NEWS » just saw unbelievable poise and maturity

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio States usually crisp passing game was mostly shut down by Indiana on Saturday so J.T. Barrett had to get it done on the ground.Barrett rushed a career-high 26 times for 137 yards and a touchdown and threw for another score and No. 2 Ohio State beat Indiana 38-17. Barrett was 9-of-23 for 93 yards passing.In my opinion, thats the best quarterback in college ball, Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said.Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) was forced to rely mostly on its ground game, which accounted for 290 yards, and some tough play by its defense -- including a critical fourth-quarter stop on its own 4 yard line following a Barrett interception -- to fend off the Hoosiers, who had upset Michigan State last weekend.Ohio States defense also forced Indiana (3-2, 2-1) to turn the ball over on downs on the Hoosiers own 33 with 5:22 left and the Buckeyes leading 31-17. Five plays later, Barrett hit Dontre Wilson with a 37-yard touchdown pass to put the game out of reach.Safety Malik Hooker sealed the win by picking off Richard Lagow on Indianas next series. The Buckeyes held Indiana to just one score in the second half.Theyre great athletes and they covered our guys, Ohio State guard Billy Price said. Some days you struggle with passing and some days you struggle with the run, and today was one of the days we struggled with the pass.Both teams had trouble establishing any offensive tempo.It was just an awkward game, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said.Hybrid back Curtis Samuel rushed nine times for 82 yards and a touchdown for the Buckeyes, and tailback Mike Weber ran for 71 yards and two scores.Lagow was 14-of-28 for 182 yards and two touchdowns, but Indiana managed just 99 yards rushing. Indiana had 281 total yards, compared with 383 for the Buckeyes.They have a great defense, Lagow said. Theyre going to be tough for anybody the rest of the year, Thats on us as well as them being good. We didnt hit a couple plays and they made a couple plays.THE TAKEAWAYIndiana: Buoyed by last weeks upset of Michigan State, Indiana was effective at times but couldnt keep up with the more talented Buckeyes.Ohio State: The Buckeyes defense played tough and kept Ohio State in the game. Ohio State showed its passing game can be stopped, but Barrett can find a way to win anyway. Meyer said Barrett carried too many times, and we have to fix it.I didnt throw particularly well in the passing game by any means, Barrett said. I have to do a better job of reading the coverage better and getting the ball to our playmakers.MOMENTUM CHANGER: After Indiana scored to cut the Buckeyes lead to 17-10 with 1:03 left in the first half, Ohio States Parris Campbell ran back the ensuing kickoff 91 yards to the Indiana 6. Two plays later, Barrett ran through the Hoosiers untouched for a touchdown to make it a two-score game at halftime.I didnt really feel anyone near me, Campbell said. I thought I was cruising to the end zone. Im sure Ill get it next time. Going out on the field I felt we needed the momentum back. I knew we needed a big play.QUOTABLEThey put the people in on the goal line for a reason, and I knocked them back and made the tackle for loss, said defensive end Nick Bosa, who with Michael Hill stuffed Indianas Devine Redding on fourth and 1 at the Ohio State 4 in the fourth quarter.POLL IMPLICATIONSAn unimpressive win over an unranked Big Ten team isnt likely to garner Ohio State many more first-place votes.UP NEXTIndiana: The Hoosiers face another stiff test next week at home against undefeated No. 12 Nebraska. The Cornhuskers were off this week.Ohio State: The Buckeyes may face their toughest challenge of the season next week when they play No. 11 Wisconsin on the road. The Badgers were off this week.---Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacyFor some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mitch-stacy Discount Shoes Online .25 million option on reliever Jose Veras. Authentic Shoes For Cheap .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. http://www.shoescheap.net/ .In my heart and mind Im competing for India, luge competitor Shiva Keshavan told The Associated Press in an email interview. Every day Im flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. Cheap Shoes China . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. Shoes Wholesale China Suppliers . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. LOS ANGELES -- Cmon, Clay Helton. You know you want to. Heres your chance. Heres your chance to tell all the college football experts to go do something anatomically impossible.All he does is give a hearty laugh.Not my style, Helton said. Not my style.Helton is the former soon-to-be-former USC coach. He spent the first month of his first head coaching season hearing why he shouldnt get a second. Now Helton is the middle of his third month, and his No. 13 Trojans are 7-3 with a six-game winning streak as they prepare to finish their Pac-12 schedule at UCLA (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). USC is a half-game behind No. 10 Colorado, and a half-game ahead of Utah, in the Pac-12 South.The Trojans actually can win the division. If they beat the Bruins (4-6, 2-5), and if No. 22 Washington State wins at Colorado, and the Buffs go on to beat No. 12 Utah next week, then the courtly Helton would have every right to say