COLUMBUS — The Buckeyes welcomed the visiting Wisconsin Badgers to Ohio Stadium on Saturday for the first Big Ten match up of the season for both teams. The game was a black-out, in which OSU sported all black uniforms and all fans were encouraged to wear black.
Coming into the game, Ohio State was 3-0 with wins over Notre Dame, Arkansas State, and Toledo. Wisconsin was 2-1 with wins over Illinois State and New Mexico State, and a loss to Washington State in week two.
OSU was without their star wide receiver as Jaxon Smith-Njigba was declared out for this match up just a couple hours prior to kickoff.
The Buckeyes received the opening kickoff and put together a six-play 88-yard drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Miyan Williams.
Wisconsin’s first drive of the game ended after starting quarterback Graham Mertz threw an interception to Tanner McCallister, setting the Buckeyes up deep in Badger territory.
On the second play of drive number two, OSU quarterback C.J. Stroud hit tight end Cade Stover for a 13-yard strike where Stover made an acrobatic leap into the end zone. This was the first career touchdown for Stover.
After a quick three-and-out from Wisconsin, Ohio State started their third drive from their own 30-yard line. The Buckeyes proceeded to go 70 yards in seven plays, capping off the drive with another touchdown connection from Stroud to Stover.
After another three-play drive, the Badgers were forced to punt the ball back to the Buckeyes. The first quarter ended with OSU in possession of the ball and a 21-0 lead.
Just over a minute into the second quarter, Miyan Williams found his way into the end zone again from three yards out to extend the lead to 28-0.
Wisconsin responded with a 10-play 72-yard drive that took nearly five minutes, ending in a 1-yard touchdown run by Mertz. This closed the gap to 28-7 with 8:31 to go in the half.
The Buckeyes then orchestrated a 13-play 68-yard drive where they got the ball into the red zone but were forced to settle for a field goal attempt. The 25-yard field goal attempt was good by Noah Ruggles, extending the lead to 31-7, which was the score at the half.
Wisconsin started the second half with the ball and were forced to punt once again after only three plays.
It only took eight plays for the Buckeye offense to find the end zone, this time on a 12-yard pass from Stroud to wide receiver Julian Fleming that extended the lead to 38-7.
The Ohio State defense held tough yet again on the next possession, forcing another punt after just four plays.
The Badgers finally forced an OSU punt on the ensuing possession, but Buckeye punter Jesse Mirco was able to pin Wisconsin inside the five-yard line.
Ohio State got the ball back quickly after another three-play Wisconsin drive and wasted little time punching in another score. This one came through the air yet again, an eight-yard toss to Emeka Egbuka from Stroud.
After a 14-play, 80-yard drive, the Badgers were able to score their second touchdown of the game on a pass from Mertz to running back Jackson Acker. This brought the score to 45-14 Buckeyes.
OSU then wasted little time finding the end zone for their final score of the night, as the offense covered 75 yards on 5 plays, using just over two minutes of game clock. The final Buckeye touchdown was Egbuka’s second of the night, a 32-yard catch from Stroud.
Wisconsin would then score what would be the final points on the evening, a 75-yard run by Braelon Allen. This made the final score: Ohio State 52, Wisconsin 21.
Statistically for the Buckeyes, Stroud was 17-for-27 through the air with 281 passing yards and five touchdowns. This performance moved him into third on the all-time passing touchdowns list for OSU. Stroud sits at 60 passing touchdowns, just three behind Justin Fields who threw 63 career touchdown passes. J.T. Barrett holds the record with 104 career passing touchdowns.
Ohio State had two 100-yard rushers on the evening, as both Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson eclipsed 100 yards on the night. Henderson had 121 yards rushing on 21 carries, while Williams had 101 yards rushing on 11 carries. Williams also added two rushing touchdowns to his stat line.
Egbuka led all receivers with 118 yards on six catches with two receiving touchdowns. Fleming added 67 yards on four catches with a touchdown, and Stover recorded his first two career touchdowns as a Buckeye on four catches and 51 yards receiving. Marvin Harrison Jr. rounded out the receiving with 45 yards on three catches.
Defensively for OSU, Tommy Eichenberg led all tacklers with 14 total, including two tackles for loss. This performance was good enough to earn him Co-Defensive Player of the Week in the Big Ten. Jack Sawyer had a sack for the Buckeyes as well.
Head Coach Ryan Day spoke to the media after the victory.
“I just want to start off again by thanking the unbelievable crowd. From the jump: the skull session, the walk, the beginning of the game, all the way to the end. There were a lot of people that hung around at the end of that game and we don’t take that for granted. So, we really appreciate Buckeye Nation and the people that were here tonight.”
He continued, “I think you can see what this team is made of. I think we’ve shown in the first four games what we can do, what we’re capable of. The big challenge in college football is you have to bring it every week and that’s the competitive standard we’ve been talking about. Every single week you have to bring it. As good as this feels and as much as we want to celebrate this, we can’t spend too much time patting ourselves on the back after this thing, which is hard because it’s one heck of a win for us. To play like we did tonight, it was a lot of work, I’m very proud of our team; I’m proud of our players, proud of the way the defense came in and some of the guys stepped up. We saw a lot of good to go around in this game, but the tough thing is you don’t have too much time to talk about that; you have to be on to the next team. We’ll try to enjoy this the best we can tonight and a little bit tomorrow.”
Quarterback C.J. Stroud was asked to speak about his play this season so far.
“It’s not really my place to judge. Of course, I’m going to listen to the coaches and Coach Day. Their feedback is what matters. If we’re winning, I don’t really care [about my individual play]. I don’t think it’s just me – it’s the offensive line and receivers too. I’m blessed to be in this position.”
He was asked about the explosive start by the offense on Saturday.
“Everything starts in practice; we practice so hard on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That’s definitely where it starts, but to make sure everything goes well – the coaches did a great job of play calling. After that, it’s our job to execute. I tried to get everybody to calm down and just try to have fun.”
Tight end Cade Stover was asked about catching his first career touchdowns Saturday night.
“I’m super excited to be part of something special like this, and those balls haven’t gone my way so I was happy. There are a lot of things that went into that – a lot of long nights going into something so small, so special for me. I’m just really happy to help the team.”
Ohio State moves to 4-0 on the season with the win over Wisconsin, and 1-0 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin falls to 2-2 on the season, and 0-1 in the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes are back in action on Saturday. Oct. 1 at home against Rutgers (3-1). This game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. The Badgers will host Illinois (3-1) for a noon kickoff on the same day.
