Stroud, Harrison dish on record-tying day vs Red Wolves
OSU wide receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. (18) gets props from fellow receiver Emeka Egbuka (12) after Harrison's 1st quarter 42-yard TD catch. Photo by Ric Kruszynski/Columbus Wired.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud has done it again. The third-year sophomore went on to have another record day under center for the Buckeyes. Or in this case, he himself didn’t have a record-setting - or even a record-tying day - but he helped one of the guys around him tie an Ohio State record.
After all was said and done in the Buckeyes’ 45-12 win over Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon, Stroud threw for 351 yards and four touchdowns on 16-of-24 passing. Of those yards and passes, wide receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. caught seven balls for 184 yards and three touchdowns, which ties receiver Joey Galloway for being the only two players in school history to have at least two games with three or more TD catches.
Harrison said he found out about the feat after the game.
“It’s an honor,” he said. “You talk about all the great receivers that have come through here, to be the second guy … I can’t fathom that right now, I just gotta sit back and, you know (let it sink in).”
When asked by Columbus Wired if he was aware of the accomplishment, Stroud said he wasn’t. But knowing now is just one of many reasons why he came to Ohio State.
“No I didn’t know that,” he said with a smile. “It’s pretty cool, I mean I feel like that’s why you come to Ohio State, you want to put up those big numbers and (play in) those big time games.”
Even then, Stroud felt like there was still more they could have done.
“I know we can do more, there’s a lot of things that we left out on the field which I’m not really satisfied with. But we played decently, we’ll be better so I expect more from our offense.”
What about being part of a record-tying day where he could throw four TDs in a single game to one receiver? Stroud thinks he still has room to grow before he and one receiver can do that and decided to give his running backs a little love.
“Nah, I got to do better, we got to run more.”
Head coach Ryan Day praised Harrison by saying he’s come a long way in a short amount of time and that has helped with the way he approaches and plays the game.
“He’s very mature for his age. So is (receiver) Emeka (Egbuka) but Marvin’s route running is, again, very mature for his age. To see somebody that has played as much as he has with just the high level of route running is pretty remarkable.”
Day touched on the fact that Harrison could have had four TDs if not for a couple of calls that went against the sophomore, chiefly a catch along the right edgeline of the end zone that was ruled incomplete and another catch made at the goal line where it appeared Harrison reeled it in and crossed the plane but then dropped it after the fact.
“The potential is there. You can see a couple of the plays he made, he did it a bunch of different ways. He caught a couple of slants that got us going (and) I think that’s important is that we’re starting drives out (where) we get a couple of easy completions, we get those couple (of) first downs and then all of a sudden we start to roll. And that’s been something that’s kind of happened to us the first couple games, a couple of three-and-outs, we got to do a better job of those. But Marvin was a big part of getting us going (and) certainly had the big play capability.”
The Buckeyes indeed had a few three-and-outs throughout the game, four total, however, their first possession didn’t end that way. Quite the opposite. After forcing Arkansas State into a three-and-out on their first possession, Red Wolves punter Ryan Hanson knocked down a beautiful 68-yard punt that smacked the 5 yard line and was downed at the 4. From there, Stroud and his guys went to work, putting together an 8-play, 96-yard drive that was capped off with the first Harrison touchdown connection, a 42-yard pitch-and-catch that Harrison caught on the right side of the field on an up-and-in route and proceeded to scoot to the left side untouched and into the near corner of the end zone.
After allowing Arkansas State true freshman kicker Dominic Zvada to successfully make the first of his four field goals on the day on their second drive of the game, permitted by one of two pass interferences committed by cornerback Denzel Burke and a goofy gaffe by linebacker Teradja Mitchell on a 4th-and-4 punt where Mitchell was flagged for leaping over the line of scrimmage and negated a 78-yard TD return by Egbuka, the Buckeyes answered back with their second TD, facilitated by a 45-yard connection between Stroud and Harrison on 2nd-and-3 from their own 32 to the Ark St 23 and OSU was up 14-3 after Henderson punched it up the middle from eight yards out.
Ohio State kicker Noah Ruggles would knock down a 24-yarder inside the second quarter to give the Scarlet and Gray a 17-3 lead but a 58-yard pass between Arkansas State QB James Blackman and receiver Champ Flemings to the OSU 12 put the Red Wolves in prime position for a score. However, the Buckeyes would force the Red Wolves into a 4th-and-18 and Zvada would knock down his second field goal to make it 17-6. The following drive is when OSU had their first three-and-out and Arkansas State capitalized with Zvada’s third field goal of the game to make it 17-9 with a little over five minutes to go in the first half.
But 58 seconds later, Stroud and Harrison connected for their second 42-yard TD of the game when Stroud put a floater squarely into Harrison's hands deep up the right side and Harrison flew untouched to the end zone to make it a 24-9 ballgame.
After Henderson’s 23-yard TD run to start the first drive of the second half made it 31-9, the Buckeye defense forced Arkansas State into their third three-and-out of the game. Two plays later, Stroud hooked up with Egbuka wide open over the middle for a 51-yard strike to give OSU a 38-9 lead.
Subsequent three-and-outs by both teams would eventually lead to Zvada’s fourth and final field goal of the game with 2:49 left in the third quarter to make it 38-12.
Stroud and Harrison would hook up twice on the following drive to finalize the game’s scoring and ultimately give OSU the 45-12 win: once on 3rd-and-6 on a short, right nine-yard pass to extend the drive, and three plays later on 3rd-and-5 when Stroud lobbed it over Harrison’s left shoulder, reminiscent of the 4th-and-1 TD they had in the Rose Bowl, and Harrison hauled it in for a 30-yard score with four seconds remaining in the third.
After the record-tying day, Harrison ultimately didn’t take all of the credit.
“Obviously, I’m blessed,” he said. “I got to thank God, thank my teammates (and) just got to keep working hard, though.”
The Buckeyes’ next game is against Toledo (2-0) on Sept. 17 and will be a 7 p.m. kickoff airing on FOX.