Ohio State 49, Michigan State 20: Scarlet & Gray Matter analysis

Joey Kaufman, The Columbus Dispatch
·4 min read
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Observations on Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan State game by Joey Kaufman:

The game at hand

• Short-attention span synopsis: The Buckeyes ace their road test with another Big Ten beatdown. Points came by air rather than ground. C.J. Stroud's Heisman Trophy push revs up. Consider it a midseason stride. Michigan State has dipped in weight classes.

• Pregame buzz: With Michigan State riding a months-long losing streak, falling outside the top-25 to end the potential of matchup of ranked teams, the narrative largely surrounded whether the Spartans could reprise their role as spoilers. They had ended undefeated Ohio State seasons before, often as heavy underdogs. See: 1974, 1998, 2013 or 2015.

• Spread the wealth? Favored by as many as 27.5 points in some sportsbooks, Ohio State was the heaviest favorite it had been over Michigan State in nearly a quarter century, matching the 27.5-point spread from 1998. The Buckeyes were covering the lofty line after little more than a half as they went ahead 42-13 early in the third quarter. It was the sixth straight game in a row they covered against the Spartans.

• Strategically speaking: The Buckeyes were keeping their foot on the gas pedal early on. Holding a 14-7 lead to start the second quarter and facing a fourth-and-1 at their 42-yard line, Ryan Day kept the offense on the field rather than punt. It paid off. TreVeyon Henderson ran for the first down, then C.J. Stroud hit Julian Fleming for a 51-yard touchdown on the next play to put Ohio State up by multiple scores.

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The View

  • How the team sees it: No matchup makes us lick our lips more than one with Michigan State’s secondary.

  • How the pollsters will see it: Six wins. No upset scares. But it's not easy to dislodge unbeaten Alabama or Georgia.

  • How Buckeye Nation will see it: Our secondary has too many Swiss Cheese moments.

Rob Oller:'Say uncle!' Ohio State forces another Big Ten opponent into crying 'Surrender'

Hey, what did Ryan Day say?

  • What he said: "We played good football on the road. Certainly not perfect."

  • What it means: Good football played at home. Good football played on the road. Eventually: good football played at a neutral postseason site?

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They said it

  • Pregame chatter: Taking a dig at Ohio State's strength of schedule on ESPN's College GameDay broadcast, analyst and former Michigan receiver Desmond Howard said, "When do we welcome Ohio State back to college football?"

  • Talking heads: After Buckeyes receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. leapt over Michigan State Charles Brantley to haul in a 19-yard touchdown, the first of three times he found the end zone, Kirk Herbstreit said on the ABC telecast, "That's just your player is better than theirs."

Numbers for dummies

157-39: Combined margin of Ohio State’s three wins over Michigan State since Mel Tucker succeeded Mark Dantonio in 2020

412: Gap in total yards of offense between the Buckeyes and Spartans

13.8: Average yards per pass attempt for C.J. Stroud, his second-highest mark this season

3: Touchdown catches by Marvin Harrison Jr., the third time in his career he's reached the feat

28.6: Average length of Emeka Egbuka's five catches

4: Sacks by the Buckeyes, their most in any of their six games

5: Passing plays of 20 yards or more allowed by Ohio State, a season-high for its defense

27.2%: Michigan State's third-down conversion percentage

On tap

The Buckeyes are idle next weekend. Their off week comes at the exact midpoint of the regular season before hosting Iowa on Oct. 22, a game that’ll be the first between the teams since the Hawkeyes upset Ohio State in 2017 to end its College Football Playoff hopes. Kirk Ferentz’s program is 3-3 after consecutive losses to Michigan and Illinois and is plagued by one of the nation’s lowest-scoring offenses.

Ohio State Buckeyes football schedule

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football analysis: How Buckeyes beat Spartans