryor threw for touchdowns of 6, 11 and 65 yards, Brandon Saine ran for scores of 4 and 45 yards, and Brian Rolle returned an interception 30 yards.
And that all came in the first half, as the Buckeyes took a 35-7 lead. Almost everything wrong that could happen did happen for the Herd. But it all started with that kickoff return fumble.
"I was disappointed in that. I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in our kickoff team, to be honest with you, so I wanted to take the ball and try to change field position," Holliday said. "And we turned it over on the [return]. That's a hard way to start.''
Defensively, the Herd gave up 17 plays of 10 yards or more, six of them good for at least 20. All told, the Buckeyes gained 529 total yards, 291 in the first half, and scored on drives of 1:09, 1:04 and 52 seconds.
Offensively, the Herd had essentially two chances to score, gaining 199 total yards and 11 first downs. As it turned out, the Herd's only points came on a Johnny Jones blocked field goal late in the first quarter, returned 61 yards by Ahmed Shakoor.
That cut the lead to 14-7, but that ray of hope was short-lived -- about 59 seconds, to be exact. That's when Dane Sanzenbacher not only roasted cornerback Rashad Jackson on a long pass, but broke Jackson's tackle after the catch for the 65-yard TD.
"I thought our kids, when we blocked the field goal to make it 14-7, I thought we had a shot to get back into it, we had some momentum," Holliday said. "They're just a great team. We gave up too many big plays on defense; they had the long run, they threw the ball over our head on the post.
"You can't give up big plays and expect to beat a team like that."
Booker somewhat atoned for his fumble late in the first quarter, returning a kickoff 63 yards to the OSU 29. But Tyler Warner missed a 41-yard field goal after three ineffective plays.
The Herd drove to the OSU 7-yard line on its first second-half possession, but Martin Ward lost a fumble on a screen pass to waste the 6-minute, 16-second march.
It was that kind of night.
Pryor started his potential Heisman Trophy campaign nicely enough, completing 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran eight times for 17 yards, gaining one drive-preserving first down in the first half.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Doc Holliday era at Marshall started Thursday night with Andre Booker losing a fumble at the end of the opening kickoff return.
Even if it wasn't Holliday's first game as a head coach, that's no way to come out against the No. 2 team in the nation. And so it went, as host Ohio State buffaloed Marshall 45-7 before 105,040 at Ohio Stadium.
Booker's miscue set up the first of two Buckeye touchdowns in the first 4:33, and that was more than enough. Terrelle Pryor threw for touchdowns of 6, 11 and 65 yards, Brandon Saine ran for scores of 4 and 45 yards, and Brian Rolle returned an interception 30 yards.
And that all came in the first half, as the Buckeyes took a 35-7 lead. Almost everything wrong that could happen did happen for the Herd. But it all started with that kickoff return fumble.
"I was disappointed in that. I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in our kickoff team, to be honest with you, so I wanted to take the ball and try to change field position," Holliday said. "And we turned it over on the [return]. That's a hard way to start.''
Defensively, the Herd gave up 17 plays of 10 yards or more, six of them good for at least 20. All told, the Buckeyes gained 529 total yards, 291 in the first half, and scored on drives of 1:09, 1:04 and 52 seconds.
Offensively, the Herd had essentially two chances to score, gaining 199 total yards and 11 first downs. As it turned out, the Herd's only points came on a Johnny Jones blocked field goal late in the first quarter, returned 61 yards by Ahmed Shakoor.
That cut the lead to 14-7, but that ray of hope was short-lived -- about 59 seconds, to be exact. That's when Dane Sanzenbacher not only roasted cornerback Rashad Jackson on a long pass, but broke Jackson's tackle after the catch for the 65-yard TD.
"I thought our kids, when we blocked the field goal to make it 14-7, I thought we had a shot to get back into it, we had some momentum," Holliday said. "They're just a great team. We gave up too many big plays on defense; they had the long run, they threw the ball over our head on the post.
"You can't give up big plays and expect to beat a team like that."
Booker somewhat atoned for his fumble late in the first quarter, returning a kickoff 63 yards to the OSU 29. But Tyler Warner missed a 41-yard field goal after three ineffective plays.
The Herd drove to the OSU 7-yard line on its first second-half possession, but Martin Ward lost a fumble on a screen pass to waste the 6-minute, 16-second march.
It was that kind of night.
Pryor started his potential Heisman Trophy campaign nicely enough, completing 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran eight times for 17 yards, gaining one drive-preserving first down in the first half.
