Poor Marshall.
Against No. 3 Ohio State, the Thundering Herd trailed by nearly 40 points but scored touchdowns on their first and last possessions of the first half. The Herd scored with dinks and dunks down the field and executed them efficiently, leaving no room for error.
And when Ohio State got the ball, it scored quickly and almost mockingly, giving the teams a 49-14 victory in front of 103,871 sweating fans at Ohio Stadium.
“We wanted to play fast today,” said Buckeyes coach Ryan Day. “We felt that was the right approach.”
“I think we had a good tempo on offense today. We had a chance to wear them down and play explosively, and I think we did that well.”
In the first half, the Buckeyes barely had the ball for eight of the 30 minutes. That was all they needed to score four touchdowns. Ohio State averaged 14.6 yards per play in the first two quarters.
The Buckeyes (3-0) did it by air and land.
After Marshall’s 75-yard touchdown in 13 plays to start the game, Ohio State scored a 68-yard touchdown on the second play on a short pass from Will Howard to Emeka Egbuka.
Quinshon Judkins scored an 86-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 21-7 after Howard had scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run in the previous drive.
TreVeyon Henderson added touchdowns with runs of 14 and 40 yards. Judkins, who came from Ole Miss, rushed for 173 yards on 14 runs. Henderson added 76 yards.
Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had a quiet first half before taking a short pass from Howard and returning it 53 yards for OSU’s sixth touchdown in another one-play drive. Howard finished the game 16 of 20 passing for 275 yards and an interception on a deep throw to Smith.
“When the running game goes like that, man, my job is easy,” Howard said.
The Buckeyes gained 569 yards.
“I was sitting on the sidelines today talking to some of the other quarterbacks, Devin (Brown) and Julian (Sayin),” Howard said. “I thought our offense is so explosive, it’s crazy. Literally every play could be a touchdown.”
OSU anything but perfect
But if the Buckeyes were expecting a performance as dominant and clean as their 56-0 win over Western Michigan two weeks ago, they did not deliver.
Even coach Ryan Day received a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with referees.
Marshall (1-2) moved the ball fairly consistently against the Buckeyes, who were without injured defensive tackle Tyleik Williams. The Thundering Herd used quick passes from their Air Raid offense and timely quarterback runs to keep the Buckeyes somewhat in check.
Ohio State had not allowed Akron and Western Michigan to advance into the red zone, let alone score touchdowns, in the first two games.
Marshall quarterback Stone Earle entered the game completing just 44% of his passes, completing 16 of 21 passes for 132 yards before being ejected from the game in the third quarter.
Marshall converted six of its first 10 third-down opportunities. Backup defensive end Caden Curry had a third-down sack to end a drive but was ejected for targeting, a penalty that contributed to Marshall’s touchdown at the end of the first half. The touchdown came on a terrific catch by Elijah Metcalf, who barely kept a foot in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown with 6 seconds left.
Curry’s sack was the only one for the Buckeyes defense in the first three quarters and OSU did not force a turnover.
“There’s still a lot of things we’re going to see on this film that we’re not going to be happy with, just the overall execution,” Day said. “I know (defensive coordinator) Jim (Knowles) is going to be that way.”
Mistakes on special teams
Ohio State’s kicking game was a disgrace for much of 2023, but it improved in the first two games by using a coaching-by-committee approach instead of a dedicated special teams coordinator. Saturday was a step back.
Punt returner Brandon Inniss dropped a fair catch attempt early in the second quarter and Marshall recovered the ball at the OSU 14-yard line with OSU leading 14-7. But the Buckeyes were saved by an illegal formation penalty against the Thundering Herd that preceded Judkins’ 86-yard touchdown run. Without that penalty, the score could have been 14-14 instead of the Buckeyes having a two-touchdown lead.
Jayden Fielding had a nightmarish kickoff game. The junior knocked balls out of bounds three times in a row in the first half. He was replaced by Austin Snyder in the second half.
