There was a bit of a scary moment Saturday night inside Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium when Ohio State cornerback Gareon Conley went to make a tackle and did not immediately get up.
Conley laid still on the field for a few minutes as he was attended to by trainers before rising, slowly, to his feet before he walked off the field. The Buckeyes' All-Big Ten candidate did not return to the game and the official ruling from Ohio State was an "upper body injury."
Sophomore Denzel Ward — who rotates frequently even when Conley is healthy — played the majority of the second half for the Buckeyes in his place, and after the game, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said he did not think Conley's injury was serious.
"My understanding is he's going to be fine. Just had a stinger," Meyer said. "It was precautionary, but he should be fine."
That certainly seems like good news for the Buckeyes' secondary.
It also helps Ohio State has a bye next weekend before hosting Rutgers on Oct. 1 in its Big Ten opener.
Baker talks Pick-Six
Ohio State junior defensive end Jalyn Holmes came off the edge unblocked and had Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield in his sights. Holmes put his hand up and deflected a Mayfield pass and the ball fluttered in the air.
It fell comfortably into the hands of Jerome Baker — who made his second-straight start in place of the injured Dante Booker — and the Buckeyes sophomore linebacker knew what to do from there.
Baker sprinted the opposite way and crossed the goal line to give Ohio State a quick 14-0 lead over the Sooners. It was also the Buckeyes' fourth interception return for a touchdown just three games into the season.
A former high school running back at Cleveland Benedictine, Baker said he had a bit of a flashback once he got his hands on the ball.
"It really did," he said with a smile. "But the only thing I was thinking was, 'Don't get caught, don't get caught, don't get caught.'"
Mission accomplished.
Buckeyes Stifle Mayfield
Ohio State said all week it had to slow down Oklahoma's running game of Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine, but perhaps most importantly had to contain Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield, especially when he gets outside the pocket.
Mayfield finished the evening just 17-of-32 passing for 226 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw a pair of costly interceptions, one of which was taken back the other way for a score. Mayfield carried the ball eight times for five yards in the game.
It was about as close to a perfectly executed game plan as Ohio State could get when it came to containing one of the most dynamic players in all of college football.
“Sometimes if you were going to win your one-on-one matchup, you couldn’t take it," Buckeyes defensive end Sam Hubbard said. "You had to cage the pocket and collapse and there was one time I beat the tackle so clean that he escaped right away. Stuff like that, you just have to keep them caged and not give them any running lanes because he was out of there really fast.”
Conversely, Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett made a handful of plays for his team. Barrett threw four touchdown passes — all to Noah Brown — and also carried the ball 17 times for 74 yards. Most importantly, Ohio State did not turn the ball over in the game.
The quarterback edge Saturday certainly favored the Buckeyes.
"I think we're in a good place coming into the bye week, and we just want to keep on preparing and getting better," Barrett said. "We're not where we want to be, obviously. Second half we had struggles on offense, same thing on defense. Even on special teams. We're just continuing to keep on getting better.
"I think we're at a good place right now and room for improvement."
