COLUMBUS – After No. 4 Ohio State’s 56-7 win over No. 7 Michigan State on Saturday in a battle of Top Ten teams that quickly turned into a mismatch, OSU wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said he sensed how dangerous the Buckeyes’ offense could be this season months ago.
“In the spring when we were all out on the field it was like, ‘Oh, he’s dangerous. He’s dangerous, he’s dangerous, everyone is dangerous.’ We knew what we had but we had to go out there and prove it,” Smith-Njigba said.
Michigan State knew the feeling. Everywhere it turned, wherever it looked, there was danger.
Ohio State (10-1, 8-0 Big Ten) scored touchdowns all seven times it had the football in the first half, then added a final score three minutes from the end of the game.
OSU led 21-0 after one quarter and 49-0 by halftime. Almost everything went right for the Buckeyes and nothing fell into place for the Spartans (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten).
Quarterback C.J. Stroud completed 32 of 35 passes for 432 yards and six touchdowns. Smith-Njigba caught 10 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Chris Olave had 7 catches for 140 yards and two touchdowns and Garrett Wilson had 7 catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns.
Olave’s two touchdown catches made him the career leader at Ohio State in that category with 35, one ahead of David Boston.
OSU’s win set up an even bigger match-up for the Buckeyes when they travel to Michigan this Saturday. The winner will be the Big Ten East Division champion and will move on to the Big Ten championship game, and probably a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Stroud operated behind nearly flawless protection in the first half and completed 17 passes in a row at one stretch, which is an Ohio State record. His six touchdown passes tied the OSU record and was one short of the Big Ten record.
“You can see our capability. We’re playing really good football, really clean football and we certainly have a high ceiling. We’re still striving toward greatness. I’m proud of the way our guys played. We were strong up front, protection was good, receivers were crisp in the route running, TreVeyon (Henderson) was strong and I thought C. J. played well,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said.
Michigan’s State’s biggest offensive threat, running back Kenneth Walker, was a non-factor in the game.
He gained only 25 yards rushing on 6 carries. Part of that was a strong effort by OSU’s defense and part of it was that Michigan State abandoned its running game after falling behind by four or five touchdowns.
“We didn’t want to be one of those teams that he did what he wanted to against. We just had that mindset all week that we were going to shut him down,” defensive end Tyreke Smith said.
Day said, “The guys up front on the defensive line and the linebackers, I think they took it as a challenge to stop the run. We wanted to do a good job stopping the run and make them play purely one dimensional and I thought we did that.”
Even that one dimension failed the Spartans. MSU quarterback Payton Thorne completed only 14 of 36 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown.
Ohio State’s first touchdown came on a 23-yard pass from Stroud to Olave at the end of an 86-yard drive. The lead grew to 14-0 on a 77-yard touchdown pass from Stroud to Wilson. After Michigan State missed a field goal, Stroud connected with Olave on a 43-yard touchdown pass for a 21-0 lead with 2 ½ minutes left in the first quarter.
Julian Fleming caught a 4-yard touchdown pass for his first career trip to the end zone to give Ohio State a 28-0 lead in the first minute of the second quarter.
Miyan Williams had a 1-yard touchdown run, Wilson caught a 12-yard touchdown pass and Smith-Njigba had a 5-yard touchdown catch to make it 49-0 at halftime. The Buckeyes’ final score came on a 1-yard run by Master Teague with 3 ½ minutes left in the game.
Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said, “That’s a very talented team. In all three phases, they outplayed us. They beat us, they were the much better team today and that was obvious. They can score early, they get up on you, get the crowd into it and then it’s a wrap.
“I told them (Michigan State’s players), I don’t want to hear a word on the bus or on the plane. We got a 30-minute plane ride, there’s nothing to talk about,” he said.
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