'01 Hurricanes Slip By '02 Buckeyes

Ken Dorsey completed 31 of 51 passes for 376 yards and 3 first half touchdowns as '01 Miami beat the '02 Ohio State squad 25-13 in their first round matchup in the Scout.com/WhatIfSports.com Tournament of Champions. While Dorsey, Jeremy Shockey and Clinton Portis had big games, the Buckeyes turned in a lackluster effort, failing to capitalize on Maurice Clarett's 142 yard performance.

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Shockey had two early touchdown catches of 34 and 23 yards and Portis hauled in a 53 yarder from Dorsey as time expired in the first half, resulting in a 19-6 halftime score that the one-dimensional Buckeye offense never came close to challenging. The second half had minimal scoring-two 3rd quarter field goals from Miami's Todd Sievers and Clarett's 4th quarter touchdown after the game's outcome was certain.

A couple of bright spots for Ohio State in addition to Clarett were some aspects of the defense and Mike Nugent’s kicking game. Although Dorsey put up some big numbers, overall the Miami running game was held in check (Portis only averaged 1.5 yards/run without his 53 yard TD factored in) and defenders such as Darrion Scott and Will Allen turned in solid games. Nugent was 2 of 2 on his field goal attempts, including an impressive 50 yarder.

A number of 'Canes had tremendous games in addition to Dorsey, Shockey and Portis. WRs Andre Johnson and Ethenic Sands were solid while the entire defense kept Craig Krenzel looking confused all game long. However, team leader Ken Dorsey grabbed player of the game honors for his impressive stats accumulated while shredding the Buckeye pass defense.

Next up for the ‘Canes will be Steve Emtman, Billy Joe Hobert and the rest of the 1991 champion Washington Huskies.

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