Smith advises: play Ginn very deep

Tedd Ginn Jr. hauls in a long touchdown pass from Troy Smith in Ohio State's 35-7 victory.

COLUMBUS - Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith had some advice for the defensive backs who get assigned to cover wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr., one of the fastest players in college football.

Ginn, who had a 57-yard touchdown reception yesterday after he blazed behind the Bowling Green defense, has returned five punts for touchdowns in his career, and has 12 receptions for touchdowns. Ginn has receptions of 59, 58, 42, 42, 42, 57, 73, 56, 58, 46 and 57 yards as a Buckeye. Ginn finished yesterday's game with a career-best 10 catches for 122 yards.

"If I was a defensive back, I'd just stay deeper than the deepest on Ted, because he'll run right past you in the blink of an eye," Smith said. "The long play today took a while to develop, but I tried my best to get him the ball. Whenever you have a player like Ted, you always want to get him the ball, and I tried to get it to him in stride so the defensive back couldn't catch up to him."

Smith treated the Buckeyes to a little flash of his own yesterday, breaking loose on a 34-yard run on a third-and-26 play from the Bowling Green 42. Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon could not believe that Smith took the snap off the ground, evaded the rush, then ran all over the place to make the first down.

"We had pressure on him, and he dropped the ball, picked it up, and ran forever," Brandon said. "It was unbelievable. I'm just watching that going 'tackle him, tackle him.' It was like Play Station."

Smith, who rushed 136 times last season but has only 29 carries in six games this season, has had his penchant for running the ball tempered by Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, enjoyed the jaunt.

"I haven't had a run like that in a long time," Smith said. "I was just stepping up, trying to make a play and keep the drive going. That's what it's all about here."

The Smith run, which set up Ohio State's second touchdown, had Bowling Green senior defensive end Devon Parks in awe.

"There are not many quarterbacks in the country that can make plays like that," Parks said.

MORE SMITH: Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith had three touchdown passes yesterday, giving him at least one TD pass in 12 of his last 13 games. Smith has seven touchdown passes in the last two games.

With his three TD throws yesterday, Smith has 39 career touchdown passes, moving past former Buckeye Jim Karsatos (36 TDs from 1983-86) for fifth place and Greg Frey (37 TDs from 1987-90) for fourth on Ohio State's all-time list. With his next touchdown throw, Smith will become just the fourth Buckeye to reach 40 career touchdown passes. Art Schlichter (50 from 1978-81), Joe Germaine (56 from 1996-98) and Bobby Hoying (57 from 1992-95) all had 50 or more TD passes in their OSU careers.

TOUGH STRETCH: Ohio State extended the nation's longest winning streak to 13 games. Over their last eight games, the Buckeyes have defeated five of the most prolific programs in college football: Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas, Penn State and Iowa.

SERIES INFO: Ohio State is now 4-0 all-time against the Falcons. The Buckeyes survived a close call in 1992 by recording a 17-6 win over the Falcons, who won the MAC championship for a second straight season. In 1997, Ohio State crushed the Falcons 44-13, but in a 2003 matchup the Buckeyes had to hang on for a 24-17 win over a Bowling Green team led by Josh Harris.

Contact Matt Markey at:

mmarkey@theblade.com

or 419-724-6510.