COLUMBUS, Ohio – All week Northwestern coach Randy Walker warned anyone who would listen that special teams would play a large role against No. 9 Ohio State.
From NU’s first kickoff in the Cats’ 48-7 loss, Walker was proven right.
The Cats’ kick and punt coverage teams, which Walker criticized at Tuesday’s practice, allowed Ohio State to begin its drives on average at its own 45-yard line. Behind the return tandem of wide receivers Santonio Holmes and Tedd Ginn Jr., five Ohio State drives started in NU territory, including the first three.
“They’re talented throughout their special teams,” junior punter Slade Larscheid said. “We didn’t execute very well today. We wanted to keep the ball out of their hands. As you can see, they executed really well.”
The NU punt team also allowed defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock to block a second-quarter Larscheid punt. Linebacker A.J. Hawk returned it eight yards for a touchdown, giving Ohio State a 21-7 lead.
“We gave them exactly the wrong thing in our kicking game early and gave them a couple short fields to put points on (the board),” Walker said. “Then we gave up a punt block, and it’s on.”
The blocked punt especially troubled Walker because Ohio State was not lined up to block the kick. The Buckeyes’ were in “punt safe” formation – composed mostly of defensive players guarding against a fake on the 4th-and-3 punt.
But when the Cats adjusted the direction of the kick, Larscheid said some of the linemen didn’t shift their blocks, exposing the NU punter to the rushing Pitcock.
“I say it all the time: Don’t fall asleep against punt safe,” Walker said. “We kind of fell asleep. And it came right up the gut, (and) the guy made a play.”
Larscheid, who replaced junior Ryan Pederson for the final punt against Michigan two weeks ago, gave way to Pederson in the second quarter.
Larscheid punted twice for a 39.0-yard average, but he said his punts didn’t hit their spots, allowing Ginn and Holmes too many big returns.
“We thought targeting was real important in this game,” Walker said. “We didn’t hit one – You can’t miss targets against Ginn and Holmes or it gets real ugly fast.”
Ginn and Holmes averaged almost 15 yards per punt return.
In relief, Pederson averaged 42.8 yards on his four punts.
Ohio State also showed its special teams superiority on kickoffs. NU’s two kickoffs were returned for a 28-yard average, while Buckeyes kicker Josh Huston sent five of his kicks into the end zone for touchbacks.
Huston also booted two field goals and made all six of his extra points. NU junior kicker Joel Howells missed a 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Ohio State’s excellent field position put NU’s defense in a bind all day. The Buckeyes scored 27 of their 48 points after they started in NU territory.
Still, senior defensive tackle Barry Cofield said that was no excuse.
“It doesn’t help,” Cofield said. “But I feel that we’ve been in that position a lot this year, so we should be used to it.”
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