Michigan State Debriefing: C.J. Stroud and Marvin Harrison Have Record Days As Ohio State Throttles Floundering Spartans

By Andy Vance on October 9, 2022 at 9:35 am
Marvin Harrison Jr. throws the Stiff Arm of Justice
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It's hard to imagine Ohio State's passing game being much better than it is after watching quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Marvin Harrison both set records for most games with multiple touchdowns. But while the Buckeye passing attack is the best in the business, it's passing defense, on the other hand... well, there's still work to be done there.

In any event, the Buckeyes rolled to a 49-20 victory in their first road game of the season, despite needing to deploy the third man in the running back rotation for half of the ballgame. 

Let's break it down.

TL;DR: JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM

If you believe Ohio State is the best team in college football, there's a good chance you saw plenty to confirm that position Saturday as the Buckeyes throttled the Spartans. If, on the other hand, you have concerns that Ohio State's defensive backfield is a glaring liability that will cost the team when the postseason rolls around, well... you probably got some cannon fodder there, too.

Ohio State rolled for 614 yards of total offense and seven touchdowns – six of those through the air, and half of those caught by Marvin Harrison Jr. – while holding Michigan State to a paltry 202 yards of total offense, including just 7 yards rushing.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

OFFENSE

Who had the better day, C.J. Stroud or Marvin Harrison Jr.? It's a good debate given that both men set school records for games with multiple touchdowns: Stroud become the first player in Ohio State and Big Ten history to record three career games with six passing touchdowns, while Harrison became the first player in school history to record three games with three receiving touchdowns.

With Miyan Williams shelved due to injury and TreVeyon Henderson sidelined after taking a helmet missile directly to the thigh, the offense still recorded 237 yards rushing. When the third guy on the depth chart can step into the game and reel off 5 yards a carry, that says something not only about the depth at the position, but at how unearthly good Ohio State's offensive line has become this season.

Yes, ending the "all-tackle offensive line" experiment has clearly paid dividends, but it's looking more and more like Justin Frye was a good hire in Ryan Day's offseason retooling.

But the story of the season continues to be how insanely good Brian Hartline's receiving room is. Again.

Harrison made a couple of eye-popping catches, including two of his three touchdown snags. His catch over the top of Michigan State's Charles Brantley (who was flagged on the play for mugging Harrison on the goal line) was an incredible feat of strength and body control, but it was his third catch of the day that really got America's attention:

One NFL Hall of Fame coach was certainly paying attention:

There's no doubt Harrison's heroics caught the attention of current coaches in The League, too. Harrison and Emeka Egbuka each broke 100 yards receiving, at 131 and 143 yards, respectively, with Julian Fleming coming close at 81 yards of his own. Egbuka and Fleming, along with tight end Gee Scott Jr., each hauled in a touchdown.

Eye-popping stat of the day? Ohio State is the first Big Ten team to score 45+ in five-consecutive games since Michigan in the years following WWII. Now just imagine what the future holds with Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Miyan Williams back in the rotation.

Helmet Stickers
  1. Marvin Harrison Jr.: Bring back the Louis Vuitton cleats and the Apple Watch. Hell, get the man some Apple cleats and a LV watch if he wants it. Whatever it is that man needs, someone make sure he gets it.
  2. The Ohio State Offensive Line: We handed them a sticker last week, and after seeing the lanes the opened up for Henderson and backup Dallan Hayden, they've earned the shout-out again this week.
  3. C.J. Stroud: Through six games he looks like the clear leader for the Heisman Trophy. With one "meh" game to his credit alongside a record number of eye-popping games, he's showing how a talented arm can feast in Day's offense year after year.

DEFENSE

Here's what we said about Ohio State's defense a week ago:

Ohio State's defensive secondary still makes The Debriefing nervous. Fortunately, it is doubtful they'll be seriously tested before the Maryland or Michigan games. And it may not be all that big of a deal, given how well the men in front of them are playing.

Ohio State's linebackers look as crisp as they've looked in several years, and as Ryan Day pointed out in his postgame press conference, the defensive line is setting the tone and finding a rhythm as a unit.

That still seems pretty much spot on. Jim Knowles' Silver Bullets held Sparty to seven freaking yards rushing, and just 195 through the air. And frankly, if it wasn't for a couple of penalties, they would have held the home team to more than the six three-and-outs they forced Saturday.

The Spartan quarterbacks went 17-28 passing (61%) for two touchdowns, the latter of which came when the game was long since over and garbage time officially underway. Call it "bend, don't break" if you want to, but the nagging concern with this team is the quality of cornerback play. As much as the Knowles hire looks like an immediate success, the Tim Walton hire is an open question at the moment.

Mike Hall Jr., and Tommy Eichenberg continue to play like future draft picks, pacing the team in sacks (2.5 for Hall) and tackles (8 total and 5 solo for Eichenberg). 

