COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The unbeaten record through five games hardly raises an eyebrow. The top five national ranking seems somewhat mundane. But one quick scan of the Ohio State Buckeyes' stat sheet sends a jolt through the system.
Ohio State, long the bastion of conservative play-calling, a haven for field position tacticians and a place where running the football is the most revered sacrament, is now throwing the ball often -- and with huge success.
The passing Buckeyes -- imagine that.
Woody Hayes might be rolling over in his grave and Jim Tressel pacing nervously in his cave, but Ohio State comes into Saturday's showdown with unbeaten Northwestern averaging nearly 50 points per game, and the majority of those points have come from the passing attack.
Through five games, the Buckeyes have thrown the ball 144 times. They have 14 rushing touchdowns and 19 scores through the air. Backup quarterback Kenny Guiton, who played most of three games while starter Braxton Miller was nursing a sore knee, has 13 touchdown passes. Miller has thrown for six scores, including four touchdown passes in last week's Big Ten opener against Wisconsin.
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Eleven different Buckeyes have caught the football so far this season -- wideouts, tight ends, slotbacks and running backs among them. And Ohio State likes the home run ball, too. Wide receiver Devin Smith has 15 touchdown receptions in his career, averaging more than 40 yards per score.
Head coach Urban Meyer said throwing with success, and throwing deep when the opportunity is presented, is a skill the Buckeyes have just recently become comfortable with, and one he expects to need to employ against a stout Northwestern defense in Evanston, Ill.
"Now look at how many deep balls our kids get open with, and they can catch and we can throw a deep ball. We couldn't do that last year," Meyer said. "There were games I refused to call it because they were going to be covered and we couldn't throw it.
"Now this Saturday, we are going to try the same thing. That's a big part of who we are. So we would have more explosive pass plays I don't know if I remember this many early in the season, ever."
