Ohio State returns to form with return of Wells

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When a player has an explosive quality you can’t quite put your finger on, it’s called an “’X’ factor.” There’s not a name for an entire offense that has it, but after Ohio State’s performance on Saturday, perhaps there should be. Here’s an idea: the “Beanie factor.”
The Buckeyes lost running back Chris “Beanie” Wells to a toe injury in the third quarter of their season-opening victory over Youngstown State on Aug. 30. It was originally thought Wells would possibly be back the next week to play Ohio, but he wasn’t.
The toe then kept him out of Ohio State’s marquee matchup against top-ranked USC.
He missed the Buckeyes’ final tune-up before Big Ten play against Troy as well.
And in those three weeks, Ohio State began to look like any other Big Ten team — not one that had won three straight conference championships and had appeared in the last two national championships.
The Buckeyes trailed after three quarters against Ohio, just scraping out a 26-14 win. They were embarrassed by USC 35-3. They looked less than impressive against Troy a week ago despite a 28-10 win.
In the mean time, Minnesota racked up three convincing wins. All of a sudden, toppling the perennial powerhouse didn’t seem so impossible.
But Thursday, Buckeyes head coach Jim Tressel announced that Wells would play. And with Wells returned Ohio State’s explosiveness.
Wells only carried the ball 14 times; he broke the 100-yard mark but never found the end zone; he lost a fumble on the Buckeyes’ second drive of the game. Not exactly a staggering performance for a man once considered the Heisman Trophy frontrunner.
“I wasn’t real pleased after the first couple carries because he had a so-so carry and then a turnover,” Tressel said of Wells.
Still, Wells’ playmaking ability seemed to spark the team and the crowd, and none more so than his 21-yard scamper late in the second quarter.
After Wells broke into Minnesota’s secondary, Gophers sophomore strong safety Kyle Theret went low and tried to trip him up. Wells hurdled him.
Ohio State senior wide receiver Brian Robiskie , who was blocking downfield and didn’t see Wells, said the roar of the crowd on the play was so loud he thought Wells was headed to the end zone.
“Usually when they cheer he’s breaking down the sideline going for a score,” Robiskie said. “But I turned around and he was tackled. So I’m thinking, ‘What did he do for everybody to cheer?’… Beanie tried to tell me he was eight feet in the air.”
And though Wells never actually did find the end zone, he set the tone for all Ohio State’s rushers. The Buckeyes averaged a handy 7.5 yards per carry as a team, picking up 279 yards on the ground.
Granted, the extent to which Wells affected Ohio State’s return to form is certainly debatable, but one fact can’t be argued. With him on the field, the Buckeyes were explosive again.
Ask Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster how key explosive plays are.
“The name of the game is explosive plays and turnovers,” Brewster said. “Ohio State won the explosive plays 11-3 and won the turnover battle 3-1, and that’s why they won the football game.”