Helmet Stickers
  1. Tommy Eichenberg: What a revelation this guy has been for the Buckeyes. He shows up and shows out every single game, and it's been fun to watch as he lights opponents up from sideline to sideline.
  2.  Mike Hall Jr.: a one-man wrecking crew, it felt like he spent as much time in Michigan State's backfield as did the Spartan tailbacks.
  3.  Lathan Ransom: Intercepted Payton Thorne on a critical 3rd and 7 early in the contest.

DID THE DEFENSE SUCK 30% LESS THAN LAST SEASON?

Loyal listeners of The Eleven Dubcast (subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!) will know that I've repeatedly rejected the notion that Ohio State's revamped defense needs to be among the Top 5 in the country. As good as Ryan Day's offenses have been, Jim Knowles doesn't need to turn the Silver Bullets into the '85 Bears to win championships. They just need to suck 30% less than they did last season.

To put that into perspective, last season's defense coughed up an average of 372.9 yards and 22.8 points per game. It hurts just writing that, trust me.

So it seemed only logical to include a new feature in The Debriefing each week this season to gauge how well the defense is meeting that goal, and at the end of the season to see if "The 30% Hypothesis" holds water.

As mentioned earlier in the Debriefing, Michigan State managed a paltry 202 net yards of total offense, which is ABSOLUTELY better than 30% less than Ohio State's average allowed last season, and just 20 points, which is not technically better than 30% less than last year's average points allowed, BUT if you subtract the 7 points that came from Sparty's pick six early in the game, then it's a YES on both fronts!

VERDICT: A resounding YES.

Six games into the season, it's also time to start taking stock of the total body of work, not just the game-to-game variations. As noted, last year the Buckeye defense allowed 372.9 yards and 22.8 points per game; through six games this season, they've allowed just 253.5 yards and 15.7 points per game.

That is an astounding year-over-year improvement. Looking at the balance between rushing and passing defense, it's even more stunning: Ohio State's opponents are averaging just 93.2 yards rushing per game... in other words, barely 3 yards per carry. And the 160 yards passing they've allowed on average is a marked improvement from the 246.2 they coughed up a year ago.

JIM TRESSEL'S LEAST FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE GAME

Fall is clearly here. It's that magical time in Ohio where you aren't sure if you want to dress like winter for the morning hours or summer for the afternoons. It's that kind of weather that evokes the word "crisp," and Coach Tressel was feeling the restorative powers of a crisp fall morning Saturday.

He and Miss Ellen spent the morning bringing in their many plants from the terrace, prepping them to overwinter indoors now that frost warnings are afoot. The Distinguished Gentleman from Youngstown has a bit of a green thumb, and it was a good season for his fledgling collection of African Violets and the one Bonsai Tree he's been tending ever since Mark Dantonio convinced him to read The Art of War a few years ago.

Most of its tenets were things Tressel had discovered for himself in guiding his Penguins to a slew of National Championships and had honed to a fine edge by the time he came to Columbus 20 years ago, but it's a foolish man who isn't constantly striving to improve himself.

With conservatory tended and his tools cleaned and put back in their proper place in something Ellen called a "She Shed" for reasons that escaped him, Tressel had just enough time to smoke a rack of ribs in his offset smoker before kickoff. He figured the first half was plenty of time for them to rest, and although he'd never eat ribs in public ("I don't want sauce on my good vest"), it smoked meats are one of his "guilty pleasures."

The game was rough at times for the Elder Statesman of Ohio Football. Once again, the Buckeye return teams let him down, with Chip Trayanum not only muffing a catch on the kickoff, but then his teammates let him down by negating a beautiful run with an illegal block in the back.

"Sometimes you just have to accept the things you cannot change, and apparently catching kicks is one of those things this season," Tressel said, after taking a few deep breaths and counting to 10.

But the Senator lost his composure for a minute when cornerback Cameron Brown, after drawing flags for pass interference on two different occasions, was penalized for a horse collar tackle and came back to the bench throwing his helmet in self-loathing.

"Oh for frosted flakes, young man!" Tressel exclaimed. "I love seeing the fire, but you have to channel that anger on the field." He decided he'd better go do a little pruning to settle his own mind.

IT WAS OVER WHEN

...Marvin Harrison Jr. caught his second touchdown of the day late in the first half, putting the Buckeyes up 35-13 heading into the locker room. There was no chance for the Spartans to come back from that deficit as the Buckeye offense was on time and on target and the defense made an already limited Michigan State offense completely one-dimensional.

UP NEXT: Ohio State gets a week off at the midpoint in the regular season. It's a good chance for the several banged-up Buckeyes to get healthy before returning to Ohio Stadium to face the Hawkeyes. Game time is TBD. But in the meanwhile, perhaps this will whet your appetite:

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