before i start, wow... the up and down emotions I experienced during the 4th quarter immediately brought me back to Braxton beating Wisconsin on his throw to Devin Smith.
anyways.
so, I did this after every win last season, where I recapped who I personally thought were the best OSU performers. just initial reactions right after the game finished, not looking at highlights or any sort of replay. whomever jumped off the screen for me.
week 2: https://www.com/forum/ohio-state-football/2023/09/140688/top-5-players-from-todays-win
September 23rd (Notre Dame)
1. Emeka Egbuka: On a day the offense was very clunky, Emeka was extremely consistent, moved the chains, and made some super CLUTCH plays in the 4th. The drop killed me, but he made up for it by delivering on the last second gasp and making a strong catch near the goal line. Honestly, one of the most clutch performances ive seen by a Buckeye WR in years. A huge 3rd and 7 catch and the mentioned 3rd and 19!
2. Cade Stover: I actually thought Cade was the most consistent offensive performer today. He basically caught everything, and was an early security blanket for Kyle. He made some extremely clutch catches as well.
3. Tyleik Williams: Its weird, because although as a whole the defense played pretty well, nobody was consistent enough (at least off of just finishing the game in my eyes) to warrant a top 5 list from the defense, besides Tyleik. I thought he was able to create decent pressure up the middle for a lot of the game, and was the only one (and Hall sometimes) that pushed their O Line.
4. Kyle McCord: Man, listen. IDC if he played average the entire game. That last game winning drive was poised, clutch, and yes maybe a bit lucky, but who cares. That showed balls, and he made some super accurate throws and (mostly) good decisions and put Chip in a position to win it all. Man... what an effort from Kyle in that last minute, clutch,
5. Treveyon Henderson: 100 yards, 7.4 yards a carry. A huge TD run. Tre had another huge day and was a major part of the reason we won this game. Overall he helped moved the chains for a lot of the day. He really is explosive beyond compare.
Honorable mentions due to big time moments: JT Tuimolaou and Chip Trayanum. JTT has admittedly been quiet for most of the day, but made back to back huge plays when the defense really needed it. The TFL (or sack idk what they called it) forced ND to overthink, and the near INT during the screen def scared ND. And for Chip, not much needs to be said. He carried his momentum for the TD. Groan.
