The number seven was a lucky one for the Buckeyes this weekend.
Ohio State notched its seventh straight win, tallied a seventh straight win against Nebraska in the all-time series between the two programs and handed the Huskers their seventh single-digit loss of the year on Saturday.
There was plenty of good to be gleaned from the 26-17 win for the Buckeyes, but Ohio State had its fair share of struggles as well, much like a number of top teams around the country.
Here are the weekend’s risers and fallers as we take a look at the latest stock report.
Stock Up
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Suffice to say that when you break a 24-year-old record during your second season of college football, your stock is going to increase.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a monstrous effort against Nebraska in an otherwise ho-hum offensive day for the Buckeyes, catching one more pass (15) than David Boston did against Penn State in 1997 to break the program’s all-time single-game receptions record.
The Texas native tacked on 240 yards to take second place on Ohio State’s all-time single-game receiving yardage list, and his 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown was the standout highlight of the day for the Buckeyes.
Now with 888 receiving yards on the year, Smith-Njigba not only leads the Buckeyes but has more yards than Chris Olave or Garrett Wilson have ever had in a season for Ohio State.
Tyreke Smith
For a third straight game, Tyreke Smith has continued to turnaround a slow, injury-plagued start to his senior season by registering a sack for the Buckeye pass-rush.
Smith didn’t have any sacks in the first half of the season, but the Cleveland native has made up for lost time. With sacks against Indiana, Penn State and now Nebraska over the past three weeks, Smith has now tied Zach Harrison and Jack Sawyer with three sacks this season – the most among Buckeye defensive ends.
Smith finished Saturday with five total tackles and also batted down an Adrian Martinez pass at the line of scrimmage, and may have had an even bigger impact had he drawn a couple more holding penalties that he (and many fans) felt were warranted in Lincoln.
Noah Ruggles
Kerry Coombs said after Saturday’s game that he’d never seen a kicker be awarded with 10 Buckeye leaves in a game until Noah Ruggles’ four-field goal performance against Penn State.
Ruggles proved worthy of that same reward against Nebraska, as the North Carolina transfer knocked down four field goals once again to become the first player in program history to do so in back-to-back games.
Make no mistake, Ruggles’ kicks were not racked up in garbage time and they were not free of pressure. The first-year Buckeye nailed two 46-yarders in a nine-point win, including one in the final two minutes of the contest to ice a game in which Ohio State was clinging onto a six-point lead at the time.
Ruggles remains perfect on the season on both field goals and extra points, and Ryan Day even branded him “a weapon” for the Buckeyes after the game.
Purdue
Can it even be branded an upset when so many foresaw it happening ahead of time?
Jeff Brohm and the Boilermakers did it again on Saturday, following up their Oct. 16 stunner over then-No. 2 Iowa with a 40-29 win over Michigan State, which had only just been named the nation’s No. 3 team in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season.
Aidan O’Connell and David Bell reigned terror upon the Spartan secondary, as the Purdue passer threw for 536 yards with Bell hauling in 217 of them.
The Boilermakers won the turnover battle, committed fewer penalties and outgained the Spartans by nearly 150 yards in a recipe for yet another surprise win for Purdue.
Stock Down
Ohio State offense
Against the Huskers, Ohio State failed to prove its sluggish outing on offense a week earlier was simply an off day.
The Buckeyes scored just two touchdowns on 12 drives and didn’t find the end zone at all in the second half of what turned out to be a closer-than-expected four-quarter battle. In fact, Ohio State came up shy of the goal line on nine straight drives to finish the game, with execution coming into question for the second straight week.
The offense committed seven penalties against Nebraska, although Scott Frost declined two of them, and C.J. Stroud threw his first pick (and then his second) since Week 3. A third turnover from Stroud nearly proved disastrous in the game's final minutes, but the strip sack fumble in a one-possession game was – fortunately for the Buckeyes – scooped up by second-year center Luke Wypler.
Just as troubling was Ohio State’s continued lack of success in the run game, where it tallied just 90 yards on three yards per attempt.
Michigan State
Not even a 146-yard day from Heisman Trophy candidate Kenneth Walker III could save Michigan State from the cosmic irony of another top-three win for an unranked Purdue team.
Just one week after a triumphant win over in-state rival Michigan in a memorable back-and-forth, the Spartans suffered the type of letdown slip-up that has become all too commonplace in matchups with the Boilermakers.
The game was tied 21-all early in the third quarter following a Payton Thorne touchdown run, but Purdue rattled off 19 of the game’s final 27 points to hand the Spartans their first loss of the season as fans stormed the field in West Lafayette.
Minnesota
Just when it looked like P.J. Fleck’s Golden Gophers had turned a corner, they laid an egg in another more-than-winnable matchup with Bret Bielema and an Illinois team that has proven surprisingly game this year.
Minnesota debuted at No. 20 in the first CFP rankings last week, sitting atop the Big Ten West standings with a shiny 4-1 conference record, and the Gophers were fresh off back-to-back lopsided Big Ten wins against Maryland and Northwestern.
But Tanner Morgan and company did not have a day to remember on offense, as the Gopher quarterback threw two picks and no scores in a 14-6 loss to the Fighting Illini.
Wake Forest
Unbeaten no longer, ACC Cinderella Wake Forest finally came undone in another barn-burner that featured cartoonish numbers from both offenses involved.
North Carolina used a 24-point fourth quarter eruption to ruin the Demon Deacons’ unblemished record as the Tar Heel run game finished with 330 yards and six scores.
Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman finished well north of 400 total yards and had seven total touchdowns on the day, but also threw two interceptions in a 58-55 track race.
Alabama
Nearly a 30-point favorite over Ed Orgeron and company entering Saturday, the second-ranked Crimson Tide turned in a rather uninspired effort against LSU, surviving with a 20-14 win at home.
Alabama scored no points in the first or fourth quarters, and you’d be excused for thinking its final team rushing total of six yards on 26 attempts was a misprint in the box score.
Two Tiger turnovers did not aid LSU’s upset bid, but Alabama did itself no favors with the vocal crowd that scoffed at its No. 2 placement in the CFP rankings this past week.