Buckeyes get ready for first road test
Cover photo: Ohio State defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste celebrates a second quarter tackle for-loss on running back Kenneth Walker III in last year's 56-7 win over Michigan State in Ohio Stadium as Spartan quarterback Payton Thorne looks on. Picture by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
The No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) travel to East Lansing, Mich. on Saturday to take on the Michigan State Spartans (2-3, 0-2) for their first road game this season.
Head coach Ryan Day said playing in Spartan Stadium is never an easy task.
“Going on the road, (it’s) a tough place to play (and it’s) certainly a great stadium and a great environment and it’s going to be hard to win up there, it always is,” he said during Tuesday’s press conference.
He said it’s been a unique situation for his team seeing as how they’ve played their first five games at home.
“It’s been great, we’ve gotten into a good rhythm but now, we’ve got to go get our first conference road game.”
Spartans head man Mel Tucker said during his press conference on Monday that pulling off the upset will require his guys to take a more basic approach.
“First of all, you have to believe, that’s one. And then you have to strip the name off the jersey and go to work in preparation and go and play the next play during the game.”
Everybody remembers the epic beatdown the Buckeyes handed Sparty last year when both teams were ranked in the top 7 at 9-1 overall. OSU came in as the fifth-ranked team in the country while MSU was No. 7. By halftime, the game was over as Ohio State held a commanding 49-0 lead on the way to a 56-7 victory.
Tucker said they are going to use that for Saturday’s matchup but expects to see the same OSU team this time that they saw last year.
“We studied last year’s film to see what’s carrying over and what’s not. Any success that we had or anything that hurts, we can expect to see those things again.”
Day agreed that they’re going to see the same Spartans from last season.
“They’ve had a couple of injuries here and there but they’re still very much the same team they were last year. I realize they’ve lost a couple of games … but we’re expecting a top 10 team. It’s going to be hard just like it always is and we know that we’ve got our hands full this week.”
Considering how last year’s game went, that could prove fortuitous for the Buckeyes if they see the same exact team for this game that they saw last year.
However, this year’s Buckeyes are battling the injury bug as it was announced early Saturday morning that running back Miyan Williams will be unavailable. Also on the list once again was wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. However, not on the list was starting cornerback Cam Brown, who has missed the last couple of weeks. Running back TreVeyon Henderson was also not on the list. The sophomore missed virtually all of the Toledo game due to an unspecified foot injury after the first drive of the game and was scratched right before kickoff last weekend against Rutgers.
Even still, they’ve gotten good reps for backups like true freshman running back Dallan Hayden, who became the team’s first 100-yard rusher on the season in their game against Toledo when he toted the rock 17 times for 108 yards and one touchdown.
Both Williams and Henderson finally cracked the 100-mark the next weekend in a 52-21 win versus Wisconsin as Henderson led the team with 21 carries for 121 yards and Williams backed him up with 11 rushes for 101 and two scores.
Then Williams backed up that performance last weekend as he had another 100-yard performance with 189 yards on 21 carries and tied the school’s single-game rushing touchdown record when he found the end zone five times.
Today, though, they’ll be without Williams and Henderson was observed by Columbus Wired after Wednesday’s practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center with a noticeably slight limp. This could be a game where Hayden gets in early and often.
OSU defense vs. MSU offense
Although the Spartans return a good bit of talent from last year’s offense including fourth-year quarterback and returning starter Payton Thorne, who finished fourth in the Big Ten last year with over 3,200 passing yards with 27 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, and receivers Keon Coleman and Jayden Reed - who finished fifth in the conference last season with 1,026 receiving yards and had 10 TD grabs to boot - they’ve been struggling so far this year, ranking as the nation’s 93rd total offense.
Also adding to their offensive woes is being without Walter Camp and Doak Walker award winning running back Kenneth Walker III, whose talents are now with the Seattle Seahawks. He not only led the Big Ten last season but finished second in the country with 1,636 rushing yards.
In his place, the Spartans have been trying a trio of backs, mixing and matching throughout the first five games a couple of seniors, Jarek Broussard and Elijah Collins, as well as third-year sophomore Jalen Berger, who leads the team with 301 yards and four touchdowns. Broussard is second on the team with 177 yards and two scores while Collins has a mere 94 yards but three trips to the end zone.
Ohio State’s defense continues to come into form this year, even though defensive coordinator Jim Knowles as well as several other defensive players have stated that they’re still not close to where they want to be.
