EAST LANSING, Mich. — After a month of warm-up games, No. 3 Ohio State opened conference play on Saturday with a 38-7 win against Michigan State.
It wasn’t a clean performance from the Buckeyes, but the defense got better as the game went on and the starting offense scored on six of its eight possessions. Here are a few takeaways.
Jeremiah Smith continues incredible run
Ohio State needed a play with 30 seconds left before halftime.
The Buckeyes led 17-7 and were on the MSU 17-yard line facing a third-and-10 with quarterback Will Howard on the bench after being injured on the play before.
In came Devin Brown, Ohio State’s backup quarterback. Instead of running the ball and settling for a field goal, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly dialed up a play to star receiver Jeremiah Smith.
Smith won on his press coverage and was open. Brown let the ball go, a bit out of Smith’s reach, but the freshman receiver extended, grabbed the ball with one hand and scored. It was his second one-handed catch of the drive, too.
“What an unbelievable catch, I couldn’t believe he caught it,” coach Ryan Day said.
Howard, who threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns, called it the play of the game.
“I thought Devin did an unbelievable job of being ready when his number was called, that’s competitive excellence and we talk about that all the time,” Howard said. “That throw and catch, those two made, that sealed the game.”
When Ohio State needed a play it turned to Smith, the No. 1 recruit in the 2024 class, who has lived up to the hype surrounding him. He racked up 102 total yards, including one receiving touchdown and one rushing touchdown.
The performance felt similar to the performance Marvin Harrison Jr. had two years ago at Michigan State. That was Ohio State’s first Big Ten road game and Harrison Jr. turned in the best performance of his sophomore season to that point. He had seven catches for 131 yards and three touchdowns.
It felt like the start of his stellar year and Saturday felt like Smith showing he wasn’t worried about the moment in Big Ten play.
Smith has been on a tear to start his career. He now has 364 receiving yards and six total touchdowns in four games and is closing in on the freshman touchdown record of eight.
Saturday felt different, though.
Smith dominating Western Michigan is one thing, but he looked like a grown man playing amongst children on the Big Ten stage. That’s impressive.
TWO UNBELIEVEABLE ONE-HANDED CATCHES BY JEREMIAH SMITH 🤯
THEY CAN’T GUARD HIM 👀 pic.twitter.com/vGUUs6rn41
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 29, 2024
Defense flipped a switch when it needed to
Ohio State wasn’t happy about its defensive performance on Saturday.
The stat sheet will show that it was a good day, giving up 246 total yards, one touchdown and forcing three turnovers is a good day for most defenses. But this Ohio State team has high expectations, as it should for the talent on that side of the ball.
Michigan State’s first four drives moved well.
Everything changed, though, once the Buckeyes started getting some pressure on Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles. J.T. Tuimoloau got the first sack with 1:25 left in the second quarter and a few plays later Ohio State forced Michigan State’s first punt.
At halftime, Day said the team saw they were close to getting sacks but the coverage let up at the last second.
“I thought we responded, made the changes appropriate and the adjustments were solid,” Day said.
Everything worked together in the second half. Michigan State gained just 60 yards in the second half and 32 of them came on the final drive with the backups in.
“We wanted more aggressiveness, more violence, more assertive play and I think in the second quarter we came out with intent,” Simon said.
Ohio State ended the game with four sacks, the second most of the season.
The pass rush has been a massive question mark through the first month of the season, but Saturday showed that when they can get after the quarterback, the defense gets better.
Criticism is going to be high for an Ohio State defense that’s loaded with this much talent, but credit also has to be passed along when it forces three turnovers and gives up just seven points.
Ohio State needs to figure some things out next weekend against Iowa and before going to Oregon the following week, but it did enough to not relinquish control on Saturday.
Offensive line carrying momentum from opening games
Nobody was sure which Ohio State offensive line would show up on Saturday. Would it be the one that dominated its unmatched opponents the first month of the season or the one that struggled mightily last season?
It seemed like the former. The Buckeyes totaled 483 yards and looked good up front on most reps. They weren’t perfect, but Ohio State ran for 185 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. Howard also had time to throw, completing 21 of 31 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Michigan State didn’t record a sack.
This offensive line is still a work in progress, but you can see the success the Buckeyes can have when running to the left side of the line and when they use their athleticism in space.
Pressure on the quarterback picked up
With 1:25 left in the second quarter, defensive ends Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau won on their pass rush immediately and got after Chiles. Tuimoloau, who bull-rushed the opposing tackle, got the sack.
From that moment, Ohio State’s defense was dominant and the pass rush continued.
Ohio State had four sacks on Saturday, the second most of the season.
The pass rush has been a massive question mark through the first month of the season, but Saturday showed that when they can get after the quarterback, the defense gets much better.
Will Howard’s inconsistent day
Howard started poorly. He threw a touchdown to tight end Gee Scott, but the play before that he missed a Michigan State safety and threw the ball right at him. Fortunately for the Kansas State transfer, the safety dropped the pass, but it wasn’t a smooth start.
Still, Ohio State was leading 10-0.
On the following drive, Howard stared down his receiver and threw his second interception of the season.
He also fumbled a snap, which TreVeyon Henderson recovered and got positive yards despite picking it up in the backfield.
Still, Howard had some good moments. His touchdown pass to Emeka Egbuka, which was on fourth-and-5 from the 35-yard line, was impressive. He also saw the read option perfectly and scored on that in the third quarter.
It’s his first Big Ten game, so it’s a little too early to judge him one way or another, but he led Ohio State down the field when it needed to score.
Much like the defense, it wasn’t great early, but taking care of business on the road isn’t easy.
(Top photo of Jeremiah Smith: Dale Young / Imagn Images)
