Playing without offensive weapons Miyan Williams and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and losing TreVeyon Henderson early in the second half, Ryan Day's squad had zero trouble with Mel Tucker's program, blitzing the Spartans, 49-20, in East Lansing.
The Buckeyes racked up 604 total yards of offense while holding Sparty to 204, with 97 of those coming in the fourth quarter as Ohio State's emptied the bench. The Spartans generated -12 yards in the third quarter lol.
Considering Ohio State won by 29 while trying to score for only about 3.25 quarters, we're going to keep Five Things brief. If I got paid like Mel Tucker, maybe I'd crank out 2,000 words but there's only so much we can take away from Day handing his program another thumping.
Beyond achieving a perfect 6-0 record, more good news for the Buckeyes comes in the form of a much-needed open week for a few guys to get healthy for the stretch run.
DAY'S PLAYGROUND
We're all curious to see what Ryan Day's offense will look like if it can ever get fully healthy and go up against an elite defense, and obviously yesterday was not the day for either of those things. That said, the first half was a play calling clinic and fun to watch Ohio State execute.
The Buckeyes racked up 429 yards on 11 yards per play in the first half and only faced four third down snaps (they converted three) in 39 total plays.
When the game was still a game as Ohio State led just 14-7 early in the second quarter, Day showed the confidence he has in his offense by going for it on 4th-and-1 and his own 42 yard line. TreVeyon Henderson took a handoff to the left side and easily converted, chewing up seven yards to move the chains. On the very next snap, C.J. Stroud found Julian Fleming for a 51-yard touchdown giving Ohio State a 21-7 lead and pretty much locked up a victory.
If Ohio State doesn't convert yeah they likely still win going away but going for it on fourth down on your own side of the field isn't something to completely overlook either.
From there, Day put lots of stuff on film for future opponents, dialing up end arounds for wideouts, deploying some deep motion with wideouts circling behind the tailback, and even brought out the power I formation again.
Anyway, I commend Day for making blowouts fun for the viewers and I'm sure it's fun as hell to be a player in this offense, whether as a lineman or a skill guy. The creativity is wild especially when you consider he likely still has a lot of stuff in his bag yet to be unveiled.
DOWN ON THE CORNER
As fun as this offense is and as improved as the defense appears to be, it still feels like cornerback play could be real dicey against a legit passing attack.
Denzel Burke's struggles this season have been well-documented after he was a breakout star last year as a true freshman. He likely hasn't been 100% healthy in some games this year and he was he was fine yesterday but unfortunately his counterpart, Cameron Brown, had a tough afternoon.
Despite being in Jayden Reed's hip pocket on Michigan State's first possession, Brown gave up a 20-yard completion on 2nd-and-9. He was flagged for pass interference on Sparty's third possession and of their fifth drive, Brown gave up a 24-yard catch and was later flagged for a personal foul horse collar.
Brown was eventually removed from the game as he struggled to control his emotions and current third cornerback JK Johnson gave up a Reed touchdown catch. Like some of Brown's receptions allowed, Johnson had decent coverage but alas, in a results business, the outcomes weren't what Ohio State wanted.
With the defensive line and linebackers showing so much improvement over last season, Jim Knowles and company really need the corners to tighten up to put this defense over the top.
STROUD RETURNS TO FORM
After completing just 13-of-22 passes against Rutgers with two touchdowns and a pick, and connecting on 'just' 61.2% of his throws over the last two games, quarterback C.J. Stroud was back to his old self versus the Spartans.
In just over a half of action, Stroud hit on 21-of-26 throws for 361 yards and six touchdowns with one interception. It was Stroud's third six-touchdown performance, setting a new Big Ten record. And unlike last week when the interception was a force into heavy coverage, yesterday's was a more understandable miscommunication between he and Emeka Egbuka, leading to a pick six.
Despite some windy conditions, Stroud was a perfect 11-for-11 on throws of 10 yards or more. He recorded nine completions for 15 yards or more, racking up 278 yards and five scores on those throws.
It's amazing to think about what he's doing despite not having Jaxon Smith-Njigba at his disposal for the balance of the season-to-date while building game chemistry with Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Julian Fleming and Cade Stover, among others.
TRE RETURNS, FOR A HALF
Ohio State fans were elated to see tailback TreVeyon Henderson back on the field after he was held out of last weekend's game versus Rutgers and missed parts of other contests this season.
Turned out, his presence was much-needed as rumors came to reality with Miyan Williams unavailable versus the Spartans.
In just over a half of action, Henderson racked up 118 yards on 19 carries (6.2 ypc) and looked pretty damn good doing it. Frankly, Henderson ran like a guy that's watched his teammate light it up the previous two weeks, going for over 100 yards rushing in each game while averaging over nine yards a pop.
Henderson hit the hole with aggression and finished his runs with a physicality we haven't always seen. In the first half alone, he racked up 117 yards on 6.5 per carry, busting runs of 26, 13, 12 and 10 yards.
Unfortunately, the injury bug bit him on the first play of the second half as Michigan State's Charles Brantley delivered a shot to his lower body, forcing an awkward landing. Postgame, Day noted Henderson could've returned to action had the game dictated it and while that is likely very positive news, I hope we've all learned to take Day's comments about player injuries/status with a few thousand grains of salt.
ROUTE MAN AND EG(G) MAN DOING WORK
Marvin Harrison Jr. was absolutely sensational yesterday, recording seven receptions on nine targets for 131 yards and three touchdowns. I heard Stroud say he felt like 50/50 balls to Marvin are more like 70/30 and honestly that's probably selling Route Man short. The dude's body control is unreal and combined with his physical attributes and precision route running, he's about as elite as it gets in college.
Case in point, his three touchdown catches yesterday marked the third separate occasion in which he's recorded a hat trick, setting a new Ohio State career record.
Alongside Harrison, fellow wideout Emeka Egbuka also had a big day with five catches on six targets for 143 yards including a 69-yard touchdown grab. He also ran it twice for 19 yards.
Despite Harrison playing less than 200 snaps and Egbuka less than 100 entering last season's Rose Bowl win, and with JSN on the shelf for most of 2022 thus putting more pressure on these two to produce, they've done that in spades.
For funsies, here's stats for Harrison and Egbuka across their first six games this season compared to the first six games of Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and JSN a season ago.
| SEASON | RECEIVER | RECEPTIONS | RECEIVING YARDS | RECEIVING TOUCHDOWNS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | EMEKA EGBUKA | 35 | 655 | 6 |
| 2022 | ROUTE MAN MARV | 31 | 536 | 9 |
| 2021 | GARRETT WILSON | 31 | 546 | 6 |
| 2021 | CHRIS OLAVE | 32 | 518 | 8 |
| 2021 | JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA | 23 | 452 | 3 |
JSN's injury in game one has certainly forced a heavier distribution of throws toward Harrison and Egbuka but considering their relative inexperience coming in, these numbers are strong. Marv with nine touchdowns?! Egbuka with 655 yards?! Seems good.
- #3 Ohio State 49, Michigan State 20
- • Buckeyes Blow Out Spartans, 49-20
- • Have a Day, CJ: Pass Game Goes Off at MSU
- • Henderson Runs Hard, Fine After Early Exit
- • Harrison Breaks 3 Rec TD Record
- • Ohio State Postgame • Notebook • Quotebook • Photos
- • 3 Key Stats • Five Things • Social Reactions • Michigan State Postgame
