Blue White Illustrated

JUDGMENT CALL Steve Manuel T he goal wasn't just to win, or even to win big. When Ohio State played Penn State last month, its goal was to dominate, to devastate. The Buckeyes wanted to make the rubble bounce. Which they did. The 63-14 defeat that the Nittany Lions absorbed was the team's worst in 114 years. Not since a 654 loss to the Duquesne Athletic Club in 1899 had they been beaten by such an overwhelming margin, and in that game they were facing semipro players who had been hired after many members of the original team left to fight in the Spanish-American War. Some football historians claim it was the best pro team in the country at the time, and Penn State officials apparently agreed with that assessment. After a 29-0 loss the following year, the Duquesne Athletic Club never again appeared on PSU's schedule. The Lions aren't going to get off that easy against Ohio State. If they want to vie for Big Ten championships again as they get out from the shadow of the NCAA sanctions – and they most certainly do – the road goes through Columbus. And because these are highprofile teams that fill stadiums and attract sizable TV audiences, the Penn State-Ohio State game will always pro- vide a platform for the better team to make a statement. That was clearly what Ohio State wanted to do this year after narrow victories over Northwestern and Iowa in the weeks leading up to its matchup with the Nittany Lions. "This was a really big game for us, freshman " running back Dontre Wilson said afterward. "For us to win a game against Penn State, which just beat Michigan, is big. We really needed this dominating win. " The Buckeyes have talent and speed at just about every position, and while that's a pretty tough combination to beat, some Penn Staters seemed to have convinced themselves going into the game that none of that mattered, or at least that it didn't matter as much as the oddsmakers said it did. If second-tier Big Ten powers like Iowa and North-

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