Playing in a likely-haunted Memorial Stadium, Ohio State methodically defeated Illinois, 28-3, improving to a perfect 10-0 behind Ezekiel Elliott and another stout effort from the Silver Bullets.
The victory stretched Ohio State's national-best winning streak to 23, served as the school's 30th consecutive regular season conference win and improved Urban Meyer to 28-0 in the months of October and November during his Buckeye tenure.
With the Illini properly handled Ohio State has finally made it past what felt like a 10-game preseason slate. Finally, things get real as the Buckeyes begin the stretch run against Michigan State next weekend kicking off a gauntlet that – if all goes well – will also feature a trip to Michigan, the B1G championship game and two tests in the College Football Playoff.
Of course, looking too far ahead can spell disaster so before focusing our attention solely on the Spartans here's one last look at Five Things from Ohio State's decision over the Illini in Champaign.
B1G SHOULDERS
The offense once again leaned on the broad shoulders of Ezekiel Elliott and as usual he delivered.
After a pedestrian (for him) first half produced nine carries for 47 yards (5.2 ypc) and zero touchdowns Elliott took over the final 30 minutes rushing for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 18 totes (7.4 ypc) giving him a final stat line of 27 rushes for 181 yards.
Zeke was especially dominant on OSU's second possession of the 2nd half with the Buckeyes holding a 14-3 lead. As part of an 11-play, 75 yard drive, Elliott carried it seven times for 50 yards (7.1 ypc) including a one-yard touchdown plunge effectively putting the game out of reach at 21-3 midway through the 3rd quarter.
The 181 yards served as his second-best outing this year and made it 20 straight games rushing for at least 100 yards tying him with some guy named Eddie George for second place all-time in school history.
Elliott's big day also saw him move into third place on the program's all-time rushing list with 3,565 yards putting him just 204 yards from passing George for second place. Finally, Zeke's two touchdown jaunts gave him 36 for his career slotting him fifth in the school's record book.
Amid all the accolades, the expectation is that Zeke's workload will only increase as the real season starts Saturday. As such, I looked back at last year's first 10 games and noted Elliott recorded 185 touches (167 rush, 18 rec) during the span. This year, Zeke already sits at 220 touches (220 rush, 24 rec).
Elliott obviously doesn't look tired – he's still doling out punishment as a runner and blocker with great vengeance and furious anger – but this could be something to watch as Ohio State moves forward.
CHINKS IN THE ARMOR
With the kind of success Ohio State has enjoyed this year and certainly during Meyer's tenure in Columbus glaring weaknesses have been the exception to the rule.
Earlier this year there was significant worry about Ohio State's run defense and the depth at wide receiver could be better but right now the chief concerns are Chase Farris at right tackle and the inconsistency at place kicker.
I hate to single out individual players in a negative way but Farris was flat out awful yesterday. He committed a false start for at least the second week in a row, this one turning a 4th and 6 into a 4th and 11 though Ohio State still converted late in the 1st half.
The flag however was nothing in comparison to his pass protection which has been a real issue for the better part of the season. He gave ground so easily yesterday that J.T. Barrett often couldn't even get to his second progression before Chase was almost backed up directly into him.
With Michigan State's Shilique Calhoun coming to town, Ohio State's staff will have to come up with a game plan to keep him from camping out in the OSU backfield. I certainly don't envision tight ends Marcus Baugh and Nick Vannett having another combined four reception afternoon as they will likely have to stay on the line of scrimmage and help Farris deal with Calhoun among other strategies.
At kicker, Urban burned Sean Nuernberger's redshirt vaulting him past Jack Willoughby on the depth chart this week and Nuernberger responded by missing a 24-yard field goal in the 1st quarter.
Through 10 games the duo has made just seven of 12 field goal tries (58%) with a long of 39 yards. That sounds not good.
BACKING THE LINE
Darron Lee gets most of the love when folks talk about Ohio State's linebackers but yesterday I thought both Joshua Perry and Raekwon McMillan had strong afternoons.
McMillan led the defense with 14 tackles including two for loss including half a sack while Perry added nine stops, a quarterback hurry and his own half sack.
In an interesting twist the linebackers played a lot of man coverage matched up against wide receivers yesterday. Typically, that should be an unfavorable matchup and while a handful of passes were completed they often weren't chunk plays and on many both McMillan and especially Perry had tight coverage on smaller, faster players.
Who knows how much the staff will use a similar strategy going forward but I was encouraged by the pass coverage efforts from these two. With Michigan State boasting a strong passing attack and Jack Rudock's recent improvement for Michigan, the back seven's collectively ability to defend the pass will go a long way toward entering the B1G championship game at 12-0.
MONEY MIKE
With Ohio State's passing attack ranked in the bottom half of the B1G for a slew of reasons the one constant has been outstanding play from Mike Thomas.
On a day when the Buckeyes mustered just 150 yards through the air Thomas accounted for more than half of it with six grabs for 76 yards and a touchdown.
Thomas was especially impressive on Ohio State's second possession of the day as he hung on to a 22-yard reception over the middle after taking a big hit from a rotating safety and one-upped himself on the very next play snatching a 24-yard touchdown near the front left pylon giving the Buckeyes a 7-0 lead.
On a team with marginal pass protection and revolving quarterbacks Thomas has recorded a touchdown in seven of the last eight games and in eight of 10.
Saturday's effort gives him 45 receptions for 651 yards for the year. If Thomas can continue his current pace and Ohio State reaches the title game he'll finish at right around 976 receiving yards.
That would be short of becoming just the fifth 1,000 yard receiver in school history but anything over 946 would give him a top 10 single-season in Buckeye lore.
GROUND CONTROL
Illinois came into yesterday's game averaging 144.3 yards on the ground.
On 25 carries against the Silver Bullets they managed 20 rushing yards or 0.8 per carry and earned just four first downs via running plays.
Ohio State's three sacks for -22 yards helped deflate the Illini's rushing total (62 Rush Yards Gained) but the improved effort from the Silver Bullets to stop the run the last few weeks can't be overlooked.
Looking at the last five weeks Ohio State's rush defense has turned a corner. Five games ago they surrendered a ridiculous 253 to Maryland followed by another 195 to Penn State. From there however they yielded 104 to Rutgers before holding Minnesota to a paltry 33 yards ahead of shutting down Illinois.
Obviously Ohio State's defensive line has been a huge key to the resurgence as Joey Bosa is playing his best football since arriving in Columbus alongside the steady play of Tyquan Lewis and Adolphus Washington.
McMillan has also been more impactful in run support over the span aided by improved play from OSU's trio of nose guards and Vonn Bell continues to look like the school's surest tackler since Mike Doss.
