CBS SportsLine wire reports
Sept. 5, 1998
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- It was a display so impressive that West Virginia coach Don Nehlen could only shudder.
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"I hope that team is No. 1," he said while shaking his head moments after top-ranked Ohio State slammed the door on Nehlen's 11th-ranked Mountaineers 34-17.
Stepping out after two years as backups, Joe Germaine passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns and Michael Wiley ran for 140 yards and another score.
On defense, cornerback Antoine Winfield, linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer and crew throttled the high-powered West Virginia attack, limiting it to just 78 yards on the ground and 310 overall.
"THEY HAVE A LOT OF weapons to defense," Nehlen said. "But their defense is really something special. Their offense is darn good, but we weren't able to sustain anything and got behind. Defensively they kept wearing us down."
Germaine, a senior who had lost his only previous start, completed 18-of-32 passes without an interception, doing his best to quiet a rowdy crowd of 68,409.
"I'm a happy football coach," Ohio State's John Cooper said after his 11th consecutive opening-game victory. "We walked into a great hostile crowd and we won the game."
Wiley, a fill-in for Pepe Pearson the past two seasons, carried 17 times for 140 yards and upstaged West Virginia's Amos Zereoue in the tailback showdown.
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Joe Germaine stepped into the spotlight and led Ohio State to an impressive opening victory. (AP)
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Zereoue, 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting last season, finished with 77 yards on 20 attempts, but had minus-3 yards on his seven second-half carries. He set a Mountaineers career rushing record, but it was Ohio State's offense which dictated the game.
"Zereoue's a great football player," Cooper said. ``We did a good job of stopping him in the second half."
DAVID BOSTON ADDED A CRITICAL 20-yard punt return that set up the go-ahead touchdown and also caught a 39-yard scoring pass from Germaine. Boston had seven catches for 129 yards, while his fellow Buckeyes wideout, Dee Miller, had six catches for 110 yards.
It had been 101 years since Ohio State had crossed the border to meet West Virginia. It also was the first time Ohio State had opened on an opponent's home field in 23 years.
"I guarantee you I was worried to death coming in here," Cooper said. "The fans were after us pretty good. It's good to come here and win like that. It'll be good to be back home next week."
With the score tied at 3 midway through the second quarter, Ohio State -- which lost its last two games during a 10-3 season last year -- relied on Wiley's speed and Germaine's accurate arm to pull away.
After Boston took Jay Taylor's punt and returned it 20 yards to the Buckeyes 45, Wiley went off right tackle for 37 yards before being pushed out of bounds at the West Virginia 18.
ON THE NEXT PLAY, HE went the other way, racing off left tackle and then cutting to the corner for the touchdown and a 10-3 Ohio State lead.
Zereoue gained 5 yards and the West Virginia career rushing record on the next play from scrimmage. His 77 yards gave him 2,701 in three seasons to eclipse the record of 2,648 by Artie Owens (1972-75).
In a span of little more than two minutes of the second quarter, the Buckeyes added 10 more points and put the game out of reach.
Taking over at his 20, Germaine led a five-play drive that melted just 1:15 off the clock. After Wiley picked up five yards on first down, Germaine threw deep along the right sideline for Miller, who caught the ball over his shoulder -- almost pulling it off the helmet of defender Perlo Bastien -- for a 42-yard gain.
Germaine scrambled for 2 yards before Wiley gained 17 more. On first down at the 14, Germaine hit Miller -- again beating Bastien -- on a slant pattern for the touchdown.
ON THE ENSUING KICKOFF, Ohio State backup defensive back Joe Cooper leveled Jerry Porter on the return, knocking the ball loose. The Buckeyes' Tim Cheatwood recovered and Ohio State was right back in business at the West Virginia 29.
Five plays later Dan Stultz kicked his second field goal, from 36 yards, to make it 20-3.
After the Mountaineers cut the gap to 20-10 with a score late in the first half, the Buckeyes countered with a 96-yard march early in the third quarter.
Germaine found Boston for a 29-yard gain on second-and-12 at Ohio State's 9, and later lofted a perfectly thrown pass to Boston on a post pattern for the 39-yard touchdown.
The Buckeyes capped their scoring on a 7-yard run by freshman Jonathan Wells.
West Virginia, coming off a 7-5 season, picked up its points with time running out in the second and fourth quarters.
Marc Bulger, who was 23-of-37 for 232 yards with one interception, passed into the end zone from the Ohio State 6, just past the outstretched hands of Winfield to flanker Shawn Foreman. Foreman then wrestled the ball away from defender Central McClellion for the touchdown.
With just 13 seconds left in the game, Bulger hit Foreman with a 3-yard scoring toss.