It appears all has been restored in Columbus.
At least for the time being, anyway, as Ohio State comfortably defeated Western Michigan on Saturday, 38-12, in front of a crowd of 106,123 at Ohio Stadium.
Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones was effective, though he did miss on a couple of big-play opportunities downfield, as Ohio State’s offense finally got back in somewhat of a rhythm, racking up 511 total yards on the day. Jones finished the game 19-for-33 passing for 288 yards and two touchdowns with one interception Ezekiel Elliott went over the 100-yard mark for the ninth-straight game, picking up 124 yards on 16 carries with one touchdown.
A 40-yard touchdown run by Curtis Samuel with 8 minutes, 24 seconds remaining broke things wide open and eight different receivers caught passes from Jones. Michael Thomas led all players in that department, reeling in six passes for 80 yards and a score.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WESTERN MICHIGAN | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| OHIO STATE | 7 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 38 |
Things got off to a much faster start for Ohio State as it scored a touchdown on its opening possession. A short, three-play drive was capped by a 38-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Thomas.
The Broncos dominated the time of possession in the opening quarter — holding it for 12 minutes, 40 seconds — but could not muster any points against the Buckeyes’ bend-but-don’t-break defense. Western Michigan outgained Ohio State 154 yards to 82 in the opening quarter.
Ohio State got it rolling a bit in the second quarter when Jones hooked up with Jalin Marshall for a 37-yard touchdown to put the Buckeyes ahead, 14-0. After a 30-yard field goal by Jack Willoughby made it 17-6, Ohio State’s Adolphus Washington intercepted a screen pass by Broncos’ quarterback Zach Terrell and returned it 20 yards to the house to give the Buckeyes a 24-6 halftime advantage. Ohio State held Western Michigan to just 78 yards of total offense in the second quarter and the Buckeyes outgained the Broncos 275 to 232 in the first half.
Ohio State travels to Indiana next weekend to open Big Ten play. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers will kick off 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
| Ohio State | Stat | W. MICHIGAN |
|---|---|---|
| 511 | NET TOTAL YARDS | 338 |
| 223 | RUSHING YARDS | 169 |
| 34 | RUSHING ATTEMPTS | 41 |
| 6.6 | AVERAGE PER RUSH | 4.1 |
| 2 | RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS | 0 |
| 288 | PASSING YARDS | 169 |
| 20-36 | COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS | 18-33 |
| 14.4 | AVERAGE PER COMPLETION | 9.4 |
| 2 | PASSING TOUCHDOWNS | 2 |
| 25 | 1st DOWNS | 20 |
| 11 | RUSHING 1st DOWNS | 11 |
| 13 | PASSING 1st DOWNS | 7 |
| 1 | PENALTY 1st DOWNS | 2 |
| 70 | TOTAL PLAYS | 74 |
| 7.3 | YARDS PER PLAY | 4.6 |
| 2-3 | RED ZONE | 1-2 |
| 8-13 | 3rd DOWNS | 7-17 |
| 0-0 | 4th DOWNS | 1-2 |
| 12-86 | PENALTIES | 8-74 |
| 22:46 | POSSESSION | 37:14 |
GAME NOTES
- The win extends Ohio State's winning streak to 17 games. That number is the longest active streak in college football.
- Ohio State is 70-12-1 all-time as the No. 1-ranked team and 53-4 as a No. 1 team vs. unranked opponents.
- Ohio State has at least one rushing touchdown in 43 of 45 games coached by Urban Meyer.
- Urban Meyer improves to 146-26 in his career and maintains the highest winning percentage (.848) among active coaches. He is 54-5 in games in August and September.
- Cardale Jones set a career high with 288 passing yards and 19 completions, topping the 257 yards he had vs. Wisconsin Dec. 6, 2014 in the Big Ten Championship game and the 18 completions he had vs. Alabama Jan. 1 in the Sugar Bowl CFP semifinal.
- Michael Thomas’ 38-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter marked his fifth reception of 20-or-more yards this season. The touchdown catch was Thomas’ third of the year and 12th of his career. With 80 yards receiving in the game, Thomas reached the 1,000 yard mark for his career and now has 1,059 as a Buckeye.
- The Ohio State defense has not allowed a run of 20 or more yards through the first four games of the season.
- Curtis Samuel’s 40-yard reception in the second quarter was a career long. He also recorded a career-long 40-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for his first score on the ground this season.
- Adolphus Washington’s second-quarter interception was the first of his career to go along with his first career touchdown after the 20-yard return. It was the third defensive touchdown of the season for the Buckeyes.
- Raekwon McMillan tallied a career-high 16 tackles vs. the Broncos. His previous best was nine vs. Northern Illinois last week. Eight of the tackles were solo, also a career high.
- Joshua Perry had 13 tackles against the Broncos, his fifth career game with at least 10 tackles and second in a row.
