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Relive the Championship Season - Week 5 @ Michigan State

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Byaaaahhh's picture
by Byaaaahhh
8/5/25 at 3:28p in the OSU Football Forum
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Marshall exposed some stuff to work on but the Buckeyes still showed out with an impressive offense and a lockdown defense in the second half. They traveled to East Lansing for their first road game against 3-1 Michigan State at night.

Coming into Week 4

  • Presser Bullets - The three OOB kickoffs may have had to do with Jayden Fielding tweaking something. Day wants more vertical passing, but understands the need to be balanced and take what the defense gives you. Man I hope he keeps that mentality through every game this season. He still doesn't feel good about the run game. In fact, he doesn't feel good about anything. Knowles shouts out Tywone Malone, continues gassing up Arvell Reese. 
  • Across the Field - MLive Michigan State beat reporter Matt Wenzel offers some thoughts. Aidan Chiles, MSU's highly anticipated QB, has exhibited the classic erratic performances of a young QB, but has also shown flashes of why MSU fans are so excited about him. He doesn't sound overly optimistic, citing special teams as the part of Michigan State to keep an eye on. 
  • Trailer Vol 4: The Climb
  • 11W Preview - Marshall's mobile quarterback created issues for OSU last week. Aidan Chiles presents an arguably bigger threat, so OSU must lock down the pocket. Part of Marshall's success was their QB parlaying his mobility to complete 76.2% of his passes, but Chiles has not shown that type of accuracy thus far. Linebacker Jordan Turner and Khris Bogle figure to make life difficult for the offense. 
  • Last Call - Dan Hope would like to see the OSU run game fare well against a #14 run defense, a step up against the sub-90th opponents thus far. Affecting the QB and limiting his mobility are also front of mind. 
  • Tywone Malone and Arvell Reese make their first career starts. 

Week 5 at Michigan State in 40 Minutes:

Open Threads: Q1 | Q2 | Halftime | Q3 | Q4  

Coming out of Week 4:

  • Game Summary - After weathering MSU's opening punches, OSU pulled away to win by 31 points. Gee Scott, who many were not yet sold on, scored his first TD of the season on a 4th-and-goal pass from Howard. Jeremiah Smith continued to storm onto the CFB scene with his insane one-handed catch from Devin Brown to score a touchdown, marking his fourth straight game with at least one TD. This came in the wake of another incredible one-handed catch in double coverage to set the Buckeyes up in the red zone. Don't miss Treveyon's critical block on the JJ Smith TD run, though.
  • Three Key Stats - Smith hits MSU with the worst kind of deja vu as he takes an end-around to the house on the exact same play that Marvin Harrison Jr. ran to score a TD last year. The defense matched last year's highest-sack conference game with 4. Could this signal a step forward for the DL this year? The defense held MSU to only 65 second half yards, a similar total to Marshall's 61 yards in the second half last week. 
  • Difference-Making Plays - Critical turnovers, sacks, stops, and conversions were instrumental in making this a big win. The comments show a lot of love for an imperfect, yet exciting, defense.  
  • Care/Don't Care - Some were happier with the defense than others. Remember that coming into this season, one of the common criticisms against Knowles was an inability to get stops in talent-equated games. This was a long-running point of discussion this season. 
  • Linebacker play discussion - A pretty lengthy discussion about how the linebackers are performing. Many comments talking about wanting to see better play, others urging patience with a group of new starters and some players new to the position, like Styles.
  • Reflections on the offense - Fans are noticing that this seems like a leveled up offense. Talents are being fully utilized, players are being put in positions to succeed. One thing I've noticed while watching through these games is that this offense is so lethal. Even though sometimes it looks like things aren't working, the very next play, someone will break off a 30-yard run or secure a highly contested catch or take one to the house. Defenses can never feel like they've got it handled. 

For some reason, the Michigan State recap was hidden from OSU FB's youtube channel. In its place, I'll leave this screengrab from the one-handed reception for a TD :

Up next: back home against Iowa

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