Closer Look

Cougars tried, but couldn't hold Clarett down for long

Maurice Clarett now has 469 yards rushing in three games as a Buckeye. AP

By Stewart Mandel, CNNSI.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For a half, Maurice Clarett actually resembled a freshman.

After halftime, he looked more like Superman.

Facing a Washington State defense determined to stuff the run, Ohio State’s freshman sensation carried 11 times for a rather mundane 36 yards in the first half. Not coincidentally, the sixth-ranked Buckeyes trailed the 10th-ranked Cougars 7-6 at intermission.

Meanwhile, Cougars QB Jason Gesser had been fairly successful moving the ball on the Buckeyes’ defense, completing 13 of 24 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown.

It took just one offensive play after halftime to change all that.

After Washington State punted on its first possession, the Buckeyes took over at their own 8. On first down, Clarett ran around left end, received a huge block from guard Bryce Bishop and put on the jets. The 18-year-old went 44 yards, to the Cougar 48.

Suddenly, Clarett and the Buckeyes were in business. Clarett would carry three more times on the drive: a shifty 7-yard scatter, a 20-yard dash in which he bounced off two defenders and, on 1st and goal from the 3, a touchdown to give Ohio State its first lead.

Limited to 36 yards in the game’s first 30 minutes, Clarett accounted for 74 on a single drive.

Youth is Served Ohio State's true freshman tailbacks  Year   Tailback   Yards   Avg.  1990 Robert Smith 1,126 6.3 1972 Archie Griffin 867 5.4 2001 Lydell Ross 419 3.5 1987 Carlos Snow 410 4.1 2002 Maurice Clarett 405 7.8

But that was hardly enough.

By the time the final 20 minutes were complete, Maurice “The Beast” had carried 20 times for a mind-boggling 194 yards, finishing with 230 on the day. Meanwhile, OSU’s defense clamped down on Gesser and the Cougs, limiting them to 91 yards and no points in the second half, turning a barnburner into a rout.

“I’ve got to hand it to him,” befuddled Washington State defensive tackle Rien Long said of Clarett. “He carried that team.”

In just his third college game, last year’s USA Today high school offensive player of the year further enhanced a budding legend that began with his 175-yard, three-touchdown debut against Texas Tech. Clarett’s 230 yards were the most by an OSU freshman since two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin in 1972, and the sixth-most ever in the storied history of Buckeyes running backs.

“Everybody always asks me to compare him to someone,” said Griffin, now Ohio State’s associate athletic director. “I’d have to say Keith Byars.

“What I noticed about him today was he was able to get outside. He can make people bounce off him, and he’s got some jets."

Clarett’s popularity was never more evident than in the Buckeyes’ final possession, with the game safely in hand, when he managed runs of 16, 44 and 6 yards despite twice heading to the sideline with cramps. As he returned to the field for the final few plays, a thunderous chant of “Mau-rice, Mau-rice” poured down from the 104,553 delighted Buckeye fans in attendance.

“Some people look forward to Ohio State games the entire week,” said Clarett, who in three college games has 469 yards. “I try to work hard for every fan in the stands. I want to make sure people get their money’s worth.”

Hard work is a common theme among Clarett’s coaches and teammates in describing his rapid rise to stardom.

The Warren, Ohio, native left high school a semester early to participate in spring drills with the Buckeyes. His determination became evident from the first day of drills, and by fall he had beaten out sophomores Lydell Ross and Maurice Hall for the starting job.

“He’s a guy who loves to play the game,” said head coach Jim Tressel, who while still at Youngstown State began scouting Clarett as a high school freshman. “He practices the same way he plays a game. He wants the ball. If it was up to him, we’d be in that jumbo formation every play.”

Although it probably doesn’t seem that way, Clarett did not get the ball on every play. In fact, Ross carried 10 times for 46 yards, keeping Clarett fresh and punishing deep into the fourth quarter.

Other than the wear-and-tear factor, coaches for neither side could fully explain why Clarett and the Buckeyes were more successful after halftime.

“We felt like if we could just settle down a little bit, we could move the football on them,” said Tressel.

“I think we got a little bit tired,” said Washington State coach Mike Price, who, like many onlookers, was a bit puzzled as to why Clarett was still in the game during garbage time. “We maybe tried to knock him down instead of tackle him.”

Perhaps the least fazed of anyone about Clarett’s dazzling debut season thus far is Clarett. He sat slouched in a chair next to Tressel at the postgame news conference, jersey on backward, laughing at some of the questions and shrugging off any suggestion his performance was something at which to marvel.

“I try not to pay attention to any of that,” he said. “If you work hard at a new level, you get the same results.”

Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com.

 

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