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Fast offense helps Ohio State football leave Marshall behind

Vaseline September 21, 2024

Poor Marshall.

Nearly a 40-point underdog against No. 3 Ohio State, the Thundering Herd scored touchdowns on their first and last possessions of the first half. The Herd dinked and dunked down the field for their scores, executing efficiently with little room for error.

And when Ohio State got the ball, they scored quickly, almost provocatively, winning 49-14 before a sweltering 103,871 fans in Ohio Stadium.

“We wanted to play fast today,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “We felt like that was the right approach.

“I thought we had a good tempo in attack today. We had the chance to wear them down and be explosive, so I thought we did a good job.”

In the first half, the Buckeyes had the ball for just eight of the 30 minutes, which was all they needed to score four touchdowns. Ohio State average 14.6 yards per play in the first two quarters.

The Buckeyes (3-0) did it by air and land.

After Marshall opened the game with a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown, Ohio State scored a 68-yard touchdown on its second play on a short pass from Will Howard to Emeka Egbuka.

Quinshon Judkins ran for 86 yards to make it 21-7 after Howard had scored on a 1-yard sneak on the previous drive.

TreVeyon Henderson added touchdowns on runs of 14 and 40 yards. Judkins, the transfer from Ole Miss, had 173 yards on 14 carries. Henderson added 76 yards.

Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had a quiet first half before taking a short pass from Howard and going 53 yards for OSU’s sixth touchdown on another one-play drive. Howard finished 16 of 20 for 275 yards with an interception on a deep throw to Smith.

“When the run game is going that well, it makes my job a lot easier,” Howard said.

The Buckeyes had 569 yards.

“I was sitting on the sideline today talking to a couple of the other quarterbacks, Devin (Brown) and Julian (Sayin),” Howard said. “I was thinking, ‘Our offense is so explosive, it’s crazy. Literally, every play could be a touchdown.'”

OSU far from perfect

But if the Buckeyes were looking for a performance as dominant and pure as their 56-0 win over Western Michigan two weeks ago, it didn’t happen.

Even coach Ryan Day was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing with the officials.

Marshall (1-2) moved the ball semi-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 on their heels.

Ohio State had not allowed Akron and Western Michigan to reach the red zone, let alone score touchdowns, in their first two games.

Marshall quarterback Stone Earle entered the game completing just 44% of his passes. He was 16 of 21 for 132 yards before being knocked out of the game in the third quarter.

Marshall converted six of its first 10 third-down opportunities. Reserve 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 late in the first half. The score came on a huge catch by Elijah Metcalf, who barely kept a foot in the end zone for a 13-yard score 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 in 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.”

Special Teams Failures

Ohio State’s kicking game was an embarrassment for much of 2023, but had improved in the first two games with a coaching-by-committee approach instead of a dedicated special-teams coordinator. Saturday was a step backward.

Punt returner Brandon Inniss dropped a fair-catch attempt early in the second quarter and Marshall recovered the ball at the OSU 14 with OSU leading 14-7. But the Buckeyes were saved by an illegal-formation penalty on the Thundering Herd that preceded Judkins’ 86-yard touchdown run. Without that penalty, the score would have been tied at 14 instead of the Buckeyes holding a two-touchdown lead.

Jayden Fielding had a nightmare game on kickoffs. The junior hooked balls out of bounds on three consecutive kicks in the first half. Austin Snyder replaced him in the second half.