TreVeyon Henderson running in celebration following his 75-yard rushing touchdown in the first play of the third quarter in Ohio State’s 37-3 win over Minnesota Saturday at Ohio Stadium. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
Twenty-one seniors ran across the Ohio Stadium field for the last time Saturday.
Their final ‘last’ was a win — a domination.
The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-0, 7-0 Big Ten) put Minnesota (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) in check 37-3 with two forced turnovers and allowing no Golden Gopher red zone attempts.
“That’s our motto, is playing confident,” junior defensive end Jack Sawyer said. “Being stingy and trying to get turnovers, just playing as aggressive as we can on the field, and if we do that good things will happen.”
The Buckeyes opened the scoring with a nine-yard TreVeyon Henderson rushing touchdown at 9:22 after an eight-play opening drive.
After a five-play, single first-down drive from Minnesota, Sawyer and graduate linebacker Cody Simon combined on a tackle of redshirt running back Jordan Nubin for a loss of a yard, forcing a second Golden Gopher punt.
“I think he’s [Sawyer’s] getting better every week,” head coach Ryan Day said. “[He’s] another guy who just keeps putting time in, man, he just keeps putting days together. Keeps preparing. Keeps grinding.”
Ohio State started the second quarter with the ball and junior Kyle McCord went 1-for-4 on passing completions, ultimately setting sophomore Jayden Fielding up for a season-long 47-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 13:05 remaining in the half.
Minnesota countered with its longest play of the game, a 32-yard pass from quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis to Corey Crooms Jr. that put the Golden Gophers on the Ohio State 47-yard line. They got as far as the 42-yard line off a pass to redshirt senior tight end Nick Kallerup before the drive stalled, forcing their fourth punt of the game.
McCord led the Buckeyes 81 yards into the red zone but they came up short after three attempts at the end zone, and settled for a 26-yard Fielding field goal to extend their lead to 13-0 with 4:51 until the half.
“I felt like a lot of the drives we move the ball, move the ball, move the ball, but we stall and, you know, have to kick a field goal instead of scoring a touchdown,” McCord said.
Ohio State started its final drive of the half from the three-yard line after a 54-yard punt from Mark Crawford that rolled out of bounds but could not advance the ball beyond their own 19-yard line to close out the half.
“I think we were just off a little bit,” McCord said. “I think as a result, we left some points up on the field.”
The Buckeyes wasted no time finding the endzone in the second half.
On their first offensive play, a handoff to Henderson resulted in a 75-yard rushing touchdown, and a pair of Minnesota turnovers quickly extended the lead to 30-0.
Sawyer forced a fumble at 14:36 on Minnesota’s 25-yard line with his sack of Kaliakmanis on the Golden Gophers first play of the second half. The ball was recovered by J.T. Tuimoloau, who got the ball to the 6-yard line before a four-yard pass from McCord to Marvin Harrison Jr. sealed the Buckeyes’ third touchdown of the game.
“It’s funny, I sacked him, I didn’t know it was a strip sack until I heard the crowd go crazy,” Sawyer said. “I like roll over and J.T.’s got the ball running.”
The score was Harrison’s 13th receiving touchdown of the year, tied for the most nationally. He has caught at least one touchdown pass in seven consecutive games and tied Devin Smith for third all-time in Buckeye scoring receptions with 30.
Junior cornerback Jordan Hancock’s interception of a Kaliakmanis pass got Ohio State to the Minnesota 14 before an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on seven Buckeyes for posing in the end zone knocked them back 15 yards.
“We’ve talked to the guys about celebrating on the sidelines, we want them to celebrate,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “You don’t look the other way — that’s something that can hurt you.”
They ended up settling for a 32-yard field goal with 10:17 remaining in the third quarter.
After a sixth Minnesota punt, Ohio State used 16 plays to get to the 1-yard line, before McCord found Cade Stover in the endzone, extending the lead to 37-0.
“That’s my guy, and I don’t know if there’s a guy that is a tougher dude that works as hard as he does,” McCord said. “He does the dirty work and, so, to get him that touchdown, I think that might’ve been his last play in the ‘Shoe, is pretty special.”
Stover’s 26 yards in the game put him over 1,000 career receiving yards, only the third Ohio State tight end to reach such a milestone.
With 6:43 left in the game, an 11-play Minnesota drive put senior kicker Dragan Kesich in range for a good field goal from 54 yards out, putting its first and only points on the board.
McCord finished 20-for-30 passing and two touchdowns, while Sawyer led the defense with six tackles — 3.5 for loss.
The Buckeyes will travel to the Big House to take on No. 3 Michigan Saturday. Both teams will enter undefeated for the second season in a row.
“To be 11-0 right now, exactly where we want to be, you know, this is kind of the way everybody — the way we envisioned the season going,” McCord said. “To get to this point, it’s what you work for.”