That was an innocuous looking 8-yard gain to the Ohio State 36. But he hit DeVier Posey on the next for 19 yards, and then Saine reeled off his 45-yard run to put the Buckeyes up 28-7.
Saine finished with 103 yards on eight carries, all in the first half. The Buckeyes rushed for 292 yards.
When the Herd defense registered its first tackle for loss, it even messed that up. Vinny Curry's 4-yard sack of Pryor was followed by a little too much celebration, and a 15-yard Marshall penalty.
Holliday found that unacceptable, but did crack a joke: "I think our guys were surprised we got him on the ground."
There were other Herd maladies. Of the seven first-half penalties, three were against the punt team -- two for illegal formations and one for delay of game. Anderson's "pick-six" interception appeared to be forced, and receivers dropped several passes.
The second half started almost like the first. The Buckeyes scored right off the bat with Posey's second touchdown catch and Pryor's third TD throw, an 11-yarder. That drive was the longest of the day, traversing 80 yards and taking up 4:37.
Then Marshall mounted its best drive of the night, the 70-yard march that ended in Ward's fumble.
Ward led the Herd in rushing with 32 yards on six carries. Antavious Wilson caught five passes for 38 yards, and Anderson went 17 of 28 for 135 yards, before giving way to true freshman Eddie Sullivan midway through the fourth quarter.
Ohio State seems to be in fair shape to handle its next assignment, a home game against No. 13 Miami.
"It was important that we come out and play hard and make some plays," said OSU coach Jim Tressel. "I think in Marshall's defense, a new staff coming in and playing against a solid team, that was a tough draw for them, but I thought we did some good things.''
Conversely, Marshall has much to fix before its home opener a week from today, against West Virginia.
"Not a lot [was positive]," Holliday said. "At times, offensively, we moved the ball a little bit. We were down there in the red zone and we put the ball on the ground. They're a good defensive team. They're going to give a lot of teams a lot of problems this year."
This article is available only to our premium digital content subscribers.
Not what Doc ordered
Herd humbled by Buckeyes 45-7 in Holliday's coaching debut
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Doc Holliday era at Marshall started Thursday night with Andre Booker losing a fumble at the end of the opening kickoff return.
Even if it wasn't Holliday's first game as a head coach, that's no way to come out against the No. 2 team in the nation. And so it went, as host Ohio State buffaloed Marshall 45-7 before 105,040 at Ohio Stadium.
Booker's miscue set up the first of two Buckeye touchdowns in the first 4:33, and that was more than enough. Terrelle Pryor threw for touchdowns of 6, 11 and 65 yards, Brandon Saine ran for scores of 4 and 45 yards, and Brian Rolle returned an interception 30 yards.
And that all came in the first half, as the Buckeyes took a 35-7 lead. Almost everything wrong that could happen did happen for the Herd. But it all started with that kickoff return fumble.
"I was disappointed in that. I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in our kickoff team, to be honest with you, so I wanted to take the ball and try to change field position," Holliday said. "And we turned it over on the [return]. That's a hard way to start.''
Defensively, the Herd gave up 17 plays of 10 yards or more, six of them good for at least 20. All told, the Buckeyes gained 529 total yards, 291 in the first half, and scored on drives of 1:09, 1:04 and 52 seconds.
Offensively, the Herd had essentially two chances to score, gaining 199 total yards and 11 first downs. As it turned out, the Herd's only points came on a Johnny Jones blocked field goal late in the first quarter, returned 61 yards by Ahmed Shakoor.
That cut the lead to 14-7, but that ray of hope was short-lived -- about 59 seconds, to be exact. That's when Dane Sanzenbacher not only roasted cornerback Rashad Jackson on a long pass, but broke Jackson's tackle after the catch for the 65-yard TD.
"I thought our kids, when we blocked the field goal to make it 14-7, I thought we had a shot to get back into it, we had some momentum," Holliday said. "They're just a great team. We gave up too many big plays on defense; they had the long run, they threw the ball over our head on the post.
"You can't give up big plays and expect to beat a team like that."
Booker somewhat atoned for his fumble late in the first quarter, returning a kickoff 63 yards to the OSU 29. But Tyler Warner missed a 41-yard field goal after three ineffective plays.
The Herd drove to the OSU 7-yard line on its first second-half possession, but Martin Ward lost a fumble on a screen pass to waste the 6-minute, 16-second march.
It was that kind of night.
Pryor started his potential Heisman Trophy campaign nicely enough, completing 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran eight times for 17 yards, gaining one drive-preserving first down in the first half.
