Ohio State Pulls Away from Youngstown State for 35-7 Win in Home Opener

By Dan Hope on September 9, 2023 at 3:11 pm
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After a defensive-driven win for Ohio State in Week 1, the Buckeyes’ offense picked up the pace in Week 2.

Kyle McCord threw three first-half touchdown passes and Marvin Harrison Jr. and TreVeyon Henderson each scored twice as Ohio State pulled away from Youngstown State, 35-7, to win its home opener and improve to 2-0 on the season.

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  
#5 Ohio State 14 14 7 0 35
YOUNGSTOWN STATE 7 0 0 0 7
SEPT. 9, 2023 • Ohio StadiuM • Columbus, Ohio

Harrison scored his first touchdown just 86 seconds into the game when he got wide open to catch a deep ball from McCord and went all the way to the end zone for a career-long 71-yard touchdown.

Youngstown State responded with an opening-drive touchdown of its own, going 75 yards in 11 plays. The Penguins converted a trio of third downs on the drive, including a 36-yard pass from Mitch Davidson to Max Tomczak, who beat one-on-one coverage by Cameron Martinez. Davidson capped off the drive with an untouched 1-yard run into the end zone.

The Buckeyes would do all the scoring for the rest of the first half.

After both teams traded punts on their second possessions, McCord and Harrison connected on another deep ball, this time from 39 yards out, to make it 14-7 with 1:20 left to play in the first quarter.

Devin Brown entered the game at quarterback on Ohio State’s next possession and the Buckeyes drove 60 yards in 14 plays, capped by a 13-yard Henderson touchdown run, to extend their lead to 21-7 with 9:07 to play in the second quarter.

McCord returned to the game for Ohio State’s next possession and led the Buckeyes on their third consecutive touchdown drive, with Emeka Egbuka scoring from 28 yards out on a 4th-and-2 screen pass to make it 28-7 with 3:06 to play before halftime.

Youngstown State drove into Ohio State territory on its opening drive of the second half, but that drive ended with Ohio State’s first takeaway of the season as Denzel Burke picked off a deep ball by Beau Brungard for the first interception by an Ohio State cornerback since 2021.

Henderson took the ball 30 yards to the house for his second touchdown of the game to extend Ohio State’s lead to 35-7 with 1:40 left to play in the third quarter.

OHIO STATE METRIC YOUNGSTOWN ST
482 TOTAL YARDS 234
123 RUSHING YARDS 99
27 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 33
4.6 AVERAGE per RUSH 3.0
2 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 1
359 PASSING YARDS 135
21-33 COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS 17-26
17.1 AVERAGE per COMPLETION 7.9
3 PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 0
23 1st DOWNS 12
60 TOTAL PLAYS 59
8.0 YARDS PER PLAY 4.0
5-12 third down conv 7-15
6-65 PENALTIES 9-76
26:00 POSSESSION 34:00

Neither team would score in the fourth quarter. Brown led Ohio State to the 5-yard line on its first possession of the fourth quarter, but the Buckeyes finished without points when Brown was sacked on a 4th-and-goal pass play.

In his second start of the season and third of his Ohio State career overall, McCord completed 14 of his 20 passing attempts for 258 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Harrison caught seven passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns – all in the first half – while Henderson had 56 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries.

Tommy Eichenberg led Ohio State with six tackles, including a strip sack with a forced fumble that was recovered by Youngstown State.

Ohio State will play its second of six home games this season at Ohio Stadium next Saturday, when the Buckeyes host Western Kentucky in their second non-conference game of the year. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the game will be televised on FOX.

Game Notes

  • With Josh Proctor sidelined by an apparent ankle injury, true freshman Malik Hartford made his first career start at free safety. Syracuse transfer Ja’Had Carter replaced Hartford on the second drive of the game, however, and continued to play the rest of the way until the first-team defense left the game.
  • Former Ohio State and Youngstown State coach Jim Tressel was in attendance for Saturday’s game, wearing a red vest with logos from both schools.
  • Ohio State held a pregame moment of silence for late former public address announcer Bob Kennedy prior to the game.
  • True freshman linebacker Arvell Reese suffered an injury on Ohio State’s first kickoff of the game and did not return to action.
  • Marvin Harrison Jr. became the 24th receiver in Ohio State history with 1,500 receiving yards. Saturday’s game was the eighth 100-yard receiving game of his OSU career, tied for the fourth-most of any Buckeye receiver.
  • 102,897 was the announced attendance at Ohio Stadium for the game.
  • Omari Abor, who had been sidelined after suffering an injury in preseason camp, saw his first playing time of the season at defensive end in the fourth quarter.

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