Third-year running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) points to the sky in celebration after scoring a touchdown against Rutgers Saturday. Henderson racked up 208 total yards of offense to help lead the top-ranked Buckeyes to a 35-16 win.
Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
All season, the No. 1 Buckeyes have played lopsided games.
There’s been a trend — the offense struggles and the defense saves them.
With a Spartan squad that’s had a challenging season thus far, marching into Columbus Saturday, Ohio State (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) has the chance to put on its most complete performance of the season.
Head coach Ryan Day said, however, whoever the opponent is, winning does not come easily in the Big Ten.
“You don’t just show up at football and play,” Day said. “You’ve got to put it on the line. So every week you build up that fuel tank and you just let it all out on the field, then you come back and you try to figure out how to get that thing loaded up the most you possibly can to go do it again. That’s gonna be the same thing Saturday night.”
The Buckeyes boast the No. 5 defense in the country, allowing 4.1 yards per carry and 271.1 total yards per game. On the offensive side of the ball, Ohio State ranks 45th with 3,758 yards of total offense on the season, despite having one of college football’s best players on the roster in junior wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
This season, the Buckeyes have taken on the No. 39 (Wisconsin), No. 9 (Rutgers), No. 4 (Notre Dame) and the No. 1 defense (Penn State) in the nation, so their average of 417.6 yards per game remains solid when looking at previous matchups.
However, Ohio State put up just 23 points against Indiana in week one, which had the 118th defense, and then scored 63 points two weeks later against Western Kentucky and its No. 120 defense, which looked like past Buckeye teams.
In the past two games, junior quarterback Kyle McCord has turned the ball over four times, all in the first halves — three interceptions and a fumble. He said there needs to be more trust early on.
“I feel like sometimes, as a whole, we try to ease into the game a little bit and feel it out, but I feel like at this point in the season, we know what we have and I feel like we need to use all those banked up reps that we have just to come out fast,” McCord said.
Ohio State’s defense has made up for the offensive deficiencies, only allowing 10.7 points per game and last week, scoring a touchdown of its own — a 93-yard pick six off the hands of Josh Proctor and into those of teammate Jordan Hancock for six.
Michigan State, whose defense is No. 45 in the country and 11th in the Big Ten, got its first win after six consecutive losses last week against Nebraska when it tied its season-high of seven sacks.
Its offense, which is led by head coach Harlon Barnett, the former associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator for the Spartans who was brought into the position after the September firing of Mel Tucker, could have a tough time scoring.
“I give coach Barnett a lot of credit for how he’s handled himself and certainly a tough situation, that came back and won a game last week,” Day said. “This time of year when you’re playing in the Big Ten, you’ve got to bring it. You see it every single week.”
After bouncing back and forth from redshirt-junior quarterback Noah Kim and redshirt freshman Katin Houser, the Spartans will come into Saturday, likely behind Houser, who went 13-for-20 last week.
With a healthy junior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka back for his second-consecutive game and a consistently solid defense, Ohio State could have its best game on both ends.
Ultimately, that is the expectation from the No. 1 team in the country, as voted in the College Football Playoff poll for the second week in a row.
McCord said he is not surprised by what Ohio State has achieved, and being a first-year starter of a team of its caliber, there’s still so much room to grow. He hopes to take more steps Saturday.
“It’s a process, obviously, nine games into the year, we’re right where we want to be and that’s a positive, but at the same time there’s so much room for growth, which is exciting,” McCord said.
In Ohio Stadium’s first prime-time matchup of the season, the Spartans and Buckeyes will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on NBC Saturday Night.