The Buckeyes are currently ranked 33rd in the country and eighth in the conference versus the run at 110 yards a game and have allowed over 100 yards the last three games.
Thorne, meanwhile, has had an inauspicious start to the year, getting close to the 10 picks he threw last year already having thrown six so far this season against eight TD passes. His 131 passing efficiency puts him 10th in the conference while his 1,121 passing yards ties him for eighth in the B1G with Illinois QB Tommy Devito.
Coleman currently leads the team with 308 receiving yards and tied with fellow receiver Tre Mosley with three TD’s. Reed missed the Washington game due to injury but has had a solid game last week in their 27-14 loss at Maryland, snagging seven balls for 61 yards and his first TD of the year.
The Buckeyes currently boast the seventh-best passing D in the country, only allowing 153 yards per game.
Edge: Ohio State
Even though the Buckeyes have struggled this season in their ability to get to the quarterback (No. 68 in the nation, averaging two sacks per game) and their three interceptions rank them 88th, they’ve still done enough to fluster opposing quarterbacks, especially ones that aren’t so mobile. Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz had a miserable day against the Buckeyes, going 11-of-20 for 94 yards with one TD, one pick and one sack. Rutgers QB Evan Simon’s stats were almost identical, going 10-of-19 for only 74 yards with one passing score, one interception and took a sack. Notre Dame’s Tyler Buchner’s completion percentage wasn’t great (10-of-18) but he managed to not throw a pick. However, the Buckeyes got to him three times and didn’t allow him to throw for a score.
Michigan State has a solid offensive line, though, only allowing six sacks this year and their red zone offense is a fairly impressive 76 percent, even if that ranks them 10th in the conference and 99th in the country. The Buckeyes have an even more unimpressive red zone defense from a percentage perspective, allowing teams to score 90 percent of the time once they get inside the OSU 20. However, getting into the Buckeyes’ red zone is the difficult part. They’ve only allowed 10 total trips, which is tied-for ninth-best in the nation.
OSU offense vs. MSU defense
This is where the game will be won or lost.
The Buckeyes come in as the third-ranked total offense at 529 yards per game and QB C.J. Stroud is still the nation’s second-most efficient passer despite one of the worst games of his career last weekend against Rutgers where he tied his worst completion percentage (59) and threw for the lowest amount of yards in his time in Columbus with 154. He only threw one TD and also threw a second interception in two straight games.
However, this should be the game where he explodes back to form against the nation’s 114th-ranked passing defense at 275 yards per game. The last three games, the Spartans allowed Washington to go for 397 yards through the air, Minnesota for 268 and last weekend against Maryland, allowed 314.
Even without one the most dynamic receivers in the country last year, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Stroud has been able to find guys like receivers Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison, Jr. and tight end Cade Stover for over 1,100 of his 1,376 passing yards. Egbuka currently ranks 11th in the nation with 512 yards and 15th in the nation with five TD’s. Also with the emergence of third-year receiver Julian Fleming, Stroud still has weapons to sling it to.
Ohio State has also been running the ball more effectively this season, averaging 226 yards per game which is good for second in the Big Ten and 11th in the country. But without Williams and Henderson still looking a tad gimpy, it might be an interesting day for the Buckeyes to try and run even against a Spartan defense that ranks 10th in the conference at 136 yards per game.
The Buckeyes’ line has been stellar this year, though, having only allowed a mere three sacks while the Spartans have done a good job getting to the QB with 13. If OSU’s line holds up and gives Stroud enough time to throw, it’s going to be a long day for MSU’s secondary. Expect that to be the case.
Edge: OSU passing offense, MSU rush defense
Ohio State’s passing offense should be enough to carry them in this game but don’t be surprised if the Spartans give him some fits early on but Stroud will find his groove and start connecting with his guys and ultimately, have a very good game.
Final thought
Look for OSU’s defense to allow a couple of chunk plays here and there, as they’ve been prone to do this year, but should be able to handle another anemic offense like they did the last two weekends against Wisconsin and Rutgers. Seeing as how the game is in East Lansing and is OSU’s first road game of the season, the Spartans will have a little bit of an edge and will probably come out fired up and might be competitive in the first quarter, if not maybe the entire first half. But it won’t be enough to overcome Ohio State’s depth and talent and the Buckeyes should run away in the second half.
Final score: OSU - 42, MSU -13