"No checks, we want the $900,000 in cash, small bills, UP FRONT, before the game, and an airplane, gassed and ready, at the airport, and buses at the stadium for the team, and a doctor, we want a good doctor on the plane, and an Orthopedic Surgeon too, and, well, ah, a rape therapist."
COLUMBUS, Ohio — After a 76-0 victory over outmanned and over matched Florida A&M, Urban Meyer couldn't say for certain that his Ohio State team got a lot out of its meek non-conference schedule. “Obviously, at midnight next week, we’ll know,” the coach of No. 4 Ohio State said, referring to the Big Ten opener on Saturday against No. 24 Wisconsin. “Are we prepared? I like to think we are.”
There’s no doubt that Kenny Guiton is. For the third game in a row, the perennial backup starred in place of the injured Braxton Miller. Guiton set a school record with six touchdown passes — all in the first half — in a blow-out of historic proportions.
It was an epic mismatch between a team with national-title aspirations and a Football Championship Subdivision member getting a $900,000 guarantee.
FAMU, which picked up the sport in 1899, had never lost by so many points. It was the most lopsided Ohio State win since an 85-7 victory over Drake in 1935.
“We don’t want a pity party,” said Rattlers coach Earl Holmes, who made a point of saying the Buckeyes didn’t run up the score on his team. “I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t expect the coach to kneel. You play the game. You play for 60 minutes.”
At least it was decided relatively quickly. The Buckeyes (4-0) were up 21-0 in the opening 6 minutes and never looked back. Guiton, who completed 24 of 34 passes for 215 yards, tossed four TD passes in the first quarter. “I had all day,” Guiton said. “The coaches wanted to come out throwing the ball around and I thank them for the trust they had in me to be able to do that.”
FAMU (1-3) was behind 48-0 when it picked up its initial first down in the second quarter.
The stats were as lopsided as the score. Ohio State had a 34-2 edge in first downs and a 603-80 differential in yards.
“I wouldn’t say we’re unsatisfied,” tight end Jeff Heuerman said. “There’s always room for improvement. We’re not perfect.”
Miller, the Big Ten’s offensive player of the year last season and a Heisman Trophy hopeful this year, missed his second game in a row with a sprained medial-collateral ligament in his left knee.
Meyer had said Miller was probable to play against the Rattlers, but he never put on his uniform.
It didn’t take long for this game to get out of control, with or without him.