something that is not his style.Google Clay Helton and you dont have to scroll down very far. The fifth story is, Clay Helton Must Be Fired and USC Needs to Find a Real Head Coach. The seventh and ninth stories provide five names as possible replacements. Those three stories were published in late September, when USC had a record of 1-3.The ready-fire-aim section of my business did itself proud. Yeah, the Trojans got humiliated by Alabama in the opener, 52-6. It turned out that USC, in its first game, literally was not ready for the big time. The atmosphere in Cowboys Stadium, not to mention the Crimson Tide themselves, overwhelmed the Trojans.Yep, they followed with an equally inept offensive performance at Stanford two weeks later in a 27-10 loss. After that game, Helton benched fourth-year junior quarterback Max Browne for redshirt freshman Sam Darnold.He played well in his first start, at Utah, but the Trojans lost fumbles on their first three offensive possessions, and then gave up a touchdown with :16 to play to lose 31-27. All they had to show for the first month of the season was a victory over Utah State and a rabble that had been roused.Gah, Helton said, that feels like years ago.His family rallied around him. In the days after the Utah game, his daughter Aubrey, a high school senior, came up to him, gave him a big hug, and said, Daddy, dont worry about it. Its all going to be good.Not even Aubrey knew how good. But her daddy had an inkling. As the carping about Helton being overmatched reached a crescendo, he came away from the Utah loss convinced that the Trojans would be fine. He wont tell you six-wins-in-a-row, 13th-ranked, division-contender fine. But fine. This wasnt a team pointing fingers across the locker room.There were guys coming up on their own to watch extra film in our meeting rooms and taking it upon themselves to bring their teammates with them, Helton said. Thats what hurt, losing that game, because I saw what each kid was trying to do to help this team win.Helton seized on that kernel of determination and, as the geniuses speculated on his successor -- four games into his career -- he let his team know that he paid it no mind.I kept telling myself, Remember, 18- to 21-year-olds look to their leader and look to their coaching staff, Helton said. How we react, theyre going to react. Just stay poiseed.ddddddddddddDont panic. Stay consistent in what youre doing and what you believe in and live with the results.Six starts later, Darnold is the best first-year quarterback in the FBS. Dont ask me, Jalen Hurts fans. Ask Darnolds QBR (86.8), fifth in the nation. Darnold has been so effective as a passer he has reopened the running lanes for backs Ronald Jones II and Justin Davis.That is as good a decision as any to probe whether Helton could coach his way out of a paper bag. With 20/20 hindsight, it seems perfectly obvious that Darnold is the better quarterback. But Helton remains steadfast that the full-speed decision he made to start Browne in the first three games is one he would make again.I had seen a kid, Max Browne, whos a redshirt junior, that had been in college football games, was efficient, had been a team captain, very respected by our team as a leader, Helton said. And I saw Sam, just this ultra-talented thing, just brilliance. But had never seen him in a ballgame, a real live college game.Browne didnt make mistakes, but he didnt make magic, either. Darnold proved he could handle major college football. Boy, could he. Should you blame Helton for not getting Darnold ready for the opener? You should, as long as you ignore that the offense had a new coordinator, the defense had a new coordinator, and so did the special teams. That contributed to the slow start as well.Look at the way the defense has improved over the course of the season: five sacks in the first four games, 14 in the next six. The Trojans have allowed an average of 18 points per game during their six-game winning streak.USC is coming off a 26-13 victory at No. 4 Washington, a vivid illustration of how far the Trojans have progressed since that loss to Alabama. Here was another fast, talented team. Here was a game in Husky Stadium, one of the most intimidating atmospheres in college football. USC didnt wilt this time.As I look back on our entire season, it really culminated in last week, Helton said. ...I just saw unbelievable poise and maturity. It was as electric an atmosphere as you could possibly have. It was as good a scene for college football as you could see, and the moment wasnt too big for them. They really walked in there with a sense of maturity and confidence. Hey, lets just focus on our job. Lets dont care about the stadium. Lets dont care about the noise. Lets dont care about the weather. Lets just get our job done.They have two rivalry games remaining -- Notre Dame comes west next week -- and Helton said he has seen no heads swelled by the win at Washington. Coach Overmatched could end up with a 10-win season. And a Pac-12 title. The guy that the internet fired seven weeks ago may end up in the Rose Bowl.Heltons unfailingly polite, unerringly even-keeled, unbelievably unexciting personality ended up being just the right touch for a young team. So, cmon, Coach. Let it go. Tell the experts off.You have to be very strong-willed, Helton said. You have to have thick skin. And dont get your feelings hurt. Believe in what youre doing. Believe in the things youre doing for kids.Oh, well. They got off lucky. ' ' '